County Records
Encyclopedia
County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass (County 702) featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.
Related businesses
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. In 1974 Freeman relocated his family, the record label and the distribution business to Floyd, VirginiaFloyd, Virginia
Floyd is a town in Floyd County, Virginia, United States. The population was 432 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Floyd County. The Town of Floyd was originally named Jacksonville as the surrounding county was formed during the tenure of President Andrew Jackson...
. In 1977, he started a regional wholesale distribution business for old-time and bluegrass music, Record Depot, in Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
. In 1978, Freeman helped his graphic artist Barry Poss start a new label in Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
called Sugar Hill Records. 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
Rebel Records
In 1980, Freeland sold the label to David Freeman, the founder of County Records. Rebel currently has 140 titles in print from more than 35 different artists and groups. In 2008, the label released 8 new titles, including ones from Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks.-Notable artists:...
, 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.
Awards
County Records founder David Freeman was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of HonorInternational Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor
Induction to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, called the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor from its creation in 1991 through 2006, is managed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, and the Hall itself is maintained at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in...
in 2002.
Notable County Records artists
- Clarence AshleyClarence Ashley"Tom" Clarence Ashley was an American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands...
- Gaither CarltonGaither CarltonGaither Wiley Carlton was an American Old-time fiddle player and banjo player. He is best known for his appearances accompanying his son-in-law Doc Watson during the folk music revival of the 1960s. While not recorded before the folk revival, Carlton had been playing with some of the region's...
- Fred CockerhamFred CockerhamFred Cockerham was a fiddle and banjo player of American folk music.Cockerham was one of the seven children of Elias and Betty Jane Cockerham in North Carolina. He was one of the most accomplished of all the "Round Peak," North Carolina musicians but is most commonly known as the banjo accompanist...
- Kyle CreedKyle CreedKyle Creed was an influential musician and banjo luthier of 20th century Appalachia. Along with Tommy Jarrell, and Fred Cockerham, he is considered to be one of the originators of the Roundpeak clawhammer banjo style that developed in the 1960s and came to shape banjo practices in the Old-time...
- Uncle Dave MaconUncle Dave MaconUncle Dave Macon , born David Harrison Macon—also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop"—was an American banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian...
- Carter FamilyCarter FamilyThe Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country...
- G. B. GraysonG. B. GraysonGilliam Banmon Grayson was an American Old-time fiddle player and singer. Mostly blind from infancy, Grayson is chiefly remembered for a series of sides recorded with guitarist Henry Whitter between 1927 and 1930 that would later influence numerous country, bluegrass, and rock musicians...
& Henry WhitterHenry WhitterHenry Whitter was an early country musician.-Biography:... - Bobby HicksBobby HicksBobby Hicks is a Grammy Award bluegrass fiddler and a professional musician with more than fifty years of experience.Hicks was born in Newton, North Carolina and learned to play the fiddle before he was 9 years old. He attended several fiddlers conventions and at the age of eleven, he won the...
- Tommy JarrellTommy JarrellTommy Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.-Biography:...
- Clark KessingerClark KessingerClark Kessinger was an influential American old-time fiddler. Many of his fiddle tunes made their way to other fiddlers or into the bluegrass music genre.-Biography:...
- Skillet LickersSkillet LickersThe Skillet Lickers were an old-time band from Georgia, USA.When Gid Tanner teamed up with blind guitarist Riley Puckett and signed to Columbia in 1924, they created the label's earliest so-called "hillbilly" recording. Gid Tanner formed The Skillet Lickers in 1926. The first line-up was Gid...
- Charlie PooleCharlie PooleCharlie Poole was an American old time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 to 1930.-Biography:...
- Larry RichardsonLarry RichardsonLarry Richardson was an American bluegrass and old time banjoist and guitarist from Galax, Virginia. He is known for his work with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys, and the Blue Ridge Boys....
- Eck RobertsonEck RobertsonAlexander "Eck" Robertson was an American fiddle player, mostly known for commercially recording the first country music songs in 1922 with Henry Gilliland.-Early life:...
- Matokie SlaughterMatokie SlaughterMatokie Worrell Slaughter was an American clawhammer banjo player....
- Art Stamper
- Ernest StonemanErnest StonemanErnest Van "Pop" Stoneman ranked among the prominent recording artists of country music's first commercial decade.-Biography:...
- Benny ThomassonBenny ThomassonBenny Thomasson was an American fiddler in the Texas style of old-time fiddling.Thomasson was born in Runnels County, Texas and raised in Gatesville, one of 10 children in a family where music was not only encouraged, it was a key ingredient of life. His parents were Lucas "Red Luke" and Sarah...
- Wade WardWade Ward-External links:...
See also
- List of record labels
- Rebel RecordsRebel RecordsIn 1980, Freeland sold the label to David Freeman, the founder of County Records. Rebel currently has 140 titles in print from more than 35 different artists and groups. In 2008, the label released 8 new titles, including ones from Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks.-Notable artists:...
- David Freeman