Jim O'Neal (born November 25, 1948,

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

, United States) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

expert, writer, record producer, and record company executive. He co-founded America's first

magazine, '' Living Blues'', in Chicago in 1970, and wrote the column "BluEsoterica". O'Neal also co-founded Rooster Blues Records and, as of 2007, operated the Stackhouse

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, with bases in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19t ...

, and

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

. O'Neal produced Lonnie Shields' debut album, ''Portrait'', on Rooster Blues in 1993, which achieved notable critical acclaim, being cited as one of the best debut albums of that year. In addition, ''Portrait'' won the ''Living Blues'' Critics' Poll as Best Album. He is co-editor with Amy van Singel of the book, ''The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine'' (Routledge, 2002, ). O'Neal was inducted into the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum operated by the Blues Foundation at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to b ...

in 2002.

References

External links

BluEsoterica old websiteBluEsoterica blogBluEsoterica new website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneal, Jim 1948 births Living people Record producers from Indiana American music industry executives