Star-day King Records
Encyclopedia
Starday Records was a record label
producing traditional country music
during the 1950s and 1960s.
when local businessmen Jack Starnes (Lefty Frizzell
's manager) and Houston record distributor Harold W. Daily
(better known as "Pappy") decided to form a record label. The Starday name is a combination of Starnes' and Daily's last names. After four releases, former Four Star vice president Don Pierce was brought into the fold and the three men founded the Starday Recording and Publishing Company.
In addition to creating the largest bluegrass catalogue throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, Starday was also known for its legendary rockabilly catalogue, an extensive Texas honky-tonk outpouring, classic gospel and sacred recordings and as a Nashville independent powerhouse studio and record label. Starday was the largest exclusively country label of the period and is renowned among record collectors for producing a level of pure, undiluted country music that was becoming increasingly rare on the major labels. Starday released the first recordings of George Jones
and country stars like the, Willie Nelson
, Dottie West
, the Big Bopper, and Roger Miller
. Comedienne Minnie Pearl
released a number of records for the label. Several veteran country stars were also on Starday, including Cowboy Copas
, Helen Carter, Johnny Bond
, and T. Texas Tyler
. The label also featured several legendary country radio-based acts in the twilight of their careers, such as the Blue Sky Boys
, Lulu Belle and Scotty
, Texas Ruby
, and Moon Mullican
, performers not likely of much interest to the big labels in the 1960s. The label may be best-known for the dozens of budget-priced compilation albums it released featuring artists on or at one time on the label.
Starday's most successful artist was perhaps Red Sovine
, who scored a number of hits in the 1960s on the label. Starday also produced a series of classic anthologies of trucker records by various artists including Copas, Bond, Sovine, The Willis Brothers and bluegrass
acts including Moore & Napier and Reno & Smiley. These LPs were renowned for their color covers shot at Nashville
area truck stops with real rigs and shapely female models dressed as waitresses.
When Syd Nathan
died in 1968, his label King Records
was acquired by Hal Neely's Starday Company. Neely relaunched the label as Starday-King Records. The label was sold to Lin Broadcasting (sale consummated in 1970), which in turn sold it to Tennessee Recording and Publishing Company, owned by Freddy Bienstock, Hal Neely, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who sold it in 1974 to Gusto Records
.
By the end of the 1960s, Starday's new product was limited and most of its recordings were reissues, many of them originally recorded or released on other small labels. The Starday label briefly made a strong comeback in the mid 1970s when Gusto Records' Red Sovine took his recitation song
record "Teddy Bear" to number one on the Billboard
country chart in 1976 using the Starday label, and even made the back of the pop chart. This record rose to #1 in seven weeks, the fastest rise to the #1 position for any 45 rpm record released before or since.
University Press of Mississippi will publish the Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built, written by Nathan D. Gibson with Starday president Don Pierce, in January 2011. The book retraces the label’s origins in 1953 through 1968 and the Starday-King merger.
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,...
producing traditional country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
during the 1950s and 1960s.
History
The label began in 1953 in Beaumont, TexasBeaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
when local businessmen Jack Starnes (Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
's manager) and Houston record distributor Harold W. Daily
Pappy Daily
Harold W. Daily , better known as "Pappy" Daily, was an American country music record producer and entrepreneur who cofounded the Texas-based record label Starday Records...
(better known as "Pappy") decided to form a record label. The Starday name is a combination of Starnes' and Daily's last names. After four releases, former Four Star vice president Don Pierce was brought into the fold and the three men founded the Starday Recording and Publishing Company.
In addition to creating the largest bluegrass catalogue throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, Starday was also known for its legendary rockabilly catalogue, an extensive Texas honky-tonk outpouring, classic gospel and sacred recordings and as a Nashville independent powerhouse studio and record label. Starday was the largest exclusively country label of the period and is renowned among record collectors for producing a level of pure, undiluted country music that was becoming increasingly rare on the major labels. Starday released the first recordings of George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
and country stars like the, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Dottie West
Dottie West
Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...
, the Big Bopper, and Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
. Comedienne Minnie Pearl
Minnie Pearl
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...
released a number of records for the label. Several veteran country stars were also on Starday, including Cowboy Copas
Cowboy Copas
Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in...
