Vanguard Recording Society is an American

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and

Seymour Solomon Seymour Solomon (May 23, 1922 – July 18, 2002)New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musicians. The Bach Guild was a subsidiary label. The label was acquired by

Concord Bicycle Music Alchemy Copyrights, Limited liability company, LLC, trade name, doing business as Concord, is an Privately held company, independent American music company. It develops, manages and acquires sound recordings, music publishing rights, theatrical p ...

in April 2015.

History

The newly founded venture's first record was of J.S. Bach's 21st cantata, ''Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis'', BWV 21 ("I had much grief"), with Jonathan Sternberg conducting the tenor

Hugues Cuénod Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod (; 26 June 19026 December 2010)

and other soloists, chorus and orchestra. "What speaks for the Solomons' steadfastness in their taste and their task", wrote a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' journalist in November 1966, "is that this record is still alive in the catalogue (SC-501). As Seymour says, it was a good performance, not easy to top. Of the whole Vanguard/Bach Guild catalogue, numbering about 480 issues, 30 are Bach records..." The label also recorded other

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and earlier works, pieces from the

English Madrigal School The English Madrigal School was the intense flowering of the musical madrigal in England, mostly from 1588 to 1627, along with the composers who produced them. The English madrigals were a cappella, predominantly light in style, and generally bega ...

performed by the

Deller Consort Alfred George Deller, CBE (31 May 1912 – 16 July 1979), was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularising the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th century. He is sometimes referre ...

, Italian and French

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

masterpieces, Elizabethan and Jacobean music, and

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

. In 1953, under the direction of John Hammond, the company began the Jazz Showcase series that concentrated on mainstream jazz, producing about two dozen recordings before it was closed in 1958. Recordings made at the Spirituals to Swing concerts in 1938 and 1939 were released by Vanguard in 1959. The company only intermittently pursued recording jazz after that. In the mid-1950s Vanguard signed blacklisted performers

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

and

the Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

. It continued to issue folk music with newly signed artists

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

Hedy West Hedwig Grace "Hedy" West (April 6, 1938 – July 3, 2005) was an American folksinger, songwriter and song catcher. She belonged to the same generation of folk revivalists as Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Carolyn Hester. Her most famous song "50 ...

the Rooftop Singers The Rooftop Singers were an American country folk-singing trio in the early 1960s, best known for the hit "Walk Right In". The group was composed of Erik Darling and Bill Svanoe (vocals, guitar) with former jazz singer Lynne Taylor (vocals). ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria; February 20, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist. Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and h ...

Ian and Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

, and Mimi and

Richard Fariña Richard George Fariña (; March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) was an American Folk music, folksinger, songwriter, poet and novelist. Early years and education Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the son of an Irish mother, Ther ...

. Around this time, Vanguard briefly ran a

hi-fi High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

record division titled Vanguard Stereolab; the English band

Stereolab Stereolab are an English people, Anglo-French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's sound incorporates repetitive motorik beats with the use of vintage electronic keybo ...

took their name from this. In the summer of 1965,

Maynard Solomon Maynard Elliott Solomon (January 5, 1930 – September 28, 2020) was an American music executive and musicologist. In his career in the music industry, he was a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer."Maynard Solomon" in '' Bake ...

hired

Samuel Charters Samuel Barclay Charters IV (August 1, 1929 – March 18, 2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He was a widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz. He also wrote fiction. Early life a ...

to edit the tapes of the 1964

Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...

. Following that project, the company sent Charters to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

to capture the broad range of blues musicians there. Those sessions resulted in the 1966 three-album series titled ''Chicago/The Blues/Today!''. The albums included

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

with

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

's bandmates

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924, or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mississippi, ...

and

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter who has been long revered as one of the creators of modern Chicago blues; though he was respected and praised, the success he sought e ...

Homesick James Homesick James (April 30, 1910December 13, 2006) was an American blues musician known for his mastery of the slide guitar. He worked with his cousin, Elmore James, and with Sonny Boy Williamson II. Early years Homesick James was born in Somervi ...

Johnny Shines John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Biography Shines was born in Frayser, Tennessee, today a neighborhood of Memphis. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent m ...

Big Walter Horton Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming, shy man, he is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the hi ...

