How can I do something that I can do easily and that I'm interested in doing that somebody

else appreciates, like, putting music online digitally and then when somebody asks, is

very much just sharing the files with them so that they can now put a Joe Paul song that

they remember from when they were a kid on a YouTube video that they're making of them

making like Aguta, you know, like, that's cool to me. And it's like, I'm doing something

simple for me that is a service that they appreciate. And then in exchange, I'm getting

information, I'm being like, I'm being introduced to new music, I'm like, like the rewards

are just like massive when it comes to like my interest in this, this local content.

That was Jimmy Reardon. He's a multidisciplinary artist and educator who's currently in residence

at the Anchorage Museum, digitizing and archiving the work of Yukon Kuscaquim Delta musicians,

as well as all the other Alaskan music he's collected over the years. He spends a lot

of time in thrift stores and going through junk bins and scouring the internet anywhere

old records might exist. When he first started listening to old Alaskan albums and radio

programs, he thought he was going to hear a lot of tourist music and songs about things like

reindeer and caribou. But he soon realized that there was a lot of diversity in what he was hearing.

There was hip hop, psychedelic rock, metal, punk. He even found a record of sound bites

from people talking about their experience during the 1964 earthquake.

His motivation is that of a fan driven by interest and excitement. If he can provide a service

that's useful, in exchange for all the information and all the stuff that he's getting,

then that's what he's looking to do. His fascination with the music of Joe Paul is a good example.

Joe Paul is a country and gospel singer originally from Kipnick Alaska, a community along the

Kuscaquim River, and one day, while out digging for Alaskanah, Jimmy came across one of his albums,

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