, Helen Carter, Johnny Bond
Johnny Bond
Cyrus Whitfield Bond , known professionally as Johnny Bond, was a popular American country music entertainer of the 1940s through the 1960s.-Biography:...
, and T. Texas Tyler
T. Texas Tyler
David Luke Myrick , known professionally as T. Texas Tyler, was an American country music singer and songwriter primarily known for his 1948 hit, "The Deck of Cards".-Biography:...
. The label also featured several legendary country radio-based acts in the twilight of their careers, such as the Blue Sky Boys
The Blue Sky Boys
The Blue Sky Boys were an American country music duo consisting of the brothers Earl Bolick and Bill Bolick , whose careers spanned over forty years.-Biography:...
, Lulu Belle and Scotty
Lulu Belle and Scotty
Myrtle Eleanor Cooper and Scott Greene Wiseman , known professionally as Lulu Belle and Scotty, were one of the major country music acts of the 1930s and 1940s, dubbed The Sweethearts of Country Music.-Career:Cooper was born in Boone, North Carolina; Wiseman was from Spruce Pine, North...
, Texas Ruby
Texas Ruby
Texas Ruby , born Ruby Agnes Owens, was a pioneering country music female vocalist of the 1930s through the early 1960s.-Biography:...
, and Moon Mullican
Moon Mullican
Aubrey Wilson Mullican , known as Moon Mullican, was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. However, he also sang and played jazz, rock 'n' roll and the blues...
, performers not likely of much interest to the big labels in the 1960s. The label may be best-known for the dozens of budget-priced compilation albums it released featuring artists on or at one time on the label.
Starday's most successful artist was perhaps Red Sovine
Red Sovine
Woodrow Wilson Sovine , better known as Red Sovine, was an American country music singer associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music...
, who scored a number of hits in the 1960s on the label. Starday also produced a series of classic anthologies of trucker records by various artists including Copas, Bond, Sovine, The Willis Brothers and bluegrass
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...
acts including Moore & Napier and Reno & Smiley. These LPs were renowned for their color covers shot at Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
area truck stops with real rigs and shapely female models dressed as waitresses.
When Syd Nathan
Syd Nathan
Syd Nathan was an American hillbilly, country & western and rhythm and blues record producer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He started the Queen record label in 1943. In 1947 it was renamed King Records. James Brown's first single "Please, Please, Please" was released on their subsidiary label...
died in 1968, his label King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
was acquired by Hal Neely's Starday Company. Neely relaunched the label as Starday-King Records. The label was sold to Lin Broadcasting (sale consummated in 1970), which in turn sold it to Tennessee Recording and Publishing Company, owned by Freddy Bienstock, Hal Neely, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who sold it in 1974 to Gusto Records
Gusto Records
Gusto Records is a Nashville, Tennessee based record company specializing in reissuing and licensing recordings from its vast catalogue of music from acquired record labels and their own studio recordings....
.
By the end of the 1960s, Starday's new product was limited and most of its recordings were reissues, many of them originally recorded or released on other small labels. The Starday label briefly made a strong comeback in the mid 1970s when Gusto Records' Red Sovine took his recitation song
Recitation song
A recitation song or "recitation" as it is more commonly called, is a spoken narrative to music, generally with a sentimental theme. Such numbers were quite popular in country music from the 1930s into the 1960s although few in number...
record "Teddy Bear" to number one on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country chart in 1976 using the Starday label, and even made the back of the pop chart. This record rose to #1 in seven weeks, the fastest rise to the #1 position for any 45 rpm record released before or since.
University Press of Mississippi will publish the Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built, written by Nathan D. Gibson with Starday president Don Pierce, in January 2011. The book retraces the label’s origins in 1953 through 1968 and the Starday-King merger.
