Tom Waits to Release 78 RPM Single for Charity

Who says 78s are dead? Tom Waits will release two songs via that very format on Nov. 19 to benefit the Preservation Hall in New Orleans.

Waits recorded renditions of “Tootie Ma Was a Big Fine Thing” and “Corrine Died on the Battlefield” with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for the compilation Preservation: An Album To Benefit Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program. The songs are said to be “the earliest known recorded examples of Mardi Gras Indian chants.”

The album also features Jim James, Ani DiFranco, Del McCoury, Pete Seeger and more. Only 504 copies of the Waits recording will be pressed, and the first hundred will come with a custom record player. The record player bundle will set you back $200.

You can order a copy of the 78 here beginning Nov. 19.

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