| Takoma Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Concord Bicycle Music |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder | John Fahey Eugene Denson Norman Pierce |
| Distributor(s) | Concord Records Universal Music Group |
| Genre | Folk |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Official website | acerecords |
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. [1] It was named after Fahey's hometown, Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Takoma Records began with a custom pressing of 100 copies of John Fahey/Blind Joe Death , an album of Fahey's fingerstyle guitar playing released around 1959. [2] Fahey had no distribution and sold the pressing to friends and at music parties. A copy of this record sold on eBay for several thousand dollars.[ citation needed ]
Fahey moved to Berkeley, California. He rediscovered the country bluesman Bukka White. With Eugene "ED" Denson, Fahey drove to Memphis, Tennessee, and the pair produced White's first recording in 23 years. It was released in 1963 along with Fahey's second album.
Takoma expanded to include other guitarists, such as Robbie Basho, and other types of folk music. The compilation Contemporary Guitar was recorded in 1966 and featured Fahey, Basho, White, Max Ochs, and Harry Taussig. It demonstrated Fahey's interest in diverse guitar styles, from plantation blues to raga. Although at the same time Takoma released the avant-garde album The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing, its concentration was on acoustic guitar music, especially Fahey's.
Fahey started a genre of guitar music known later as American primitive guitar in which he applied traditional fingerpicking to neoclassical compositions. Takoma's musicians using this technique included Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, Mike Auldridge, Robbie Basho, and Max Ochs. The label also produced records by New Age pianist George Winston, Mike Bloomfield, and electronic musician Joseph Byrd.
When Denson became manager of the rock band Country Joe and the Fish, Fahey became the sole owner of Takoma. [3] He moved the label to Los Angeles where he was studying for his master's degree at UCLA under D.K. Wilgus. The album 6- and 12-String Guitar by Leo Kottke was a surprise hit, and the profit funded an expansion of the label, which now had a staff.
In 1970 Jon Monday joined the label as promotion manager, eventually becoming general manager. The label grew as radio stations played new releases by Fahey and other Takoma artists. In 1973 Charlie Mitchell became Takoma's president. Takoma was one of the founding companies of the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD).
In 1979 Fahey sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records, a company owned by Terry Ellis and Chris Wright which produced Blondie, Pat Benatar, and Huey Lewis. [3] During the Chrysalis years, Takoma released albums by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Canned Heat, and T-Bone Burnett. Jon Monday was general manager until 1982, when Chrysalis sold the Takoma catalogue. It was sold to American company Essex Entertainment. It was later bought by Fantasy Records in 1995. [1] In 2004 Fantasy was purchased by the Concord Music Group. The Takoma Records label is now controlled by Concord in the US and licensed to Ace Records. [4]
Takoma's bestselling album was Kottke's 6- and 12-String Guitar, often called "The Armadillo Album" because of the cover art. [3] Another influential album was the 1974 Leo Kottke, Peter Lang & John Fahey .
ED Denson co-founded and managed Kicking Mule Records, which also featured acoustic guitarists. [1] In 1995 he left the music business and became a criminal defense lawyer. Robbie Basho died in 1986, John Fahey in 2001, and Charlie Nothing died of cancer on October 23, 2007.
Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He has overcome a series of personal obstacles, including partial loss of hearing and a nearly career-ending bout with tendon damage in his right hand, to emerge as a widely recognized master of his instrument. He resides in the Minneapolis area with his family.
Kicking Mule Records was an American independent record label, founded in Berkeley, California in 1971 by guitarist Stefan Grossman and Eugene "ED" Denson, formerly co-owner of Takoma Records. The company's name comes from the country blues sexual two-timing allegory "there's another mule kicking in your stall".
Peter Lang is an acoustic guitarist who recorded for Takoma Records with John Fahey and Leo Kottke.
American primitive guitar is a fingerstyle guitar music genre, developed by the American guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. While the term "American primitivism" has been used as a name for the genre, American primitive guitar is distinct from the primitivism art movement.
John Aloysius Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been enormously influential and has been described as the foundation of the genre of American primitive guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work.
Leo Kottke is the first album on the Chrysalis label by American guitarist Leo Kottke, released in 1976. It reached #107 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts.
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.
Steffen Basho-Junghans was a German guitarist and composer.
Robbie Basho was an American acoustic guitarist, pianist and singer.
Michael Gulezian is an American composer and fingerstyle guitarist. He is noted for dramatic compositions, a penchant for manipulating metre, an affinity for open tunings, and an unconventionally free two-handed technical approach. Gulezian's use of bottleneck slide on 12-string guitar, coupled with his command of reverse analog reverbs have made his recordings notable for their dream-like sonic atmosphere. Gulezian inhabits a musical territory between his mentor John Fahey and Gulezian's friend and colleague Michael Hedges.
Leo Kottke/Peter Lang/John Fahey is a split album by American guitarists Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, and John Fahey, released in 1974.
Denny Bruce is an American record producer and artist manager. He produced over 60 albums, and managed and produced albums by John Fahey, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Leo Kottke, John Hiatt and many others over his 50 year career in the music business.
The Best is a compilation double album of American guitarist Leo Kottke's releases on the Capitol label. The liner notes were written by Dr. Demento.
Instrumentals: The Best of the Capitol Years is a 2003 compilation of American guitarist Leo Kottke's releases on the Capitol label. It was released at the same time as Instrumentals: The Best of the Chrysalis Years.
Dharma Blues is the title of a recording by American folk and blues guitarist Peter Lang, released in 2002.
The Best of John Fahey 1959–1977 is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1977. The songs are collected from four of Fahey's dozen or so releases up to that point.
John Fahey Visits Washington D.C. is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1979.
Max Ochs is a fingerstyle acoustic guitarist and folklorist who recorded for Takoma Records among other labels.
The Seal of the Blue Lotus is the debut studio album of composer and guitarist Robbie Basho, released in 1965 by Takoma Records.
The Grail & the Lotus is the second studio album by composer and guitarist Robbie Basho, released in 1966 by Takoma Records.
