Montgomery Ward M-7259 B - BrokenDownCowboy

Montgomery Ward Records was American retailer

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

store brand A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

record label. The records were sold at a lower than industry standard prices through company stores and catalogs. During its prolific run, the label issued many important

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 ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

recordings.

History

Production of the label began in 1933 as an in-house budget label, with an arrangement with

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

that gave Montgomery Wards access to every style of music in Victor's vault. The first issues were pressed by Victor and included popular music as well as country (including

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

race records Race records were 78 rpm, 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s.Oliver, Paul. "Race record." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 13 Feb. 2015. They primarily contained race music, comprising vari ...

, ethnic material with catalog numbers beginning at M-4200, which was intended to match and replace (often with different artists) that of Broadway Records, which although not exclusive to Wards had been extensively marketed by them. A second series recorded and pressed by Victor, beginning with M-6000, was devoted to classical music. Montgomery Ward also had a short-lived contract with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

that resulted in releases of both Decca and some

Gennett Records Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and H ...

material to which Decca held rights. Decca-originated issues can be identified by the lack of a "M" prefix before the catalog number. Material originating from

Eli Oberstein Elliott Everett "Eli" Oberstein (born Elias Oberstein; December 13, 1901 – June 12, 1960) was an American record producer and music business executive who established the influential Bluebird record label in the 1930s and owned a succession ...

's United States Record Corporation (Varsity, Royale) including older

Crown Records Crown Records was a budget albums record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records in 1957. It has been the name of several different record labels, listed below. Discography Mono Stereo Other Crown Records * United Kingdom ** Crown Reco ...

recordings, was issued in a short-lived M-3000 series which also included material from

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramount Records was formed in 19 ...

, Gennett, and various foreign labels to which Oberstein's claim of ownership was dubious. Production ceased in December 1941, by which time Montgomery Ward's longstanding arrangement with Victor ceased.

Released material

Because Montgomery Ward's catalogs were widely distributed in rural areas, country music was a large part of Montgomery Ward's catalog, including many releases of importance to collectors. The records were priced for consumers at well below industry average, 21 cents per record or $1.79 in groups of ten. Older material such as recordings by

Henry Burr Henry Burr (January 15, 1882 – April 6, 1941) was a Canadian singer, radio performer and producer. He was born Harry Haley McClaskey and used Henry Burr as one of his many pseudonyms, in addition to Irving Gillette, Henry Gillette, Alfred Alex ...

and

Cal Stewart Cal Stewart (b. 1856 Charlotte County, Virginia, d. December 7, 1919) was an American comedian and humorist who pioneered in vaudeville and early sound recordings. He is best remembered for his comic monologues in which he played "Uncle Josh" ...

, which continued to sell in rural areas, were released. Most of the released material was from recordings originally made for

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known ...

, although many were never released on that label, leaving Montgomery Ward as the sole issue.

References

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Records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

Record labels established in 1933 Record labels disestablished in 1941 American country music record labels