Current Record Labels
Historical Record Labels

The following record labels produce re-issues, compilations, and new recordings of traditional American music. This is a cursory list; to suggest a label, please email the webmaster.

Arhoolie Records
10341 San Pablo Avenue
El Cerrito, CA 94530
1-888-274-6654
Arhoolie's collections include blues, Cajun and Zydeco, Tejano, gospel and old time country music, both re-issues and new recordings.

Bear Family Records
P.O. Box 1154
27727 Hambergen, Germany
(+49) 4748 82 16 0
This German label has made a name for itself by remastering early American recordings and packaging them very well. They are particularly strong in rockabilly and honky-tonk. Their website is partly in English, but a lot of its links go to German sites, so beware if you don't sprechen sie Deutsch!

Old Hat Records
P.O. Box 10309
Raleigh, NC 27605
(919) 838-9003
Excellent re-issues from this local label, founded by Marshall Wyatt, a director of the North Carolina Folklife Institute. Old Hat sponsors original field work and maintains an archive of sound recordings in various formats, with an emphasis on 78rpm records of the prewar era.

Rounder Records
1 Camp Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
1-800-ROUNDER (1-800-768-6337 )
Among other collections, new releases, and re-issues of roots music (in just about every form), Rounder's catalog includes the following series:

• The Alan Lomax Collection (The granddaddy of field recordings, Lomax started recording musicians in the South during the Depression and didn't quit for decades.)
• Rounder Heritage Series (Compilations of various musical styles, with real cool illustrated album covers!)
• The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture (The Library of Congress sponsored countless field recording projects during the Depression, and these recordings come from those collections.)

Shanachie Records
Dept. WWW
37 E. Clinton Street
Newton, NJ 07860
1-800-497-1043
Shanachie covers a lot of ground, but does have a great collection of Americana, blues, folk, and Cajun styles.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Smithsonian Folkways Mail Order
Dept. 0607
Washington, DC 20073-0607
1-800-410-9815
Part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Folkways primarily releases compilations of field recordings and rare, out-of-print commercial recordings, and covers the gamut of traditional American music styles. For more background on this label, see:

Olmsted, Anthony. Folkways Records : Moses Asch and his Encyclopedia of Sound. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Music ML3792.F65 O65 2003

Sugar Hill Records
PO Box 55300
Durham, NC 27717-5300
1-800-996-4455
Sugar Hill releases new music with traditional roots, and is central to the recent boom in bluegrass music. Artists include Dolly Parton, the Red Clay Ramblers, and Doc Watson.

Yazoo Records
Dept. WWW
37 E. Clinton Street
Newton, NJ 07860
1-800-497-1043
Yazoo specializes in re-issues and re-masters of early rural American and ethnic music, and is very strong in early blues artists like Charley Patton, Skip James, and Roosevelt Sykes. Its thematic compilations are unparalleled.

To find out more about original record labels, including "race records" and others no longer in business, consult the following resources:

Condon, Kathleen. Record companies in North America specializing in folk music, folklore and ethnomusicology. Washington, DC : Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Culture, 1982.
Davis REF Federal Documents LC 39.2:R 24

Foreman, Ronald Clifford. Jazz and race records, 1920-32 : their origins and their significance for the record industry and society. Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Illinois, 1968.
Davis and Music ML3478 .F67

Gart, Galen. ARLD: The American Record Label Directory and Dating Guide, 1940-1959. Milford, NH: Big Nickel Publications, 1989.
Manuscripts Dept SFC and Music Reference ML18 .G34 1989

Oliver, Paul. Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions on Race Records. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Music ML3556 .O466 1984

Rust, Brian. The American record label book. New York: Da Capo Press, 1984. (Reprint of New Rochelle : Arlington House, 1978.)
Manuscripts Dept SFC ML156.2 .R83 1984

Sutton, Allan. American Record Labels and Companies: An Encyclopedia (1891-1943) includes CD-ROM by Kurt Nauck. Denver: Mainspring Press, 2000.
Manuscripts Dept SFC (CD-ROM enclosed in back pocket) and Music Reference (Ask at Circulation Desk for accompanying CD-ROM) ML102.S67 S87 2000

last updated 11 March 2004 by Jessica F. Kem