Gilt-Edge (record label)

Last updated

Gilt-Edge was a short-lived American record label in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Richard A. Nelson in 1944 and remained active until March 1946 when it was subsumed into 4 Star Records; another record company to which Nelson was attached. [1]

Gilt-Edge was primarily a race record company which had a target audience of African-Americans. Artists who made records with them included blues musician Cecil Gant and jazz musician Wingy Manone. [1] However, the record label also had other types of musicians in its roster, including country singer Frankie Miller. [2] Gilt-Edge's artists were transferred to 4 Star Records when it ceased operation. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waylon Jennings</span> American country musician (1937–2002)

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered a chief pioneer of the outlaw movement in country music, and was one of the most commercially successful country artists from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, with a string of number one hits and critically acclaimed albums following his rebellion against the conservative Nashville recording industry.

Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitars. Country rock began with artists like Buffalo Springfield, Michael Nesmith, Bob Dylan, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, The International Submarine Band and others, reaching its greatest popularity in the 1970s with artists such as Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Poco, Charlie Daniels Band, and Pure Prairie League. Country rock also influenced artists in other genres, including The Band, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones, and George Harrison's solo work, as well as playing a part in the development of Southern rock.

Alternative country is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream country music, mainstream country rock, and country pop. Alternative country artists are often influenced by alternative rock. Most frequently, the term has been used to describe certain country music and country rock bands and artists that are also defined as or have incorporated influences from alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, heartland rock, Southern rock, progressive country, outlaw country, neotraditional country, Texas country, Red Dirt, roots rock, indie folk, folk rock, rockabilly, bluegrass, and honky tonk.

Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters in the 1940s. Their styles developed into West Coast blues, Detroit blues, and post-World War II Chicago blues, which differed from earlier, predominantly acoustic-style blues. By the early 1950s, Little Walter was a featured soloist on blues harmonica using a small hand-held microphone fed into a guitar amplifier. Although it took a little longer, the electric bass guitar gradually replaced the stand-up bass by the early 1960s. Electric organs and especially keyboards later became widely used in electric blues.

<i>Red Headed Stranger</i> 1975 studio album by Willie Nelson

Red Headed Stranger is the eighteenth studio album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1975. Following the success of his recordings with Atlantic Records, coupled with the negotiating skills of his manager, Neil Reshen, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, the label that gave him total creative control over his works. The concept for the album was inspired by the "Tale of the Red Headed Stranger", a song that Nelson used to play as a disc jockey on his program in Fort Worth, Texas. After signing with Columbia, he decided to record the song, and arranged the details during his return to Austin, Texas, from a trip to Colorado. It was recorded at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. The songs featured sparse arrangements, largely limited to Nelson's guitar, piano, and drums. Nelson presented the finished material to Columbia executives, who were dubious about releasing an album that they at first thought was a demo. However, Nelson had creative control, so no further production was added.

Fred Luther Foster was an American record producer, songwriter, and music business executive who founded Monument Records and Combine Music. As a record producer he was most closely associated with Roy Orbison, and was also involved in the early careers of Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. Foster suggested to Kris Kristofferson the title and theme of "Me and Bobby McGee", which became a hit for Kristofferson, Roger Miller, and Janis Joplin, and for which Foster received a co-writing credit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music history of the United States in the 1950s</span>

Many musical styles flourished and combined in the 1940s and 1950s, most likely because of the influence the radio had in creating a mass market for music. World War II caused great social upheaval, and the music of this period shows the effects of that upheaval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Laine</span> American singer (1913–2007)

Frankie Laine was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005. Often billed as "America's Number One Song Stylist", his other nicknames include "Mr. Rhythm", "Old Leather Lungs", and "Mr. Steel Tonsils". His hits included "That's My Desire", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Mule Train", "Jezebel", "High Noon", "I Believe", "Hey Joe!", "The Kid's Last Fight", "Cool Water", "Rawhide", and "You Gave Me a Mountain".

Outlaw country is a subgenre of American country music created by a small group of iconoclastic artists active in the 1970s and early 1980s, known collectively as the outlaw movement, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville establishment that dictated the sound of most country music of the era. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Paycheck and David Allan Coe were among the movement's most commercially successful members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Bush</span> American musician (1935–2020)

John Bush Shinn III was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Nicknamed the "Country Caruso", Bush was best known for his distinctive voice and for writing the song "Whiskey River", a top 10 hit for himself which also became the signature song of fellow country artist Willie Nelson. He was especially popular in his native Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GRP Records</span> Jazz label

GRP® Records is a jazz record label founded by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen in 1978. Distributed by Verve Records, GRP® was originally known for its digital recordings that focuses on its jazz genre.

Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist.

Floyd Tillman was an American country musician who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4 Star Records</span> American record label

4 Star Records was a record label that recorded many well-known country music acts in the 1950s. The label, founded after World War II, was home to singers such as Hank Locklin, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Rose Maddox, Webb Pierce, Cousin Ford Lewis and T. Texas Tyler, who all regularly issued records on the label, mostly as 78rpm singles.

<i>...And Then I Wrote</i> 1962 studio album by Willie Nelson

...And Then I Wrote is the debut studio album by country singer Willie Nelson, recorded during August and September 1962 and released through Liberty Records.

Frankie Miller is an American former country singer.

This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1950s.

Terry Fell was an American country musician. His famous song is "Truck Drivin Man"(1954).

World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music.

James Albert Beck was an American country music talent agent, record promoter, recording studio owner, A&R engineer, record producer, and music publisher from Dallas, Texas, best known for discovering and being the first to record Lefty Frizzell.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Howard Rye (2002). "Gilt-edge". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J168700.
  2. Kurt Wolff (2000). "Frankie Miller". Country Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN   9781858285344.