Lofton Creek Records was an American independent

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

record label. The label is notable for releasing " I Loved Her First", a number-one single for the band Heartland.

History

Harold Shafer and his wife Vicky founded Lofton Creek Records in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, in 1999. Three years later, Mike Borchetta (father of record executive

Scott Borchetta Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American record executive and founder of the Big Machine Records#Imprints, Big Machine Label Group. He started the label in 2005 with Taylor Swift as its first signed artist and 13 employees, he served ...

) and his wife Martha joined as business partners. The label was based in

. In 2003, they also distributed the Big Al label, which was founded by country singer J. Michael Harter. By 2004, the Borchettas owned a twenty percent stake in Lofton Creek, and the label had just signed Jeffrey Steele. The label had its first chart entry in 2004 with Keith Bryant's "Ridin' with the Legend", a tribute song to

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

. This song charted at number 47 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

in late 2004. The label achieved a number-one single on the same chart in 2006 with Heartland's " I Loved Her First," which also got nominated for the Academy of Country Music Award for Single Record of the Year. The label signed Gwen Sebastian in 2009.

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

finalist

Carmen Rasmusen Carmen Rasmusen Herbert (born March 25, 1985) is a Canadian-American country music artist who ranked sixth on the American Idol (season 2), second season of ''American Idol'' in 2003. Rasmusen also plays piano and guitar. Early life Rasmusen was ...

also recorded for the label. Mark Chesnutt signed with Lofton Creek in 2007 and released his album '' Rollin' with the Flow'' that year. Gwen Sebastian signed with Lofton Creek in 2009 prior to her becoming a contestant on '' The Voice''. Harold Shafer died in 2011 after complications from a stroke. The label had no releases after this.

Notable artists

* Keith Bryant * Mark Chesnutt * Drew Davis Band * J. Michael Harter * Heartland * Shawn King * Billy McKnight * Allison Paige *

* Shane Sellers * Jeffrey Steele *

Doug Stone Doug Stone (born Douglas Jackson Brooks; June 19, 1956) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He debuted in 1990 with the single " I'd Be Better Off (In a Pine Box)", the first release from his 1990 self-titled debut album for Epi ...

References

{{Authority control American country music record labels American independent record labels Record labels established in 1999 1999 establishments in Tennessee Record labels disestablished in 2011