County Records was a Virginia-based independent 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, ...

founded by David Freeman in 1963. The label specialised in old-time and traditional

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African America ...

History

Old-time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, contra dance, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering ...

collector David Freeman started the County Records label in 1963 to focus on music from the rural Southeastern United States. He told an interviewer that he selected the name "

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

" because it evoked the rural, regional and local aspects of old-time music. Living in New York, Freeman avidly collected recordings from Southern musicians including old-time, bluegrass,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

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 ...

artists. His new label's first release was a reissue of old-time music drawn from his personal collection of

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

recordings from the 1920s and 1930s by

Charlie Poole Charles Cleveland Poole (March 22, 1892 – May 21, 1931) was an American old-time music, old-time musician and leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, a string band that recorded many popular hillbilly music, hillbilly songs between 1925 and 193 ...

, the Leake County Revelers, Crockett's Mountaineers and similar string bands. ''A Collection of Mountain Fiddle Music'' (County 501) was released in 1964, and several similar reissues followed within the 500 series. Around the same time, Freeman met Charles Faurot, an old-time banjo player from Chicago who was also living in New York. Faurot proposed that he make some new recordings of the old-time musicians who were still performing in Virginia and North Carolina. Freeman agreed, and Faurot traveled south to make field recordings of 15 artists. The first County Records release of new music was ''

Clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called down-picking, overhand, or most commonly known as frailing, is a distinctive banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The style likely descends from that of West African lutes, suc ...

Banjo: Old Time Banjo and Fiddle Tunes'' (County 701) in 1965, recorded and produced by Faurot. This

LP album The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

included new recordings by Wade Ward, who had previously been recorded by John Lomax and

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. The album was also the recording debut for fiddle and banjo players Fred Cockerham and Kyle Creed. Additional Faurot field recordings were released on ''More Clawhammer Banjo (Volume 2)'' (County 717) in 1969 and ''Clawhammer Banjo Volume 3'' (County 757) in 1978. Faurot eventually recorded and produced more than a dozen of County Records' early releases, all numbered in the 700 series to indicate non-reissues. County Records also expanded into the

genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's ''Blue Ridge Bluegrass'' (County 702) featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys. It was announced that County Records went out of business and permanently shut down on 17 January 2018 after over 50 years of operation.

Related businesses

Freeman ran County Records as a sideline while working for the railway post office. In 1965, he started a companion business, County Sales, to provide a mail-order retail outlet for his County Records releases and other hard-to-find titles. This enabled him to quit the railway job and focus on music full-time. Both businesses operated from a single room in his father's printing business on East 37th Street in New York. In 1974 Freeman relocated his family, the record label and the distribution business to

Floyd, Virginia Floyd is a town in Floyd County, Virginia, United States. The population was 448 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Floyd County. The Town of Floyd was originally named Jacksonville as the surrounding county w ...

. In 1977, he started a regional wholesale distribution business for old-time and bluegrass music, Record Depot, in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

. In 1978, Freeman helped his graphic artist Barry Poss start a new label in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

called Sugar Hill Records. In contrast to County's focus on old-time and traditional bluegrass, Sugar Hill would specialize in the more modern and progressive bluegrass genres. In 1980, Freeman bought a pioneering bluegrass record label, Rebel Records, from Dick Freeland, one of the label's founders. Rebel's focus is mainstream bluegrass, somewhere between the traditional sound of County and the progressive sound of Sugar Hill.

Awards

County Records founder David Freeman was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 2002. on website of the International Bluegrass Music Museum (accessed July 15, 2009).

Notable artists

* John Ashby *

Clarence Ashley Clarence "Tom" Ashley (born Clarence Earl McCurry; September 29, 1895 – June 2, 1967) was an American musician and singer, who played the clawhammer banjo and the guitar. He began performing at medicine shows in the Appalachia, Southern Appalac ...

* Kenny Baker * E.C. Ball *

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...

* Gaither Carlton *

Carter Family The Carter Family was an American folk music group that recorded and performed between 1927 and 1956. Regarded as one of the most important music acts of the early 20th century, they had a profound influence on the development of bluegrass, c ...

* Fred Cockerham * Coon Creek Girls * Kyle Creed * Easter Brothers * Foot Hill Boys * Bill Grant and Delia Bell * G. B. Grayson &

Henry Whitter William Henry Whitter (April 6, 1892 – November 17, 1941) was an early old-time recording artist in the United States. He first performed as a solo singer, guitarist and harmonica player, and later in partnership with the fiddler G. B. Grays ...

* Bobby Hicks * Tommy Jarrell * Clark Kessinger *

Skillet Lickers The Skillet Lickers were an old-time band from Georgia, United States. When Gid Tanner teamed up with blind guitarist Riley Puckett and signed to Columbia in 1924, they created the label's earliest so-called "hillbilly" recording. Gid Tanne ...

* Lilly Brothers & Don Stover * Uncle Dave Macon * Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers *

* Larry Richardson * Eck Robertson * Russell Family * Herschel Sizemore * Matokie Slaughter * Art Stamper * Ernest Stoneman * Benny Thomasson * Wade Ward

References

External links