Kicking Mule Records - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kicking Mule Records was an independent American record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

founded in 1972

1972 in music

-Events:*January 17 – Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Boulevard"*January 20 – The début of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties,...

by Stefan Grossman

Stefan Grossman

Stefan Grossman is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records.-Early life and influences:Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Herbert and Ruth Grossman...

and Eugene "ED" Denson

ED Denson

Eugene "ED" Denson is an American music group manager, producer, record label owner, and - later - lawyer, who has made notable contributions to folk, blues, and early San Francisco rock.-Biography:Denson was born in Washington D.C. in 1940...

. Denson was previously a co-owner of Takoma Records

Takoma Records

Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s.. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.-History:...

. The company's title comes from the country blues

Country blues

Country blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...

sexual two-timing allegory

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

"there's another mule kicking in your stall". During the 1970s the company specialized in solo fingerpicking guitar LPs. The artists who recorded include Grossman, Reverend Gary Davis

Reverend Gary Davis

Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica...

, Duck Baker

Duck Baker

Duck Baker is an accomplished and influential American fingerstyle guitarist, who in his playing combines genres as varied as rags, blues, country, gospel, cajun, bluegrass, Celtic music, ballads and jazz, swing, New Orleans jazz and free jazz.-Biography and career:Baker grew up in Richmond,...

, John Renbourn

John Renbourn

John Renbourn is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence .While most commonly labelled a...

, Bob Brozman

Bob Brozman

Bob Brozman is an American guitarist and ethnomusicologist.He has performed in a number of styles such as Gypsy jazz, calypso, Blues, ragtime, Hawaiian and Caribbean music. Brozman has also collaborated with musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds such as India, Africa, Japan, Papua New Guinea...

, Dale Miller, Davey Graham

Davey Graham

David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham, originally spelled Davy Graham, , was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival...

, Woody Mann

Woody Mann

-Biography:Mann specializes in jazz, blues, and American roots music.He was born in New York, where he first studied acoustic guitar with ragtime and blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis from 1968-72. From 1973-78, Mann continued private lessons, focusing on improvisation with jazz pianist Lennie...

, Chris Proctor, Tom Ball and Peter Finger. In the 1980s Denson took over solo control and branched out to include many dulcimer

Appalachian dulcimer

The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...

releases, as well as recordings by Charlie Musselwhite and Michael Bloomfield. In the early 1990s Fantasy Records

Fantasy Records

Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label...

bought both Takoma and Kicking Mule from Denson and soon began to re-release selected LPs on CD. In 2004

2004 in music

See also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....

all of Fantasy's labels were purchased by Concord Records

Concord Records

Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...

, which was renamed the Concord Music Group

Concord Music Group

Concord Music Group is a record company owned by Village Roadshow formed in 2004 by the merger of Concord Records and Fantasy Records. In 2005, the company acquired the classics and jazz label Telarc International. On December 18, 2006, Concord announced the re-launch of the soul label Stax;...

. A few of the Kicking Mule titles were retained by Grossman and have been reissued on Shanachie Records

Shanachie Records

Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic...

.

Currently, Kicking Mule is handled by Ace Records (UK)

Ace Records (UK)

Ace Records Ltd. was started in 1978. Initially the company only gained permission from the label based in Mississippi to use the name in the UK, but eventually also acquired the rights to publish their recordings. When Chiswick's pop side was licensed to EMI in 1984, Ace switched to more licensing...

External links

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