HighTone 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 ...

based in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, United States. HighTone specialized in

American roots music The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ''roots music''. Many traditional songs have been sung ...

including,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

. The label was created by Larry Sloven and

Bruce Bromberg Bruce Bromberg (October 31, 1941 - December 27, 2021) was an American Grammy Award winning producer of blues music. He was born in Chicago, and raised there and in Park Forest, Illinois. In 1958 he moved with his family to Los Angeles, and beg ...

in 1983. The label's first release that year was '' Bad Influence'' by bluesman

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was statione ...

. In 1984, the label released

Frankie Lee Frankie Lee (December 31, 1911 – July 29, 1970), was an American child actor. He appeared in 56 films between 1916 and 1925. Best remembered in the 1919 film '' The Miracle Man'', he was the little boy on crutches healed by the phony fait ...

's debut album, ''The Ladies and the Babies''. Some of the label's releases in the late 1980s featured

Joe Louis Walker Joe Louis Walker, also known as JLW (born December 25, 1949) is an American musician, best known as an electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. His knowledge of blues history is revealed by his use of older material and playi ...

including ''Cold is the Night'' and ''The Gift.'' Between 1995 and 2000, the label issued three albums by James Armstrong (''Sleeping with a Stranger'', ''Dark Night'', and ''Got It Goin' On''). From 1997 to 2005 it reissued much of the High Water Recording Company catalogue of LPs on CD. In 1997, Clara McDaniel recorded her debut album, ''Unwanted Child'', which was released on HighTone. In September 2006, the label released a five CD

boxed set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

titled ''American Music: The HighTone Records Story''. This release compiled many of the labels's most influential recordings. In 2008, the company sold the catalog to

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

, which continued to release reissues and compilations. In 2016, Hightone was bought by

Concord Bicycle Music Concord Music Group was an American independent music company based in Beverly Hills, California, with worldwide (including the U.S.) distribution through Universal Music Group. The company specialized in recordings ( Fearless Records, Concord R ...

from Shout! Factory.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Blues record labels American country music record labels Folk record labels American independent record labels Record labels established in 1983 Record labels disestablished in 2008

See also

References

External links