, and

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago ...

. Vanguard released numerous classical recordings, both domestically produced and imported. Many of the latter came from the United Kingdom's

Pye Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...

label, featuring performances by the

Halle Orchestra Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), or Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (electoral district) ** Halle (region), a governmental district 1952–2004 ** Bezirk Halle, a district 1952–1990 ** Halle-Neustadt, a former ci ...

conducted by

Sir John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 ...

. The recordings were so exceptional that many classical radio stations programmed them. Vanguard even released some

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio ortmanteau, formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are po ...

classical recordings in the early 1970s, including a performance of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

's Fourth Symphony with the

American Symphony Orchestra The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York–based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski whose mission is to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable for all audiences. Leon Botstein is the orchestra ...

conducted by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. H ...

. The label also released many performances by the

Utah Symphony Orchestra The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving ...

conducted by

Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Emp ...

, including one of the first sets of the complete ten symphonies of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

, a complete performance of ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'', as well as the earlier

P.D.Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer created by the American composer and musical satirist Peter Schickele for a five-decade career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines p ...

recordings, from 1965 to 1983. Vanguard was the first American label to release the complete 1944 high fidelity recordings of composer

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

conducting the

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; ) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of ...

in most of his tone poems; the recordings were made on the

Magnetophon Magnetophon was the brand or model name of the pioneering reel-to-reel tape recorder developed by engineers of the German electronics company AEG in the 1930s, based on the magnetic tape invention by Fritz Pfleumer. AEG created the world's firs ...

tape recording equipment in the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Opera House. The multiplicity of popular in-house

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

series released by the Solomons on Vanguard and Bach Guild between 1950 and 1966 included, in addition to 22

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s, the virtuoso trumpet, virtuoso flute and virtuoso oboe, along with German University Songs with Erich Kunz, songs of the Auvergne, Viennese dances with

Willi Boskovsky Willibald Karl Boskovsky (16 June 1909 – 21 April 1991) was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert from 1955 to 1979. Biography Boskovsky was born in Vienna, and joined th ...

, traditional songs by

Roland Hayes Roland Wiltse Hayes (June 3, 1887 – January 1, 1977) was an American lyric tenor and composer. Critics lauded his abilities and linguistic skills demonstrated with songs in French language, French, German language, German, and Italian langu ...

, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and other concertos from

I Solisti di Zagreb The Zagreb Soloists () is a chamber orchestra founded in Zagreb, Croatia in 1953 through the auspices of Croatian Radiotelevision (in that time known as "Radiotelevision Zagreb"), under the artistic leadership of the Italian cellist and Conducting, ...

, music by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

, numerous

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

symphonies performed by the Esterhazy Orchestra, a double LP of Gluck's opera

Orfeo ed Euridice (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an ...

sung in Italian with the

Vienna State Opera Orchestra The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by A ...

led by

Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; (17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an American-born Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associ ...

, and an influential

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

cycle with the

conducted by

. After entering the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

market by signing

Country Joe and the Fish Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid-to-late 1960s. Much of the band's music was writ ...

, Vanguard started a 6500 series for releases by rock acts but had little success. By the early 1970s, with acts such as Joan Baez and Ian & Sylvia leaving for other labels, and disappointing sales for the "Everyman" budget classical series, Vanguard's stature in the music industry was diminished. The label stayed minimally active with specialty releases such as those by Indian classical musician and

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...

virtuoso

Vasant Rai Vasant Rai (1942–1985) was an Indian musician who played the Indo-Afghan instrument the sarod. Personal life and education Rai's family was born in Unjha, Gujarat. Rai was the last student of Baba Allauddin Khan, who is best known as the tea ...

. An unexpected novelty hit on Vanguard, "

Shaving Cream Shaving cream or shave cream is a category of cream cosmetics used for shaving preparation. The purpose of shaving cream is to soften the hair by providing lubrication. Different types of shaving creams include aerosol shaving cream (also kn ...

" by

Benny Bell Benny Bell (born Benjamin Samberg, March 21, 1906 – July 6, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter who reached popularity in the 1940s, with a comeback in the 1970s. He is remembered for his risqué but cheerfully optimistic songs. Career B ...

, led the company to release albums of humorous music inspired by

Dr. Demento Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...

