Revisiting A '70s Teen 'Dream'

While writing an album's worth of songs is no small task, recording those songs has never been easier, thanks, in part, to digital technology and the distribution potential of the Internet. But in the late 1970s, making a record was much more difficult to accompilsh, especially if you lived on a farm in rural Washington State.

Back then, two brothers named Donnie and Joe Emerson recorded an album called Dreamin' Wild in a home studio built by their family. The record didn't make a big splash, but a recent reissue of this obscure, forgotten collection of songs about teenage love is surprisingly attracting a lot of attention. John talks with Donnie Emerson and reporter Steven Kurutz, who wrote about Dreamin' Wild for The New York Times.