[2][3] His father managed the family's farm supply business, and his mother, Viola (Culler), was a housewife.

[2] Over his lifetime, Bussard amassed a collection of between 15,000 and 25,000 records, primarily of American folk, gospel, jazz, and blues from the 1920s and 1930s.

[2][5] Bussard was the subject of a documentary film, Desperate Man Blues (2003), and his collection was mined for a compilation CD, Down in the Basement.

[6] His daughter reckoned that a minimum of 150 individuals visited their home annually to hear him play songs and recount how he obtained his records.

[3] Bussard produced a weekly music program, Country Classics, for Georgia Tech's radio station, WREK Atlanta.

[7] He had radio programs on other stations: including WPAQ-AM 740 in Mount Airy, North Carolina, and WDVX in Knoxville, Tennessee.