Giantslayer Records was 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- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

specializing in

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

. It was established in 2004 by songwriters

Rory Lee Feek Rory Lee Feek (born April 25, 1965) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In his career, he has written singles for Clay Walker, Blake Shelton, Tracy Byrd and other artists. He and his wife, Joey Feek, formed the duo Joey + R ...

and Tim Johnson in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

. Songwriters included

born in

Atchison, Kansas Atchison is a city and county seat of Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator David Rice Atchison from Missouri ...

. Feek has co-written

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single " Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

's Number One single "

Some Beach "Some Beach" is a song written by Rory Feek and Paul Overstreet and recorded by American country music artist Blake Shelton. It was released in July 2004 as the second single from Shelton's 2004 album '' Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill''. The song ...

", as well as Top 5 hits for

Clay Walker Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single "What's It to You", which reached Number One on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Son ...

The Chain of Love "The Chain of Love" is a song written by Rory Feek and Jonnie Barnett, and recorded by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released in January 2000 as the third single from his album ''Live, Laugh, Love''. "The Chain of Love" reac ...

") and

Collin Raye Floyd Elliot Wray (born August 22, 1960) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye, and previously as Bubba Wray. Under the latter name, he recorded as a member of the band The Wrays between 1983 and 1987. He made ...

("Someone You Used to Know"). He and Joey Martin founded the duo

Joey + Rory Joey + Rory was an American country and bluegrass duo composed of singer-songwriters Rory Lee 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 ...

in 2008. Tim Johnson, cofounder, grew up in western Oregon. He has written more than one hundred country music songs for other artists, including hits for

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited fo ...

Mark Chesnutt Mark Nelson Chesnutt (born September 6, 1963) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1990 and 1999, he had his greatest chart success recording for Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA and Decca branches, with a total of e ...

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven", which reached Number One on '' ...

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

, and

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as " neotraditional country"), as well as penning man ...

. Other writers added later to the list included

Helen Darling Helen Marie Darling (born August 29, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player, who played most recently for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In her WNBA career, Darling has mo ...

Blaine Larsen Blaine Larsen (born February 2, 1986) is an American country music artist. He was raised in Buckley, Washington. At age fifteen, he recorded his debut album ''In My High School'' on Giantslayer Records, an independent record label. The album w ...

, Mandy McCauley (MixMasterMandy), Paul Sikes and Jamie Teachenor. The label's first release was

's 2004 album ''In My High School'', which was re-issued in 2005 as ''

Off to Join the World ''In My High School'' is the debut studio album by American country music artist Blaine Larsen. It was released on 1 June 2004 on the independent label, Giantslayer Records. Its lead-off single, "In My High School", also released in 2004 peaked ...

'' on

BNA Records BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashvil ...

in association with Giantslayer. In December 2007, Giantslayer and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

released a Christmas song entitled "Bring Him Home Santa". Written by Feek and Johnson, the song was sung by an anonymous six-year-old girl and credited to the Song Trust. On the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart dated for the week of January 5, 2008, "Bring Him Home Santa" reached a peak of #29. Song Trust released an album, ''The Dog Singer'', on June 16, 2009. The album's first single, "Choose Me," was released to country radio in July 2009. The company folded after Rory Lee Feek got more involved in the husband and wife duo project

References

{{Authority control American country music record labels Record labels established in 2004 American independent record labels

See also

References