In the early 1890's, two Austrian brothers, Johan and Gunther Ferfenhershenlugerheisen, decided to pack up their donkeys and head to the land of opportunity. Only able to afford to go as far as Canada, however, the boys set up shop and opened up a small piano roll store. With the dawn of the recording age fast approaching and the syncopated beats of ragtime music playing out of every window, the Ferfenhershenlugerheisen brothers mortgaged their shop for $47 ($783,942 adjusted for inflation) and purchased the most cutting edge recording equipment yet made.
With their single microphone and half-track tape deck, the Ferfenhershenlugerheisen brothers began recording novelty birthday greetings for neighbor kids and reciting books onto vinyl for the blind. All was going well until tragedy hit when Gunther died of a massive overdose of cocaine, herroine, opium and whiskey all perscribed, by the local barber to cure Gunther's chronic hallitosis.
Devistated, Johan packed up all of the equipment and moved to California where he eventually became a pioneer in sound recording and alcoholism. Johan, during his 113 year long life, was lucky enough to work with Louis Armstrong and dozens of people who didn't walk on the moon.
In 1973 much of the Ferfenhershenlugerheisen estate was put up for auction and the original half-track tape deck was purchased by Grant Monroe of Mississippi. Upon close inspection of the device, in severe disrepair, Monroe discovered an original demo of "Herny Burny Shmorgen Hargen" credited simply to The Swede. Inspired and moved by the haunting melodies preserved on that magnetic strip, Monroe started on a quest of discovery that would consume the rest of his life. This quest, of course, was to hunt down the source of this mysterious song and properly document the life and times of, it would turn out, a simple chef. His quest took him around the world several times over and, while combing through many European and Canadian record archives, he developed a unique cataloging system for music that is still used in modern days by no less than three recording studios.
In 1981 Tony Frye was born and 30 years later he started Microbrew Music.