. In the late 1970s

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

issued two albums, ''New Songs from the Briar-patch'' and ''Heroes'', on the label. A few disco albums by acts such as

Players Association The Players Association was a New York based studio group, put together by drummer/arranger Chris Hills and producer Danny Weiss in 1977 on Vanguard Records. Overview The Players Association recordings brought in leading jazz session musicians ...

, Alphone Mouzon's "Poussez", and Marcus Barone's "The Ring/Savage Lover" were released on Vanguard with both domestic and worldwide chart impact. After this period of near-dormancy, Vanguard was sold to the

Welk Music Group Welk Music Group is an American record company comprising Ranwood Records. It was founded by Lawrence Welk and is still owned by the Welk Family. The company evolved from when Welk's Teleklew Productions acquired Harry Von Tilzer Music in 1957. W ...

in 1985. The Welk Group sold the classical music catalog back to Seymour Solomon. Welk Music Group revitalized the label, reissuing much of its extensive folk and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

back catalogue (a good deal of which had been out of print for several years) on CD, as well as signing a number of new artists (such as

Matt Nathanson Matt Nathanson (born March 28, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock and roll music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic (sometimes a 12-string) and electric guitar, and has played both solo and with ...

Mindy Smith Melinda Leigh Smith (born June 1, 1972, Long Island, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. Her first record deal came after she sang a cover version of the song " Jolene" by Dolly Parton. Music career Smith was adopted at birth by a non-d ...

Greg Laswell Greg Laswell (born April 26, 1974) is an American musician, recording engineer, and record producer from San Diego, California. He attended Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, California. He has released 7 studio albums: ''Good Movie (Gre ...

, and Trevor Hall), in addition to established musicians such as

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

John Fogerty John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty, he founded the swamp rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), for which he was th ...

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is popularly known for his breakthrough hit and sig ...

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

Shawn Mullins Shawn Mullins (born March 8, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter who specializes in folk rock, instrumental rock, adult alternative, and Americana music. His 1998 single "Lullaby" hit number one on the Adult Top 40 and was nominated for a Gr ...

, and

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music. Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...

. The label also formed marketing partnerships with a number of artist-run label imprints, to include

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Hel ...

( Dirt Farmer Music),

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...

( IG Recording), and

Chely Wright Chely Wright (born Richell Rene Wright; October 25, 1970) is an American Activism, activist, author, and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the numb ...

( Painted Red Music), among others. This era for Vanguard also garnered the label three consecutive Grammy Awards for Levon Helm, multiple Grammy Awards for Robert Cray, and an

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

certified platinum single for Matt Nathanson's " Come on Get Higher." In 2008, Welk Music Group began a distribution deal with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

to handle its labels, including Vanguard. After Seymour Solomon's death, Vanguard Classics was sold to

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York–based independent record label, founded in June 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as president, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. As of 2006, Artemis Records was owned b ...

, which reactivated the company with new releases by

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

and Gil Shaham. When Artemis folded in 2004, the Vanguard Classics catalogue was sold to Sheridan Square Entertainment, which is licensing the Vanguard Classics material. Sheridan Square eventually became IndieBlu, which was acquired by

Entertainment One Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series. The company began on June 1, 1973 ...

in 2010. Vanguard Music Group was acquired by

in April 2015., Concord's

Craft Recordings Craft Recordings is a record label owned by Concord. Like UMe, Legacy Recordings and Rhino Entertainment, Craft specialized in reissues of Concord's back catalog. The imprint was founded in 2017, along with an online store by the same name offe ...

unit manages the Vanguard catalog. Vanguard used the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in New York City as one of its recording studios for many of its sessions. Kahn, Ashley
''Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece''
Da Capo Press, 2001. Cf. p.77"The Vanguard Sessions"
''Jazz Lives'', November 12, 2009.

Roster

Classical artists (1950-1966)

Julius Baker Julius Baker (September 23, 1915 – August 6, 2003) was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Symp ...

Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel (born 5 January 1931) is a Czech-born Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is noted for his performances of Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. Biography Brendel was born in Wizemberk, Czechoslovakia ...

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 ...

* Jeanne-Marie Darre * Netania Davrath *

Alfred Deller Alfred George Deller, CBE (31 May 1912 – 16 July 1979), was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularising the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th century. He is sometimes referr ...

