Rust Nashville was a recording company founded by Ken Cooper in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, originally to promote his band

Vertigogo "Vertigogo" is the title theme for the '' Four Rooms'' film soundtrack by Combustible Edison. It was submitted for consideration for an Academy Award but was ultimately disqualified from consideration because of its incomprehensible lyrical cont ...

. It was originally based out of Northeast

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, most notably

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, before its move to

Nashville 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 ...

, TN, in 2005. The label represented notable country artists such as

Aaron Tippin Aaron Dupree Tippin (born July 3, 1958) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, " You've Got ...

n.a
Aaron Tippin signs with Rust Records
''Country Standard Time'', June 20, 2006 and Shane Owens.

Origins

Ken Cooper started Rust Records as a way to promote his band rock band Vertigogo. Upon the band's major label signing to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and change of the band's name to Sinomatic due to infringement upon a recording group from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, Rust Records again went onto the back burner. Shortly after the release of Sinomatic's debut album however, the band fell apart in early 2002 and was subsequently dropped by their label. Ken Cooper returned to his roots, once again thinking about his recording company in early 2003. The first release on the label was a rock band called Dear Violet, once again with Ken Cooper as the frontman. In 2004 Cooper retired from performing, began to focus on the label full-time. VP of Operations Keith Simmerer was brought on board, and proved to be the only other person to stay with the company over the course of its run. Starting with the alternative rock group Cherry Monroe, Rust became a Universal Imprint and was among the first labels to sign a deal with the then new Fontana Distribution company. They then released records by other local artists Between Home and Serenity, Blush, View From Everest, Southcott, and Lareau before venturing into country music with artist Shane Owens.

Present day

In 2005, Rust Records made the move from Cleveland, OH, to Nashville, TN, where the company made a major change: it switched genres from

rock & roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

. In 2005, the band signed emerging artists The Povertyneck Hillbillies and Shane Owens. In 2006, Rust signed a partnership agreement with

to release his work in partnership with his startup label Nippit Records and trio

BlackHawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus urubitinga'' * Mangrove black hawk, ''Buteogallus (anthracinus) s ...

, who came over after being dropped from

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. In January 2007, Rust Records closed its doors due to issues with its financial partners. All artists were released from their recording obligations at that time.

References

{{Authority control Record labels established in 1998 American country music record labels Rock and roll record labels

Origins

Present day

See also

References