Reading Guide

Understand the listings before you disappear into the archive.

The collection uses a consistent visual language for split artist credits, format distinctions, and numbering relationships. This guide keeps the original explanations but presents them in a clearer layout.

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Country Coverage

Regional entry points

While much of the archive focuses on the United States, there are dedicated index pages for Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Australia Canada United Kingdom

Canadian discographies draw on Dave Whatmough's directory, and much of the UK material is based on research by Paul Pelletier.

RCA's early color-coded 45 rpm releases remain one of the archive's best visual reference points.

Split Credit Example

How artist names and sides are displayed

A horizontal divider indicates the A side and B side belong to different artists. No divider means both sides are by the same artist.

Number	Artist	Titles	Year
101	Johnny Horton	Happy Millionaire Mean Mean Son Of A Gun	1951
102	Johnny Horton Bill Thompson's Westerners	Plaid And Calico Done Roving	1951

Color Coding

What the row backgrounds mean

The archive uses background colors to signal format relationships, numbering changes, and special cases.

78 only

78 and 45 with different numbers

78 and 45 using the same number

45 only

EP releases

33 1/3 rpm releases, mostly LPs

Major gaps, new prefixes, changed numbering, or shared label names

Numbering Example

Reading multi-number entries

Some entries carry a box-set number, a 45 number, and a 78 equivalent.

WP-239
48-0175
(21-0010)

Eddy Arnold
The Tennessee Plowboy

Bring Your Roses To Her Now

I Wish I Had A Girl Like You, Mother

1950

In this format, the prefix number identifies the box set, the second line is the 45 rpm issue number, and the parenthetical number is the related 78 rpm release.