Mischa Elman Mischa (Mikhail Saulovich) Elman (; January 20, 1891April 5, 1967) was a Russian-American violinist famed for his passionate style, beautiful tone, and impeccable artistry and musicality. Early life Moses or Moishe Elman was born to a Jewish fa ...

Maureen Forrester Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, (July 25, 1930 – June 16, 2010) was a Canadian operatic contralto. Life and career Maureen Forrester was born and grew up in Montreal, Quebec, one of four children of Thomas Forrester, a British cabinetma ...

Vladimir Golschmann Vladimir Golschmann (16 December 18931 March 1972) was a French and American conductor. Biography Vladimir Golschmann was born in Paris to a Jewish family. He studied violin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He was a notable advocate of the m ...

Anton Heiller Anton Heiller (15 September 1923 – 25 March 1979) was an Austrian organist, harpsichordist, composer and conductor. Biography Born in Vienna, he was first trained in church music by Wilhelm Mück, organist of Vienna's Stephansdom (St. Stephen ...

Antonio Janigro Antonio Janigro (21 January 19181 May 1989) was an Italian cellist and conductor. Biography Born in Milan, he began studying piano when he was six and cello when he was eight. Initially taught by Giovanni Berti, Janigro enrolled in the Milan C ...

Jan Peerce Jan Peerce (born Yehoshua Pinkhes Perelmuth; June 3, 1904 December 15, 1984) was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is ...

* Felix Prohaska *

Alexander Schneider Abraham Alexander Schneider (October 21, 1908 – February 2, 1993) was a violinist, conductor and educator. Born to a Jewish family in Vilnius, Lithuania, he later moved to the United States as a member of the Budapest String Quartet. Early ...

Peter Serkin Peter Adolf Serkin (July 24, 1947 – February 1, 2020) was an American classical pianist. He won the Grammy Award for Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist in 1966, and he performed globally, known for not only "technically pristine" pl ...

Joseph Szigeti Joseph Szigeti (, ; 5 September 189219 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist. Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on the violin, and move ...

Current artists

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

Blue Giant In astronomy, a blue giant is a hot star with a luminosity class of III (giant) or II (bright giant). In the standard Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, these stars lie above and to the right of the main sequence. The term applies to a variety of ...

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes Clairy Browne & the Bangin' Rackettes were a soul band from Melbourne, Australia that formed in 2009. The band was fronted by lead vocalist Clairy Browne and backed by Camilla McKewen, Loretta Miller and Ruby Jones (The Bangin' Rackettes) along ...

Collective Soul Collective Soul is an American rock band originally from Stockbridge, Georgia. Now based in Atlanta, the group consists of the brothers Ed (lead vocalist) and Dean Roland (rhythm guitarist), Will Turpin (bassist), Johnny Rabb (drummer), a ...

Diane Schuur Diane Joan Schuur (born December 10, 1953), nicknamed "Deedles", is an American jazz singer and pianist. As of 2015, Schuur had released 23 albums, and had extended her jazz repertoire to include essences of Latin, gospel, pop and country musi ...

The Gourds The Gourds are an American alternative country band that formed in Austin, Texas, during the summer of 1994. After playing together for 19 consecutive years, the band went on hiatus in 2013. Career Primarily evolving from the Picket Line Coyote ...

Isobel Campbell Isobel Campbell (born 27 April 1976) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and cellist. She rose to prominence at age nineteen as a member of the indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, but left the group to pursue a solo career, first as the Gentle Waves ...

Lee DeWyze Leon James "Lee" DeWyze Jr. (born April 2, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and the winner of the ninth season of ''American Idol''. Prior to ''Idol'', DeWyze had a solo career and formed the ''Lee DeWyze Band''. He had also released two ...

* The Living Sisters *

Marc Broussard Marc Broussard (born January 14, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter. His style is best described as "bayou soul", a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots. He has released twelve studio albums, one li ...

O.A.R. O.A.R. (short for Of A Revolution) is an American rock band, founded in 1996 in Rockville, Maryland. The band consists of lead vocalist/guitarist Marc Roberge, drummer Chris Culos, guitarist Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman, and saxophonist/g ...

