Rounder Records facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rounder Records
Parent company	Concord
Founded	1970; 55 years ago (1970)
Founder	Ken Irwin Bill Nowlin Marian Leighton Levy
Distributor(s)	Decca Records
Genre	Various
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	Nashville, Tennessee

Rounder Records is a music company that started in 1970. It was founded by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin in Somerville, Massachusetts. Rounder Records focuses on American roots music. This includes styles like bluegrass, folk, and blues.

The company has released over 3,000 albums. Famous artists like Alison Krauss and Union Station, George Thorogood, and Béla Fleck have recorded with them. They also re-release classic albums from artists such as the Carter Family and Woody Guthrie. Rounder Records has won 54 Grammy Awards for its music. These awards cover many different types of music, including reggae, gospel, pop, and rock. In 2010, the company was bought by Concord. Today, Rounder Records is based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2016, its founders were added to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

History of Rounder Records

How Rounder Records Started

Rounder Records was created by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin, and Marian Leighton Levy. Ken and Bill first met in 1962 at Tufts University in Massachusetts. They loved bluegrass, old-time, and other roots music. They noticed that many artists they saw live did not have their music recorded.

Ken and Bill met Marian in 1967. She also loved folk music. The three shared an apartment and wanted to share roots music with more people. Marian said they were inspired to start Rounder because they wanted to share music that was not very well known.

The 1970s: First Albums and Big Success

Rounder Records started in 1970 in the founders' apartment. Ken Irwin used his savings of $1,500 to begin the company. They chose the name "Rounder" for a few reasons. It sounded like a vinyl record, and it was a nickname for a traveler. The name also showed their goal to share music that was different from the mainstream.

Their first album, Rounder 0001, was released on October 20, 1970. It featured George Pegram, a 76-year-old banjo player. They also released Rounder 0002 by the Spark Gap Wonder Boys. To help their company grow, they started selling albums from other small folk labels at music festivals.

In 1971, Rounder released its first bluegrass album by Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys. Over the next few years, they released many bluegrass albums. They also looked for female artists, which was rare in bluegrass music at the time. In the early 1970s, they released albums by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard.

By 1974, Rounder had released 22 records. One of their most important albums was Norman Blake's Home in Sulphur Springs. The founders realized Rounder needed their full attention. So, Ken, Bill, and Marian left their other jobs to work on Rounder full-time.

In 1975, Rounder released J. D. Crowe & The New South. This album was very important for bluegrass music in the 1970s. Rounder also re-released old 78 rpm records from the 1920s and 1930s.

In the mid-1970s, Rounder started to include folk, blues, and other music styles. They signed artists like NRBQ and George Thorogood and the Destroyers. In 1977, George Thorogood's first album was released. It was more of a rock album than their usual releases. It sold over 75,000 copies, which was a big success for an independent label.

Rounder released Thorogood's second album, Move it on Over, in 1978. The song "Move it on Over" was played a lot on the radio. This album became a gold record, meaning it sold 500,000 copies. George Thorogood's success was a big moment for Rounder. It showed them they needed more staff and better ways to distribute their music. Rounder later released Thorogood's fourth album, Bad to the Bone, with EMI. At the end of the 1970s, Rounder moved to a bigger office in Cambridge.

The 1980s: New Styles and Alison Krauss

After George Thorogood's success, Rounder signed more artists. They added blues musicians like Johnny Copeland and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Clarence Brown's album, Alright Again!, won Rounder's first Grammy Award in 1982.

In the early 1980s, Rounder expanded again. They started a reggae music label called Heartbeat. They also added musicians who played Klezmer, Cajun, Zydeco, and Tex-Mex Conjunto music.

In 1984, Rounder bought Philo Records, a folk music label. This brought artists like Utah Phillips and Nanci Griffith to Rounder. Nanci Griffith's album, Once in a Very Blue Moon, was very successful.

Ken Irwin listened to every demo tape sent to Rounder. In 1984, he heard Alison Krauss on a demo tape. She was only 13 or 14 years old. Ken was impressed by her voice and signed her as a solo artist. Her first album, Too Late to Cry, was released in 1987 when she was 16.

The 1990s: More Success and New Labels

In 1990, Rounder released Alison Krauss's second solo album, I've Got That Old Feeling. This album was her first to appear on the Billboard music charts. It also won her first Grammy Award in 1991. During the 1990s, Alison Krauss and her band, Union Station, won nine Grammy Awards.

In 1994, Rounder bought Music for Little People, a children's music label. They renamed it Rounder Kids. Artists like Raffi released music through Rounder Kids.

Rounder also bought Flying Fish Records in 1995. This label had over 500 records by artists like Pete Seeger and Doc Watson. In the same year, Alison Krauss released a collection of her songs called Now That I've Found You. This album sold two million copies and won two Grammy Awards.

In 1997, Rounder created a new pop music label called Zoë. Artists like Juliana Hatfield released music on this label. In 1998, Rounder made a deal with Mercury Records to help sell their music. By 1999, Rounder also started distributing its music digitally online.

The 2000s: Big Hits and New Ventures

In 2001, Rounder helped bring polka music to a wider audience with Jimmy Sturr's Gone Polka album. Even Willie Nelson sang on some of Sturr's songs.

In 2004, Rounder started a book publishing division called Rounder Books. They released books about baseball and a children's book by Raffi. One of their best-selling books was by Neil Peart, the drummer for the band Rush.

In 2006, Mary Chapin Carpenter signed with Rounder. She released albums that many people thought were some of her best.

One of Rounder's biggest successes came in 2007 with the album Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. This album won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. It sold over one million copies.

In 2009, Rounder reissued old recordings by the Carter Family. They also started a project to re-release 100 albums collected by music expert Alan Lomax. These recordings included music from Jelly Roll Morton, Lead Belly, and Muddy Waters. Also in 2009, Steve Martin released his first Rounder album, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.

By the end of the 2000s, Rounder was releasing about 100 albums each year. Their catalog included many artists like Del McCoury, David Grisman, and Madeleine Peyroux.

The 2010s: New Ownership and Anniversaries

In April 2010, Concord Music Group bought Rounder Records. Rounder's founders stayed on to help with creative ideas. Marian Leighton Levy said they felt this was the best way for Rounder to keep doing what it does best.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Rounder held a concert at the Grand Ole Opry. The concert was shown on PBS in March 2010. It featured artists like Alison Krauss, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Steve Martin.

In 2014, Rounder moved its main office from Cambridge to Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is where Concord, its parent company, is based. In 2015, Concord merged another music label, Sugar Hill, with Rounder.

In 2017, John Strohm became the president of Rounder. He is a musician and a lawyer who has helped many artists in their careers.

Artists

Subsidiary Labels

See also

In Spanish: Rounder Records para niños

• List of record labels

Relevant Literature

• Nowlin, Bill. 2021. Vinyl Ventures: My Fifty Years at Rounder Records. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing.