Tompkins Square Records is an independent

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

producing archival releases of gospel, blues, jazz, and country music.

History

In 2005, Josh Rosenthal launched Tompkins Square Records in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

after working 15 years in a variety of positions at

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

. Tompkins Square moved to San Francisco in 2011. Rosenthal runs the label on his own with help from an art director and publishing company.

Albums

Tompkins Square's first album was ''Imaginational Anthem'', an anthology of music by

fingerstyle guitar Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plect ...

ists including Jack Rose,

Sandy Bull Alexander "Sandy" Bull (February 25, 1941 – April 11, 2001) was an American folk musician and composer. Bull was an accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and oud. His early work blends n ...

, John Fahey, Max Ochs, and

Kaki King Kaki King (born Katherine Elizabeth King, August 24, 1979) is an American guitarist and composer. King is known for her percussive and jazz-tinged melodies, energetic live shows, use of multiple tunings on acoustic and lap steel guitar, and he ...

The series has grown to seven volumes. Tompkins Square issued a previously-unreleased concert recording by

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ...

, ''Live at the Folklore Center, NYC — March 6, 1967''. Tompkins Square has released several comprehensive gospel music compilations, including 2009's ''Fire In My Bones: Raw & Rare & Other-Worldly African American Gospel (1944–2007)'' and ''This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel On 45RPM (1957–1982)''. Rosenthal brought

Charlie Louvin Charles Elzer Loudermilk (July 7, 1927 – January 26, 2011), known professionally as Charlie Louvin, was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known as one of the Louvin Brothers, and was a member of the Grand Ole Op ...

in to record a series of albums, introducing Louvin to a new generation of listeners. Tompkins Square released ''Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs of

Karen Dalton Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

'', an album of songs written by Dalton and performed by artists such as

Lucinda Williams Lucinda Gayle Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums: '' Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and '' Happy Woman Blues'' (1980), in a traditional country and blues style ...

Sharon Van Etten Sharon Katharine Van Etten (born February 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released six studio albums, the latest of which is '' We've Been Going About This All Wrong'' (2022). Early life Van Etten was born in Belleville, N ...

Tara Jane O'Neil Tara Jane O'Neil (born November 22, 1972) (surname sometimes written as "ONeil"; sometimes credited as TJO) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, audio recording engineer, and visual artist based out of Los Angeles, California, Unite ...

, and

Diane Cluck Diane Cluck is an American singer-songwriter. She describes her music as "intuitive folk". She currently resides in Virginia. Early life Cluck was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 7, and was classi ...

. Tompkins Square released several

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

Discs for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

. Artists involved included

Luther Dickinson Luther Andrews Dickinson (born January 18, 1973) is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the North Mississippi Allstars and the son of record producer Jim Dickinson. He is also known for being the lead guitarist for The Black Crowes. He hosts ''G ...

Tyler Ramsey Tyler Ramsey is an American singer-songwriter from Asheville, North Carolina, who is best known as the former lead guitarist for the band Band of Horses. Career Ramsey's eponymous debut album was released in 2005. His second album, ''A Long Dre ...

, and

Ralph Stanley Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. Stanley began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of ...

. In 2015, Rosenthal wrote and published the book ''The Record Store of the Mind'', a memoir about being a record collector and owning a record company.

Roster

* A Broken Consort *

Aberdeen City gd, Comhairle Cathair Obar Dheathain , native_name_lang = , other_name = , image_skyline = Town House, Municipal Offices and Court Houses in Aberdeen.jpg , image_caption ...

Amédé Ardoin Amédé Ardoin (March 11, 1898 – November 3, 1942) was an American Creole musician, known for his high singing voice and virtuosity on the Cajun accordion. He is credited by Louisiana music scholars with laying the groundwork for both Creole a ...

* Tom Armstrong *

Daniel Bachman Daniel Bachman (born 1989) is an American Primitive guitarist, drone musician, and independent scholar from Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States. Career Bachman's first projects were released under the moniker Sacred Harp. In 2011, Bachm ...