Ozomatli Ozomatli is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and incorporating a wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, and others. The group ...

Parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

* Robert Francis *

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

* Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers *

Susanna Hoffs Susanna Lee Hoffs (born January 17, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress. With Debbi Peterson and Vicki Peterson, she founded the Bangles in 1981. Their debut album, ''All Over the Place (The Bangles album), All Over ...

* Trevor Hall *

Viva Voce ''Viva voce'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "with living voice" but most often translated as "by word of mouth." It may refer to: *Word of mouth *A voice vote in a deliberative assembly *An oral exam ** Thesis defence, in academia *Spoken ev ...

Former artists

(Partial list) *

Pat Martino Pat Martino (born Patrick Carmen Azzara; August 25, 1944 – November 1, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. He has been cited as one of the greatest guitarists in jazz. Early life Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philad ...

Alisha Alisha ( ') also refer as ''protected from God'' is a cognate of the Spanish-language feminine given name Alicia, a variant of the French/German-language name Alice, which comes from Old English or , meaning ''noble'' or ''nobility''. Both mean ...

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness Andrew Ross McMahon (born September 3, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist, pianist and primary lyricist for the bands Something Corporate and main songwriter for Jack's Mannequin and performs solo both under his own nam ...

The Alternate Routes The Alternate Routes are an American rock band based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The group was formed by Tim Warren and Eric Donnelly in 2002 while studying at Fairfield University. As of early 2013, The Alternate Routes were touring and worki ...

Eric Andersen Eric Andersen (born February 14, 1943) is an American folk music singer-songwriter, who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead, Rick Nelson, and many others. Early in his career, ...

BeauSoleil Beausoleil, beau soleil or variants may refer to: * Beausoleil, Alpes-Maritimes, a town in southern France, adjoining the Principality of Monaco * Beausoleil, New Brunswick, a community in Canada * Beausoleil, a rural hamlet in the municipality of ...

Blues Traveler Blues Traveler is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1987. They are known for their extensive use of segues in live performances, and could be considered a key part of the re-emerging jam band scene of the 1990s, sp ...

* Robert Bradley *

Alison Brown Alison Brown (born August 7, 1962) is an American banjo player, guitarist, composer, and producer. She has won and has been nominated for several Grammy awards and is often compared to another banjo prodigy, Béla Fleck, for her unique style of ...

Sandy Bull Alexander "Sandy" Bull (February 25, 1941 – April 11, 2001) was an American folk musician and composer. Bull was an accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and oud. His early work blends n ...

Kimberly Caldwell Kimberly Ann Caldwell-Harvey is an American singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of ...

Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California, in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk, folk, alternative, country, and world music, among other ge ...

Carbon Leaf Carbon Leaf is a quintet from Richmond, Virginia, known for their alt-country, Celtic rock, Celtic, and folk rock, folk-infused indie rock. Though some of the band members have changed through the years, Carbon Leaf has been consistently creat ...

Peter Case Peter Case (born April 5, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His career is wide-ranging, from rock n' roll and blues, to folk rock and solo acoustic performance. Biography Early career Case was born in Buffalo, New York, B ...

Don Williams Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing p ...

Deana Carter Deana Kay Carter (born January 4, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter who broke through in 1996 with the release of her debut album '' Did I Shave My Legs for This?'', which was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in the United States f ...

Liam Clancy Liam Clancy (; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's first pop stars. They achi ...

The Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularisi ...

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record " Confessin' that I Love You" ...

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...

* Joe Grushecky *

The Country Gentlemen The Country Gentlemen was a progressive bluegrass band that originated during the 1950s in the area of Washington, D.C., United States, and recorded and toured with various members until the death in 2004 of Charlie Waller, one of the group's ...

Country Joe & the Fish Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid-to-late 1960s. Much of the band's music was writt ...

Pee Wee Crayton Connie Curtis Crayton (December 18, 1914 – June 25, 1985), known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer. Career Crayton was born in Rockdale, Texas. He began playing guitar seriously after moving to California ...

Catie Curtis Catie Curtis (born May 22, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter working primarily in the folk rock idiom. Her most recent album recording, ''The Raft,'' was released in 2020. Career Curtis was raised in Saco, Maine. By the age of fifteen she ...

