Little Labels- Big Sound

by Rick Kennedy, Randy McNutt, Al Kooper (Contributor)

Little Labels -- Big Sound celebrates 10 legendary record labels, their founders and the artists they developed, people who created original and enduring music on the tide of social change. From the 1920s through the 1960s, scores of small, independent record companies nurtured distinctly American music: jazz, blues, gospel, country, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll. These companies, run on shoestring budgets, were on the fringe of mainstream culture. Louis Armstrong, Hank Williams, James Brown, Roy Orbison, and other musicians brought regional American styles to a world audience and won enduring fame for themselves. But often forgotten are the colorful owners of small record labels who first recorded these musicians and helped to popularize their sound before the dominant, more bureaucratic competitors knew what had happened.Rick Kennedy and Randy McNutt bring alive the glory days of the independent labels and their colorful founders, many of whom were interviewed for this book. Sometimes these men were visionaries. Ross Russell, a record-store owner in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s, risked his last dollar to create Dial Records because he was convinced that an obscure jazz saxophonist named Charlie Parker was creating a music revolution with his bebop jazz. Sam Phillips in Memphis had recorded white country and black R&B singers in the early 1950s, so he knew exactly what he was looking for when a shy, teenaged Elvis Presley walked into his storefront studio in 1954 and asked to make a record.

Other owners had little appreciation for the music but were street-smart entrepreneurs. The white-owned "race" labels of the 1920s, for example, recognized a black consumer market thatthe recording business had previously ignored. Operating out of such cities as Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, and New Orleans, these savvy business people promoted regional sounds that were to reverberate around the world.

But influencing the development of music wasn't what these record-label owners had in mind; they were just trying to earn a living. Today, when most of the independent record labels have gone under or have been gobbled up by big conglomerates, the music they produced on primitive equipment remains fresh -- and bigger than life.

Little Labels -- Big Sound tells with verve and affection the story of the people and the small homegrown companies who gave America its beat.

Genres: Music, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 1999

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me far longer to read than it should have, due mostly to a court case & assorted work-related bullshit. Although relatively short, it was an enjoyable and informative read. The stories around the many independent record labels that once participated in the music industry here in the U.S. are many and fascinating, full of colorful characters and strange sequences of events. This book only provides a small taste, but it is well worth reading for anyone interested in the history of popular music during the 20th century...

Now if I could just figure out why the "e" on my keyboard has quit working, I'd be a happy man...

[Rupert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little introduction to the early world of small labels, most of which were mainly furniture store operators or some other form of sales business. Nice photos, good lucid writing. Sad how so much music was lost during the second World War and depression.

[Bob Entwistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors chronicle the history of small record companies that promoted blues, R & B, jazz, country, rockabilly and more.

Starting with the lesser known Gennett and Paramount that covered the 1920s and into the Depression years of the 30s up to the more recent Delmark which still exists today. The big hitter they cover is Sun Records, a story told in more detail elsewhere.

While coverage of a few of the labels amounts mostly to a cavalcade of artist names that you may want to sample from a listening perspective, the coverage of others such as the Dial label that is famous for bringing Charlie Parker's jazz to a larger world actually gives more insight into the founder's life and struggles.

Overall the book could have benefited from more interviews with the owners, people that knew them or artists involved, but in many cases these people just aren't around anymore. I do think that some of the owners got off rather easily image wise here as they all recorded this music on the cheap, often took a large cut of publishing and song writing royalties and in some cases (Don Robey?) generally behaved like thugs.

Still a good insight into what it took to bring out music for rural and largely Black listeners in a world where there was not much incentive to do that.

[emily ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

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