Starday's greatest hits
| Record | Artist | Year | Billboard Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Why Baby Why" | George Jones George Jones George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.... | 1955 | 4 | |
| "What Am I Worth" | George Jones George Jones George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.... | 1956 | 7 | |
| "You Gotta Be My Baby" | George Jones George Jones George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.... | 1956 | 7 | |
| "Just One More" | George Jones George Jones George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.... | 1956 | 3 | |
| "Black Land Farmer" | Frankie Miller Frankie Miller Frankie Miller is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter, who had his biggest success in the 1970s. Miller was raised at Colvend Street, Glasgow with his parents, Cathy and Frank, and elder sisters Letty and Anne. Miller attended Sacred Heart Primary school. He was an altar boy in Sacred Heart Chapel... | 1959 | 5 | |
| "Family Man" | Frankie Miller Frankie Miller Frankie Miller is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter, who had his biggest success in the 1970s. Miller was raised at Colvend Street, Glasgow with his parents, Cathy and Frank, and elder sisters Letty and Anne. Miller attended Sacred Heart Primary school. He was an altar boy in Sacred Heart Chapel... | 1959 | 7 | |
| "Dear Mama" | Merle Kilgore Merle Kilgore Wyatt Merle Kilgore was an American singer, songwriter, and manager.-Early life:Although born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, Merle Kilgore was raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the son of Wyatt and Gladys B. Kilgore... | 1960 | 12 | |
| "Alabam Alabam (Cowboy Copas song) "Alabam" is a 1960 song by Cowboy Copas. "Alabam" would be the most successful release of Cowboy Copas and becoming his only single to hit the Hot 100, peaking at number sixty-three... " | Cowboy Copas Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in... | 1960 | 1 | |
| "Baby Rocked Her Dolly" | Frankie Miller Frankie Miller Frankie Miller is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter, who had his biggest success in the 1970s. Miller was raised at Colvend Street, Glasgow with his parents, Cathy and Frank, and elder sisters Letty and Anne. Miller attended Sacred Heart Primary school. He was an altar boy in Sacred Heart Chapel... | 1960 | 15 | |
| "Love Has Made You Beautiful" | Merle Kilgore Merle Kilgore Wyatt Merle Kilgore was an American singer, songwriter, and manager.-Early life:Although born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, Merle Kilgore was raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the son of Wyatt and Gladys B. Kilgore... | 1960 | 10 | |
| "Flat Top" | Cowboy Copas Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in... | 1961 | 9 | |
| "Sunny Tennessee" | Cowboy Copas Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in... | 1961 | 12 | |
| "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" | Cowboy Copas Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in... | 1961 | 10 | |
| "Ragged But Right" | Moon Mullican Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican , known as Moon Mullican, was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. However, he also sang and played jazz, rock 'n' roll and the blues... | 1961 | 15 | |
| "10 Little Bottles" | Johnny Bond Johnny Bond Cyrus Whitfield Bond , known professionally as Johnny Bond, was a popular American country music entertainer of the 1940s through the 1960s.-Biography:... | 1963 | 2 | |
| "Goodbye Kisses" | Cowboy Copas Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in... | 1963 | 12 | |
| "Give Me 40 Acres" | The Willis Brothers The Willis Brothers The Willis Brothers were a country music ensemble from Oklahoma, consisting of several brothers.Three of the Willis brothers played together as teenagers from the early 1930s under the name Oklahoma Wranglers. They were regulars on Shawnee, Oklahoma station KGEF through the decade, but in 1939,... | 1964 | 4 | |
| "Giddyup Go" | Red Sovine Red Sovine Woodrow Wilson Sovine , better known as Red Sovine, was an American country music singer associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music... | 1966 | 1 | |
| "Giddyup Go Answer" | Minnie Pearl Minnie Pearl Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,... | 1966 | 9 | |
| "Phantom 309" | Red Sovine Red Sovine Woodrow Wilson Sovine , better known as Red Sovine, was an American country music singer associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music... | 1967 | 9 | |
| "Bob" | The Willis Brothers The Willis Brothers The Willis Brothers were a country music ensemble from Oklahoma, consisting of several brothers.Three of the Willis brothers played together as teenagers from the early 1930s under the name Oklahoma Wranglers. They were regulars on Shawnee, Oklahoma station KGEF through the decade, but in 1939,... | 1967 | 9 | |
| "Teddy Bear Teddy Bear (Red Sovine song) "Teddy Bear" is a song made famous by country music singer Red Sovine. Released in 1976, the song was the title track to Sovine's album released that same year.-Story of Red Sovine's song Teddy Bear:... " | Red Sovine Red Sovine Woodrow Wilson Sovine , better known as Red Sovine, was an American country music singer associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music... | 1976 | 1 |