* Brad Barr *

Robbie Basho Robbie Basho (born Daniel R. Robinson, Jr., August 31, 1940 – February 28, 1986) was an American acoustic guitarist, pianist and singer. Biography Basho was born in Baltimore, and was orphaned as an infant. Adopted by the Robinson family, ...

* William C. Beeley * Don Bikoff *

James Blackshaw James Blackshaw (born 1981) is an English, Hastings-based folk fingerstyle guitarist and pianist. Blackshaw primarily plays an acoustic 12 string guitar and has been compared to Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Leo Kottk ...

Ran Blake Ran Blake (born April 20, 1935) is an American pianist, composer, and educator. He is known for his unique style that combines blues, gospel, classical, and film noir influences into an innovative and dark jazz sound. His career spans over 40 rec ...

* Bob Brown *

* Joe Bussard * Michael Chapman * Richard Crandell * Nick Jonah Davis * Smoke Dawson *

* Rick Deitrick * James Elkington / Nathan Salsburg * Frank Fairfield * Mark Fosson *

Charles Gayle Charles Gayle (born February 28, 1939) is an American free jazz musician. Initially known as a saxophonist who came to prominence in the 1990s after decades of obscurity, Gayle also performs as pianist, bass clarinetist, bassist, and percussioni ...

Alice Gerrard Alice Gerrard (born July 8, 1934) is an American bluegrass singer, banjoist, fiddler, and guitar player. She performed in a duo with Hazel Dickens, and as part of The Strange Creek Singers (with Dickens, Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz, and Lamar ...

* Ben Hall *

Roscoe Holcomb Roscoe Holcomb, (born Roscoe Halcomb September 5, 1912 – died February 1, 1981) was an American singer, banjo player, and guitarist from Daisy, Kentucky. A prominent figure in Appalachian folk music, Holcomb was the inspiration for the term ...

* Lena Hughes * John Hulburt * Bessie Jones with the

Georgia Sea Island Singers The Georgia Sea Island Singers are an American folk music ensemble from Georgia, United States. Formed in the early 1900s,

* Calvin Keys * Kid Millions * Philip Lewin * Mason Lindahl * Giuseppi Logan *

* Bill Mackay *

Harvey Mandel Harvey Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career. Early life Mandel was born in Detroit, Michigan, ...

* Suni Mcgrath * Shawn David Mcmillen *

Polk Miller Polk Miller (August 2, 1844 – October 20, 1913) was a musician and entertainer from Richmond and Bon Air, Virginia. He was also a pharmacist and the founder of Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc. Early life Polk Miller was born in Prince Edwar ...

* Spencer Moore * Bern Nix * Richard Osborn *

Charlie Poole Charles Cleveland Poole (March 22, 1892 – May 21, 1931) was an American musician, singer and banjo player, as well as the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, which was a string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 and 1930. ...

and the Highlanders * Brigid Mae Power *

Prefab Sprout Prefab Sprout are an English pop band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham who rose to fame during the 1980s. Formed in 1978 by brothers Paddy and Martin McAloon and joined by vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player Wendy Smith in 1982, they re ...

* Red Fox Chasers * Ben Reynolds * Sean Smith * Powell St. John *

* Harry Taussig * Michael Taylor / Hiss Golden Messenger * William Tyler * Dino Valente * Terry Waldo * Peter Walker *

Ryley Walker Ryley Walker (born July 21, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Rockford, Illinois. Biography Walker, and critics, have cited the band Genesis and singer-songwriter Nick Drake as early influences. Walker began his career ...

Roland White Roland Joseph White (né LeBlanc; April 23, 1938 – April 1, 2022) was an American bluegrass music artist, performing principally on the mandolin. Biography White was born in Madawaska, Maine, on April 23, 1938, as Roland Joseph LeBlanc, and ...

* Bill Wilson

References

External links

* {{Authority control American record labels American independent record labels

History

Albums

Roster

See also

References

External links