Erik Darling Erik Darling (September 25, 1933 – August 3, 2008) was an American singer-songwriter and a folk music artist. He was an important influence on the folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Biography Darling was born in Baltimore, Maryland ...

Vic Dickenson Victor Dickenson (August 6, 1906 – November 16, 1984) was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines. Life and car ...

The Dillards The Dillards are an American bluegrass music, bluegrass and country rock band from Salem, Missouri. They are notable for being among the first bluegrass groups to have electrified their instruments, and they are considered to be pioneers of cou ...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer, songwriter and story teller. Life and career Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adno ...

* John Fahey *

Mimi Fariña Margarita Mimi Baez Fariña (April 30, 1945 – July 18, 2001) was an American singer-songwriter and activist, the youngest of three daughters of mother Joan Chandos Bridge and Mexican-American physicist Albert Baez. She was the younger sis ...

* Flashman *

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk band formed in Los Angeles in 1997, led by Irish vocalist Dave King, formerly of the hard rock band Fastway. They are signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records. Histor ...

Julia Fordham Julia Fordham (born 10 August 1962) is an English singer. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde, before signing a recording contract of her own lat ...

Bob Frank Robert Landis Frank (February 26, 1944 – July 18, 2019) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and composer. His debut self-titled record was issued on Vanguard Records in 1972 to critical acclaim and is a collectors itemRuhlmann, Willia ...

Kinky Friedman Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman (November 1, 1944 – June 27, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, and columnist for ''Texas Monthly'', who styled himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Roger ...

The Frost The Frost was an American psychedelic rock band from Alpena, Michigan in the late 1960s, led by singer-guitarist Dick Wagner, who went on to play with Ursa Major, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel in the 1970s. The rest of the band consist ...

Steve Gillette Steve Gillette (born 1942) and Cindy Mangsen (born 1950) are American folk musicians and singer-songwriters who have been traveling, performing and recording together since their marriage in 1989. Their album ''Live In Concert'', recorded at Th ...

* John Hammond *

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New wave music, new wave, blues, and country music, country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Gramm ...

Cisco Houston Gilbert Vandine "Cisco" Houston (August 18, 1918 – April 29, 1961) was an American folk singer and songwriter, who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of traveling and recording together. Houston was a reg ...

Jesca Hoop Jessica "Jesca" Ada Hoop (born April 21, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released six studio albums of her own, as well as live, acoustic and dual albums with other ...

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Biography Early years John Hurt was born in Teoc,Cohen, Lawrence (1996). Liner notes to ''Av ...

* J.B. Hutto *

Ian & Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Skip James Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings ...

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle (band), Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and ...

* David Earle Johnson *

Joey + Rory Joey + Rory was an American country and bluegrass duo composed of singer-songwriters Rory Feek (born April 25, 1965) and Joey Feek (September 9, 1975 – March 4, 2016), who were husband and wife. Both members of the duo were vocalists and s ...

Klezmer Conservatory Band The Klezmer Conservatory Band is a Boston-based group which performs traditional klezmer music; it was formed by Hankus Netsky of the New England Conservatory, New England Conservatory of Music in 1980. Originally formed for a single concert, they ...

Patty Larkin Patty Larkin (born June 19, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a founding member of Four Bitchin' Babes. Her music has been described as folk-urban pop music. Life and career Patty Lark ...

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

Dave Mallett David Mallett (April 21, 1951 – December 17, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter best known for his authorship of the "folk standard" composition " Garden Song". He recorded for independent record labels for most of his career. Biograph ...

Edwin McCain Edwin Cole McCain (born January 20, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His songs " I'll Be" (1998) and " I Could Not Ask for More" (1999) were radio top-40 hits in the U.S., and five of his albums have reached the ''Billboard ...

John McEuen John McEuen, born December 19, 1945, in Oakland, California, is an American folk musician and a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Career Solo work John McEuen was born in Oakland, California. In 1964, at age 18, he became intereste ...

Max Morath Max Edward Morath (October 1, 1926 – June 19, 2023) was an American ragtime pianist, composer, actor, and author. He was best known for his piano playing and is referred to as "Mr. Ragtime". He was a touring performer as well as being various ...

