Oh, Didn't They Ramble - David Menconi

 

The subtitle, "Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music", tells you all you need to know about this tale. Rounder Recorders was (and, apparently, still is) a label dedicated to Americana music before there was such a title. Started in the early 60's - the folk-oriented, pre-Beatles era - Rounder simply recorded what they were interested in, without a real interest in commercial sales (although that did come later). As liberal folk hippies (interestingly enough, they did try to stop their workers from unionizing later in the label's career, much to the chagrin of their earlier selves!) they gathered plenty of acoustic roots music (again, before the label really existed) from the South, but were not above a number of other styles, from blues to "Hollers"! Of course, as they grew and expanded - and their tastes did, as well - they gained popularity with the likes of George Thorogood (and others that I don't know) and provided an even wider variety of music.

The three founders of Rounder met in college - two roommates and a female friend - and their love of folk and related music solidified their friendship. They traveled the country in search of the sounds they dug and after encounters with others who were pressing records of unique individuals, they decided to try their hands at it themselves.

Starting slow, with just 2 releases the first year - fittingly, an old timer and a new group playing old time music - the label quickly grew with dozens of releases by their third year. They continued mixing old and new artists throughout their career and even expanded their musical orbits as they went along. Everything changed for them when they took a change on a blues-rocker (while rootsy, he was pretty different from anything that they had done before) and signed George Thorogood and his records slowly built up and went gold!

Even that added income mostly went into releasing more music and they expanded farther with everything from traditional sounds from Louisiana to reggae to African to Asian and more! I can't say that I am fans of everything that Rounder has put out, but you have to appreciate their fervor and their wide ranging tastes (especially considering how the label started!).

Thorogood wasn't the only artist to eventually move to a major, although most of the popular acts are are unfamiliar to me, but I love the story that Rounder got to reissue 10 out of print Warner Brothers records in a contract! They also kept a number of artists with them while going gold and platinum - quite a feat for an independent label!

Eventually, though, the Rounder Founders did decide to pull back and sold the label, which caused it to become more corporate, which disappointed some of their steadfast artists, even if they understood. The quantity as well as the quality diminished and while the label still exists, it is not (apparently) the powerhouse it once was.

I really dug this one - a well-told tale of a classic independent label. Kudos to all involved!