Favored Nations Entertainment is a

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 in 1999 by guitarist

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

and Ray Scherr, former owner of Guitar Center. The first album released by the label was '' Coming to Your Senses'' by guitarist

Frank Gambale Frank Gambale ( ; born 22 December 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Recording career Sol ...

in 2000. Soon after, a diverse range of artists were signed, such as Johnny A., Larry Carlton, Peppino D'Agostino,

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

, Johnny Hiland,

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz and rock music, rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K. (band), U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerl ...

, Eric Johnson, Stanley Jordan, Steve Lukather, Novecento,

John Petrucci John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with Mike Portnoy before Portnoy's absence from the band 2010-2023 ...

, Eric Sardinas,

Neal Schon Neal Joseph Schon (born February 27, 1954) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist for the rock band Journey. He is the last original member to remain throughout the group's history. He was a memb ...

, Andy Timmons, Dave Weiner,

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...

, and

Dweezil Zappa Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa, September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Zappa develo ...

. The label expanded with the creation of separate branches, Favored Nations Acoustic in 2002 and Favored Nations Cool in 2004. Pro-Found, a sister label, promotes Favored Nations artists through the Favored Nations and ProFound websites.

Notable artists

Favored Nations

* Eric Johnson * Eric Sardinas * Andy Timmons *

* Johnny A. *

* Tony Macalpine * Mattias Eklundh

Favored Nations Acoustic

* Philip Aaberg * Peppino D'Agostino * Pierre Bensusan * Tommy Emmanuel * Peter Huttlinger * Adrian Legg

Favored Nations Cool

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 ...

* Mimi Fox * Novecento featuring Stanley Jordan

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control American independent record labels Record labels established in 1999 Rock record labels 1999 establishments in California