Nellie McKay Eleanora Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is an English–American singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera#United States 2, The Threepenny Opera'' (2006). Early life and education McKay was born in London ...

* Ramsay Midwood *

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter, protest song, protest singer (or, as he preferred, "topical singer"), and Political Activist, political activist. Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic h ...

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and s ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Joan Osborne Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including rock, pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best kn ...

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

* Perrey & Kingsley *

Gershon Kingsley Gershon Kingsley (born Götz Gustav Ksinski; October 28, 1922 – December 10, 2019) was a German-American composer, a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer, a partner in the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, found ...

Jean-Jacques Perrey Jean Marcel Leroy (20 January 1929 – 4 November 2016), better known as Jean-Jacques Perrey (), was a French people, French electronic music performer, composer, producer, and promoter. He is considered a pioneer of pop electronica.Jim Kweskin Jim Kweskin (born July 18, 1940, Stamford, Connecticut) is an American folk, jazz, and blues musician, most notable as the founder of the Jim Kweskin jug band, also known as Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, with Fritz Richmond, Geoff Muldaur, Bob Si ...

Kim Richey Kimberly Richey (born December 1, 1956) is an American singer and songwriter. Early life Richey was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on December 1, 1956. She grew up in Kettering, Ohio, graduating from Fairmont East High school in 1973. Career Riche ...

The Rooftop Singers The Rooftop Singers were an American country folk-singing trio in the early 1960s, best known for the hit "Walk Right In". The group was composed of Erik Darling and Bill Svanoe (vocals, guitar) with former jazz singer Lynne Taylor (vocals). ...

Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901 – June 8, 1972) was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948. Rushing was known as " Mr. Five by ...

Peter Schickele Peter Schickele (; July 17, 1935 – January 16, 2024) was an American composer, musical educator and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, which he presented as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hoste ...

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player. Ranked List of world number one snooker players, world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all ...

Shurman Shurman is an American rock band from Austin, Texas, founded by Aaron Beavers and Damon Allen. Band history It can be argued that Shurman unofficially started as a high school garage band in 1990 with Aaron Beavers and Damon Allen. The two met ...

* Siegel-Schwall Band *

Patrick Sky Patrick Sky (born Patrick Linch; October 2, 1940May 26, 2021) was an American musician, folk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was of Irish and Native American ancestry, and played Irish traditional music and uilleann pipes in the ...

Garrison Starr Garrison Starr (born Julia Garrison Starr; April 29, 1975) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter/producer. Her major label debut, "18 Over Me" was released in 1997 (Geffen). Starr's shows have been described as "marrying pop smarts a ...

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B. The ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul'' described Thornton by saying: "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound fra ...

Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock music, rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drum kit, drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (g ...

* Twilight 22 *

The Vagrants The Vagrants were an American, Long Island-based rock and blue-eyed soul group from the 1960s. The group was composed of Peter Sabatino on vocals, harmonica, and tambourine, Leslie West on vocals and guitar, Larry West (Leslie's brother) on ...

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...

* Peter Walker *

The Watson Twins The Watson Twins are an Americana band based in Nashville, TN formed by identical twin sisters Chandra and Leigh Watson. Biography Chandra and Leigh were born on March 17, 1975, in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. They atten ...

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. He won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His ...

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

* David Wilcox *

Mason Williams Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental " Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on ''The Smothers Brothers ...

* Daphne Willis *

Yonder Mountain String Band Yonder Mountain String Band is an American progressive bluegrass group from Nederland, Colorado. Composed of Dave Johnston, Ben Kaufmann, Adam Aijala, Nick Piccininni, and Coleman Smith, the band has released eleven studio albums and six live re ...

* The Young Tradition *

Zager and Evans Zager and Evans was an American rock music, rock-popular music, pop Duet (music), duo active during the late 1960s and early 1970s, comprising Denny Zager (born February 14, 1944, Wymore, Nebraska) and Rick Evans (born January 20, 1943, Lincoln, ...

References

{{Authority control Blues record labels Classical music record labels American jazz record labels Folk record labels Reissue record labels Record labels established in 1950 Bluegrass record labels Concord Music Group

History

Roster

Classical artists (1950-1966)

Current artists

Former artists

See also

References