Fat Possum Records is an American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

based in Water Valley and

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...

. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

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 (typically from Oxford or

Holly Springs, Mississippi Holly Springs is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Mississippi, Marshall County, Mississippi, United States, near the border with Tennessee to the north. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 6,96 ...

). Fat Possum has signed younger rock acts to its roster. The label has been featured in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', '' New Yorker'',McInerney, Jay. "White Man at the Door: One Man's Mission to Record the 'Dirty Blues' - before Everyone Dies." ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' (February 4, 2002): page 55 ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', a Sundance Channel production, features on NPR, and a 2004 documentary, ''You See Me Laughin''.''You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen'' (2003). Produced and directed by Mandy Stein. Fat Possum also distributes the Hi Records catalog.

History

Fat Possum was founded in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

by '' Living Blues'' editor Peter Redvers-Lee, who went to the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

for his MA studies in Journalism. He planned on starting a record label and picked the name with another student, Billy "Pup" Cochrane. Co-founder Matthew Johnson, who grew up in the state, was also a student at the University of Mississippi. By 1994 or so Lee left, and freelance recording engineer Bruce Watson assumed his managerial role. An early investor was John Hermann of Widespread Panic, who also pitched Robert Palmer's name as producer. The label initially specialised in discovering blues players from the North Mississippi region, many of whom had never recorded before. At Fat Possum's behest some artists, particularly R. L. Burnside, released both standard blues albums and more techno albums, done in the style that would later be made famous by

Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

's album ''

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

''. This led to a fair amount of controversy among blues purists, a group in which Johnson was largely uninterested. Many of the early artists for Fat Possum were picked with the aid of Palmer (previously a teacher of Johnson at the University of Mississippi), who also produced a number of records for the label. Fat Possum’s early releases were critically acclaimed, particularly Junior Kimbrough's album '' All Night Long'', which received 4 stars from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' and the loud approval of

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...

. In 1995, they added Arkansas bluesman John "So Blue" Weston to their roster, with ''So Doggone Blue'' (FP 1003) produced by

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nominee and ''Living Blues'' writer Larry Hoffman. Disputes between the artist and label resulted in Hoffman buying back the master and selling it to Evidence Records (UPC: 730182609226). Fat Possum was perennially strapped for cash. Word of mouth and artist compilations, such as ''Not the Same Old Blues Crap 3'' (with a cover illustration by

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is credited as the first artist to practice rigorous, investigative journalism using the comics form, also referred to as comics journalism. His groundbrea ...

) and ''All Men Are Liars'', gradually pulled Fat Possum out of the red, even if only for brief periods of time. A legal fight with

Capricorn Records Capricorn Records was an independent record label founded by Phil Walden and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia. Capricorn Records is often credited by music historians as creating the southern rock genre. History Label and studio fou ...

, who were to be their distributor, drained Fat Possum's funds and left a number of projects on the shelf. Burnside proved early on to be the label's biggest money maker. Having released two albums, he teamed with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion for a tour, and then recorded with the band '' A Ass Pocket of Whiskey'', which helped Burnside and Fat Possum gain wider recognition. A

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of the R. L. Burnside song, "It's Bad You Know", was also featured prominently on ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

''. With time, many of the label's artists have died. Asie Payton, King Ernest, and Charles Caldwell died before their records could be released. Kimbrough died in 1998 and Burnside in 2005. T-Model Ford and Robert Belfour joined in the 2010s. Responding to the first deaths, Fat Possum begun to release more archival records. George Mitchell's recordings came out first as individual albums of Furry Lewis, Mississippi Joe Callicott, R.L. Burnside, Townes Van Zandt, and others, with covers designed by

Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for Cover art, book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington, Pennsylvania, Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by Am ...

, and then in bulk as the ''George Mitchell Collection''. They acquired the Al Green catalog including his 1975 '' Greatest Hits''. The successful band

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

released their second album '' Thickfreakness'' (2003) on Fat Possum, and left the label after their third album '' Rubber Factory'' (2004). Solomon Burke's "comeback" album, '' Don't Give Up On Me'', won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In 2013, Fat Possum released ''

Ready To Die ''Ready to Die'' is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records and distributed by Arista Records. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean Combs, Sean "Puffy ...

'' by Iggy and the Stooges. Concluding that further searches for rural talent are hopeless, it has begun to broaden its base of artists and sign a range of younger, indie rock bands like Andrew Bird, Milk Music, MellowHype, the Heartless Bastards, Deadboy & the Elephantmen, Wavves, Youth Lagoon, The Walkmen,

Temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

, Yuck, Fat White Family, The Districts, Crocodiles, Bass Drum of Death, and Soccer Mommy. They have tapped into the indie-folk scene, releasing Verbena's frontman A.A. Bondy's solo records, The Felice Brothers, and female songwriter Lissie. In 2021, punk band Off! was signed to the label and announced that along with their upcoming fourth studio album, Fat Possum will also release their back catalog as well. In 2023, Fat Possum released Armand Hammer's ''We Buy Diabetic Test Strips.'' In 2017 Fat Possum partnered with founding Gorilla vs. Bear blogger Chris Cantalini to start new label Luminelle Recordings. Canadian singer-songwriter Helena Deland was the label's first signing. Following Deland's signing, Fat Possum and Luminelle signed new acts such as

Magdalena Bay Magdalena Bay () is a long bay in Comondú Municipality along the western coast of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Baja California Sur. It is protected from the Pacific Ocean by the unpopulated sandy barrier islands of Isla Magda ...

, MUNYA, and Enumclaw.

Artists

* AA Bondy * Armand Hammer * Baseball Game * Buffalo Nichols * Cassowary * Country Westerns * Courtney Marie Andrews * Dax Riggs * Deadboy & the Elephantmen * The Districts * Don Bryant *

EL-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

* ellis * Empath * Fievel Is Glauque * Ghais Guevara * Hand Habits * Honeyglaze * Insecure Men * Joanna Sternberg * Lightning Bug * Off! * Patrick Paige II * Songhoy Blues * Trevor Powers * The Weather Station * Why Bonnie * Wavves * Unknown Mortal Orchestra * X

Notes and references

External links

Official website
{{Authority control American independent record labels Blues record labels Companies based in Mississippi Record labels established in 1992 1992 establishments in Mississippi

History

Artists

See also

Notes and references

External links