Red House Records
Encyclopedia
Red House Records is an American
independent record label
specializing in folk music
and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The label was originally created in 1981
by Greg Brown as a method to distribute his own music, and is named for a farmhouse in Iowa
where he was living. After Brown's albums 44 & 66
and The Iowa Waltz
were released in 1981 and 1982, it briefly went dormant until he met Bob Feldman in 1983. Feldman took over operation of the record label, while Brown focused on his musical endeavors (he had just signed on to regularly perform on the radio
program A Prairie Home Companion
). Feldman was known for his business philosophy “to provide a home and environment in which creative artists can make albums in total freedom—without interference from mogul types just looking for the next hit single.” The first album released on the newly-restarted label was Brown's In the Dark with You
.
Over the next few years, the label focused on publishing work by musicians in the upper Midwest
, including Spider John Koerner
, Prudence Johnson
, Peter Ostroushko
, Rio Nido
, Jorma Kaukonen
and John Gorka
. The label weathered difficult conditions as the music industry transitioned from vinyl
to compact disc
s, and started signing established artists from across the U.S. Utah Phillips
, Tom Paxton
, Norman Blake
, Eliza Gilkyson
, Loudon Wainwright III
,
Robin and Linda Williams
, Cliff Eberhardt
, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott
are among the dozens of performers who have released music through Red House. Elliot's South Coast
won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
in 1996. Eberhardt's album, "The High above and the Down Below", released by Red House in 2007, was named one of the TOP 5 of 2007 by USA Today. Other recordings from the label have racked up about a dozen Indie Awards from the Association for Independent Music (AFIM) and the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD). The label has released a number of compilation albums, including A Nod to Bob
, which is described by Red House as a tribute from a Minnesota label to a favorite native son.
Feldman continued to head the company until his health deteriorated in late 2005. A few weeks after leaving work, he died on January 11, 2006 at the age of 56.
Red House Records has recently signed Storyhill
, an acoustic duo originally from Bozeman Montana.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
specializing in folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The label was originally created in 1981
1981 in music
See also:* Timeline of musical eventsThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1981.-January–April:*January 10 – A revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance opens at Broadway's Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith.*January 24 –...
by Greg Brown as a method to distribute his own music, and is named for a farmhouse in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
where he was living. After Brown's albums 44 & 66
44 & 66
44 & 66 is the title of an album by folk singer/guitarist Greg Brown. It was re-issued in 1984 on Red House Records, the second release by the newly formed label.-Reception:...
and The Iowa Waltz
The Iowa Waltz
The Iowa Waltz is the title of an album by folk singer/guitarist Greg Brown. It was re-issued in 1984 by Red House Records. It was their very first release, carrying the issue number "01" of the newly formed label.-Reception:...
were released in 1981 and 1982, it briefly went dormant until he met Bob Feldman in 1983. Feldman took over operation of the record label, while Brown focused on his musical endeavors (he had just signed on to regularly perform on the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
program A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
). Feldman was known for his business philosophy “to provide a home and environment in which creative artists can make albums in total freedom—without interference from mogul types just looking for the next hit single.” The first album released on the newly-restarted label was Brown's In the Dark with You
In the Dark with You
In the Dark With You is the title of an album by folk singer/guitarist Greg Brown, released in 1985.-Reception:Writing for Allmusic, music critic William Ruhlman called the album "Humorous and sardonic reflections on domestic life and aging, from a journeyman folksinger."-Track listing:All song by...
.
Over the next few years, the label focused on publishing work by musicians in the upper Midwest
Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the midwest. Although there are no uniformly agreed-upon boundaries, the region is most commonly used to refer to the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and...
, including Spider John Koerner
Spider John Koerner
"Spider" John Koerner is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover, which included Dave Ray and Tony Glover...
, Prudence Johnson
Prudence Johnson
Prudence Johnson is an American jazz and folk vocalist.-Biography:Prudence Johnson grew up in a musical family in Moose Lake, Minnesota. In the early 1970s, Prudence was a co-founder with Tim Sparks of the vocal jazz group Rio Nido...
, Peter Ostroushko
Peter Ostroushko
Peter Ostroushko is an American violinist and mandolinist.-Background and career:Of Ukrainian ancestry, Ostroushko grew up in northeast Minneapolis...
, Rio Nido
Rio Nido
-Band history:Rio Nido was a jazz vocal trio that began as part of the Minneapolis West Bank music scene in the early 1970s. The first incarnation of the group consisted of Prudence Johnson on vocals, Tim Sparks on vocals and guitar, and Tom Lieberman on guitar and vocals...
, Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...
and John Gorka
John Gorka
John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...
. The label weathered difficult conditions as the music industry transitioned from vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
to compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s, and started signing established artists from across the U.S. Utah Phillips
Utah Phillips
Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist...
, Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
, Norman Blake
Norman Blake (American musician)
Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...
, Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson is an Austin, Texas-based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and Jane Gilkyson. She is the sister of guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles-based bands Lone Justice and X...
, Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
,
Robin and Linda Williams
Robin and Linda Williams
Robin and Linda Williams are a husband-and-wife singer-songwriter folk music duo from Virginia. They began their musical association in Nashville, TN in 1971, performing in local clubs....
, Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is a founding member of the Fast Folk Music Cooperative in New York City. Eberhardt joined Red House Records in 1997 and has recorded five albums for the label, the most recent in 2009, 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions...
, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
are among the dozens of performers who have released music through Red House. Elliot's South Coast
South Coast (album)
South Coast is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in 1998. It was his first new studio release in over 20 years.At the Grammy Awards of 1996, South Coast won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album.-Reception:...
won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording.An award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was also presented...
in 1996. Eberhardt's album, "The High above and the Down Below", released by Red House in 2007, was named one of the TOP 5 of 2007 by USA Today. Other recordings from the label have racked up about a dozen Indie Awards from the Association for Independent Music (AFIM) and the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD). The label has released a number of compilation albums, including A Nod to Bob
A Nod to Bob
A Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His 60th Birthday is a 2001 tribute to Bob Dylan by artists on the Red House Records label. Red House is a folk-oriented label from Dylan's home state of Minnesota. The songs selected are almost entirely from the early phase of Dylan's...
, which is described by Red House as a tribute from a Minnesota label to a favorite native son.
Feldman continued to head the company until his health deteriorated in late 2005. A few weeks after leaving work, he died on January 11, 2006 at the age of 56.
Red House Records has recently signed Storyhill
Storyhill
Storyhill is an American folk duo, composed of Chris Cunningham and John Hermanson. The acoustic songwriting duo formed in Bozeman, Montana in 1989 simply as Chris & Johnny. They did not adopt the name Storyhill until 1996. They started performing together in Montana and later Minnesota, creating...
, an acoustic duo originally from Bozeman Montana.