Dunwich Records was an 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, ...

started by

Bill Traut William Raymond Traut (March 20, 1929 – June 5, 2014) was an American jazz musician, rock music producer, manager and record label executive. He co-founded the Dunwich and Wooden Nickel record labels, and produced The Shadows of Knight, The ...

Eddie Higgins Edward Haydn Higgins (February 21, 1932 – August 31, 2009) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and orchestrator. His performance and composition in 1959's " Cry of Jazz" is preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. Bi ...

and George Badonsky in Chicago in 1965. Dunwich was also a production company which licensed recordings to other labels, including

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...

, Columbia, Mercury and SGC. The label was primarily known for the release of singles from the emerging Chicago rock scene in the 1960s. Only two artists,

the Shadows of Knight The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city. When they began recording in 1965, the band's self-description was "the Stones, Animals and the Ya ...

and Amanda Ambrose, released albums on the label.

History

Traut, Higgins and Badonsky formed their first record label, Amboy, in 1963 and released recordings of themselves and other bands. In 1965 they changed the label's name to Dunwich, and in December released a cover version of Van Morrison's "

Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins ...

" by the Chicago band

Shadows of Knight The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city. When they began recording in 1965, the band's self-description was "the Stones, Animals and the Ya ...

. By the spring of

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, the song was a hit. After some difficulty with nationwide distribution, Traut, Higgins and Badonsky made a distribution deal with Atlantic subsidiary

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

. By mid-

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

Traut and Badonsky bought out Higgins. Dunwich soon stopped releasing their own records, concentrating instead on producing a range of artists and leasing the master recordings to other labels. The Dunwich lute player logo appears on these recordings. Above the lute player is a cartoon type word balloon that says "It's DUNWICH, man." This logo may have been on a few other Chicago groups records, such as "The Cryan Shames" Columbia albums. In the spring of 1968, Traut split with Badonsky, joined with producers Jim Golden and Bob Monaco and reorganized Dunwich Records into Dunwich Productions, Ltd. The three continued to produce Chicago-based groups, notably the bands

Mason Proffit Mason Proffit was an American country rock band from Indianapolis, Indiana, that released five albums between 1969 and 1973. They are known for their song "Two Hangmen", which garnered a significant amount of Album Oriented Rock airplay. Histor ...

and

Coven A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...

. The latter group released their first album in 1969 on the Mercury label, but with the Dunwich Productions logo. In 1971, Traut briefly revived the Dunwich label for a live recording of Chicago folk artists, ''Gathering at the Earl of Old Town'', which notably includes the first recording of late singer-songwriter

Steve Goodman Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song " City of New Orleans", which was recorded by artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, The ...

performing "

City of New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

". The Dunwich label was eventually absorbed by its distributor, Atco, which issued two final Shadows of Knight singles bearing the Dunwich logo, but issued on the Atco label. In 1971, Traut and Golden joined with

Jerry Weintraub Jerome Charles Weintraub (September 26, 1937 – July 6, 2015) was an American film producer, talent manager and actor whose television films won him three Emmys. He began his career as a talent agent, having managed known singer John Denver in ...

to form Wooden Nickel Records, whose early acts included the band

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

. Since the Dunwich label released mostly singles, two collections released by

Sundazed Music Sundazed Music is an American independent record label founded and based in Coxsackie, New York. It was initially known as a '60s-centric surf, garage, and psych label. Over time with the additions of imprints such as Modern Harmonic, American ...

in the 1990s are considered to be quite important to appreciating the history of Dunwich Records and its contribution to music. ''Oh Yeah! The Best of Dunwich Records, Volume 1'', was released in 1991. This was followed by ''If You're Ready! The Best of Dunwich Records, Volume 2'', in 1994. Artists appearing on these records include The Shadows of Knight, The Knaves, The Pride & Joy, The Luv'd Ones, Saturday's Children, The Wanderin' Kind, The Rovin' Kind,

The American Breed The American Breed were an American rock band from Chicago in the 1960s. The band were originally called Gary & The Knight Lites before adopting the name The American Breed in 1967. The band had a number of charting songs in 1967–68, the ...

, the

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

band, Sounds Unlimited, The Del Vetts, The Warner Brothers and Little Boy Blues. The albums were produced by Bill Traut and George Badonsky. An earlier collection of Dunwich singles had been released in 1971 on the Happy Tiger label as ''Early Chicago, Volume 1''. The label's name "Dunwich" refers to "

The Dunwich Horror "The Dunwich Horror" is a cosmic horror novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of ''Weird Tales'' (pp. 481–508). It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massa ...

", a story by H. P. Lovecraft,Later made into a 1970 film starring

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he appeared in '' Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), '' ...

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingénues ...

and

Ed Begley Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film '' Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962) an ...

. Se
The Dunwich Horror
www.imdb.com. The film received mixed reviews. The label's publishing arm, Yuggoth Music, was named after a fictional planet in Lovecraft's stories.

Dunwich compilations

* ''Early Chicago, Volume 1'' Happy Tiger, 1971 * ''The Dunwich Records Story'' Voxx Records, 1990
''Oh Yeah! The Best of Dunwich Records, Volume 1''

Sundazed Sundazed Music is an American independent record label founded and based in Coxsackie, New York. It was initially known as a '60s-centric surf, garage, and psych label. Over time with the additions of imprints such as Modern Harmonic, Americana ...

, 1991
''If You're Ready! The Best of Dunwich Records, Volume 2''
Sundazed, 1994

References

{{Authority control Record labels established in 1965 Record labels disestablished in 1968 Record labels established in 1971 Re-established companies American independent record labels Rock record labels Defunct record labels of the United States

History

Dunwich compilations

See also

References