County Records
| County Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1963 |
| Founder | David Freeman |
| Defunct | 2018 |
| Distributor(s) | County Sales (retail) Record Depot (wholesale) |
| Genre | Old-time,bluegrass,country |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Charlottesville, Virginia |
| Official website | countysales |
County Recordswas a Virginia-based independent Americanrecord labelfounded byDavid Freemanin 1963. The label specialised inold-timeand traditionalbluegrass music.[1]
History[edit]
Old-time musiccollector David Freeman started the County Records label in 1963 to focus on music from the rural Southeastern United States. He told an interviewer that he selected the name "County"because it evoked the rural, regional and local aspects of old-time music.[1]Living in New York, Freeman avidly collected recordings from Southern musicians including old-time,bluegrass,countryandbluesartists. His new label's first release was a reissue of old-time music drawn from his personal collection of78 rpmrecordings from the 1920s and 1930s byCharlie Poole,theLeake County Revelers,Crockett's Mountaineers and similar string bands.A Collection of Mountain Fiddle Music(County 501) was released in 1964, and several similar reissues followed within the 500 series.[citation needed]
Around the same time, Freeman met Charles Faurot, an old-time banjo player from Chicago who was also living in New York. Faurot proposed that he make some new recordings of the old-time musicians who were still performing in Virginia and North Carolina. Freeman agreed, and Faurot traveled south to make field recordings of 15 artists. The first County Records release of new music wasClawhammerBanjo: Old Time Banjo and Fiddle Tunes(County 701) in 1965, recorded and produced by Faurot.[2]ThisLP albumincluded new recordings byWade Ward,who had previously been recorded byJohn LomaxandAlan Lomaxfor theLibrary of Congress.The album was also the recording debut for fiddle and banjo playersFred CockerhamandKyle Creed.Additional Faurot field recordings were released onMore Clawhammer Banjo (Volume 2)(County 717) in 1969 andClawhammer Banjo Volume 3(County 757) in 1978. Faurot eventually recorded and produced more than a dozen of County Records' early releases, all numbered in the 700 series to indicate non-reissues.[3]
County Records also expanded into thebluegrass musicgenre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965'sBlue Ridge Bluegrass(County 702) featuringLarry Richardsonand the Blue Ridge Boys.[citation needed]
It was announced that County Records went out of business and permanently shut down on 17 January 2018 after over 50 years of operation.[4][5][6]
Related businesses[edit]
Freeman ran County Records as a sideline while working for the railway post office. In 1965, he started a companion business, County Sales, to provide a mail-order retail outlet for his County Records releases and other hard-to-find titles. This enabled him to quit the railway job and focus on music full-time. Both businesses operated from a single room in his father's printing business on East 37th Street in New York.[1]In 1974 Freeman relocated his family, the record label and the distribution business toFloyd, Virginia.In 1977, he started a regional wholesale distribution business for old-time and bluegrass music, Record Depot, inRoanoke, Virginia.In 1978, Freeman helped his graphic artist Barry Poss start a new label inDurham, North CarolinacalledSugar Hill Records.[7]In contrast to County's focus on old-time and traditional bluegrass, Sugar Hill would specialize in the more modern and progressive bluegrass genres. In 1980, Freeman bought a pioneering bluegrass record label,Rebel Records,from Dick Freeland, one of the label's founders. Rebel's focus is mainstream bluegrass, somewhere between the traditional sound of County and the progressive sound of Sugar Hill.[1]
Awards[edit]
County Records founder David Freeman was inducted into theInternational Bluegrass Music Hall of Honorin 2002.[8]
Notable artists[edit]
- John Ashby
- Clarence Ashley
- Kenny Baker
- E.C. Ball
- Robert Byrd
- Gaither Carlton
- Carter Family
- Fred Cockerham
- Coon Creek Girls
- Kyle Creed
- Easter Brothers
- Foot Hill Boys
- Bill Grant and Delia Bell
- G. B. Grayson&Henry Whitter
- Bobby Hicks
- Tommy Jarrell
- Clark Kessinger
- Skillet Lickers
- Lilly Brothers & Don Stover
- Uncle Dave Macon
- Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers
- Charlie Poole
- Larry Richardson
- Eck Robertson
- Russell Family
- Herschel Sizemore
- Matokie Slaughter
- Art Stamper
- Ernest Stoneman
- Benny Thomasson
- Wade Ward
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^abcdWyatt, Marshall (August 11, 1999)."Every County Has Its Own Personality, An Interview With David Freeman".The Old-Time Herald.7(2). Durham, NC. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-03.Retrieved2009-05-21.
- ^ Reporter: Paul Brown (2006-03-21)."Historic Recordings Tell Clawhammer Banjo History".All Things Considered.NPR.
- ^ Wolfe, Charles (2004). "Dave Freeman and County Records". In Thomas Goldsmith (ed.).The Bluegrass Reader.Champaign, IL:University of Illinois Press.pp. 157–164.ISBN0-252-02914-3.
- ^County Sales going out of business
- ^"Virginia County Records".Retrieved4 February2019.
- ^"County Sales Demise Signals a New Era".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-04-17.Retrieved2018-04-17.
- ^ Hoffman, Frank; Ferstler, Howard, eds. (2005). "Country Records (sic)".Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound(2nd ed.).CRC Press.pp. 245–246.ISBN0-415-93835-X.
- ^Biography of David FreemanArchived2010-08-14 at theWayback Machineon website of the International Bluegrass Music Museum (accessed July 15, 2009).