Wooden Nickel Records

Wooden Nickel Records was an American independent record label started in 1971 by Bill Traut, Jim Golden and Jerry Weintraub as a successor to Dunwich Records. Most of Wooden Nickel's releases were by acts based in the Chicago area, including the Siegel–Schwall Band, James Lee Stanley, Megan McDonough and Styx. The label had a distribution deal with RCA Records. Wooden Nickel ceased operations after its top act, Styx, signed with A&M Records in 1975. The label sued the band for breach of contract, then was formally disbanded in 1977.

Discography

Albums: WNS-1000 series

*WNS-1000 - ''Wooden Nickel'' - Wooden Nickel 971*WNS-1001 - ''String Cheese'' - String Cheese 971Produced by James Lee Golden and Barry Alan Fasman. Artists: Greg Block, Louis Constantino, William Dalton, John Maggi, Sally Smaller, and Lawrence W. Wendelken.
*WNS-1002 - ''The Siegel-Schwall Band'' - Siegel-Schwall Band 971This album cover won a Grammy in 1972 for best album cover of the year. Produced by Bill Traut and Peter Szillies. Partly recorded live at the Quiet Knight, Chicago.
*WNS-1003 - ''David Patton'' - David Patton 971Produced by James Lee Golden. Country album with Larry Carlton, Larry Brown, Tom Hensley, Bill Perry, and Buddy Emmons.
*WNS-1004 - ''In the Megan Manner'' - Megan McDonough 972Produced by Bob Monaco, Jim Golden, and Barry Fasman.
*WNS-1005 - Buckeye - David Patton 972Country album with Buddy Emmons, Larry Carlton, Larry Brown, Bill Perry, Lincoln Mayorgo, Michael Lang, Gib Guilbeau, and others.
*WNS-1006
*WNS-1007 - ''Megan Music'' - Megan McDonough 972*WNS-1008 - Styx - Styx 972Produced by Bill Traut and John Ryan. Reissued in 1975 as BWL1-1008; reissued in 1978 as RCA AFL1-3110. Reissued in 1979 as ''Styx I'' on RCA AFL1-3593. Reissued in 1981 as ''Styx I'' on RCA AYL1-3888.
*WNS-1009 - ''Wolfman Jack'' - Wolfman Jack 972Reissued in 1975 as BWL1-1009. Produced by Don Sciarotta, of Quantum Productions.
*WNS-1010 - ''Sleepy Hollow'' - Siegel-Schwall Band 972*WNS-1011 - ''James Lee Stanley'' - James Lee Stanley 973Produced by Barry Fasman and Jim Stanley. Musicians: Jim Stanley (acoustic & electric guitars, vocals), Gib Guilbeau (fiddle), Doug Dillard (banjo), Larry Carlton (electric guitar), John Jarvis (piano), Michael Omartian (piano, organ), Mark Tulin (bass), Don Dunn (background vocals), John Batdorf (background vocals), Mark Rodney (background vocals).
*WNS-1012 - ''Styx II'' - Styx 973(1-75, #20) Produced by John Ryan and Bill Traut. Reissued in 1975 as Wooden Nickel BWL1-1012. Reissued in 1979 as ''Lady'' on RCA AFL1-3594. Reissued in 1982 as ''Lady'' on RCA AYL1-4233.

Albums: RCA consolidated series

*BWL1-0119 - ''Through the Ages'' - Wolfman Jack 973*BWL1-0120 - ''Exile'' - Exile 973*BWL1-0121 - ''953 West'' - Siegel-Schwall Band 973
*BWL1-0145 - ''Keepsake'' - Megan McDonough 973With Larry Carlton, Michael Omartian, Jim Gordon and Jim Horn.
*BWL1-0146 - ''James Lee Stanley, Too'' - James Lee Stanley 973
*BWL1-0287 - ''The Serpent Is Rising'' - Styx 974(2-74, #192) Reissued in 1979 as ''Serpent'' on RCA AFL1-3595, and in 1981 as ''Serpent'' on RCA AQL1-4111.
*BWL1-0288 - ''Last Summer: The Siegel-Schwall Band Live'' - Siegel-Schwall Band 974*BWL1-0430 - ''Three's the Charm'' - James Lee Stanley 974*BWL1-0431 - ''Magic'' - Richie Lecéa 974
*BWL1-0499 - ''Sketches'' - Megan McDonough 974*BWL1-0554 - ''R.I.P.'' - Siegel-Schwall Band 974
*BWL1-0635 - ''Mo'' - Mo McGuire 974*BWL1-0638 - ''Man of Miracles'' - Styx 974(11-74, #154) Reissued in 1979 as ''Miracles'' on RCA AFL1-3596.
*BWL1-0673 - ''It's All Done with Mirrors'' - Richie Lecéa 975*BWL1-0772 - ''Come Again'' - Jaggerz 975*BWL1-0790 - ''Schizoid'' - Boa 975*BWL1-0791 - ''Zazu'' - Zazu 975Produced by Zazu, Bill Trout, and Barry Mraz.
*BWL1-2250 - ''Best of Styx'' - Styx 977Reissued in 1979 as RCA AFL1-3597 with a different cover.

CD

*Varèse Sarabande/Varèse Vintage VSD-6006 - The Very Best of the Siegel-Schwall Band: The Wooden Nickel Years (1971-1974) - Siegel-Schwall Band 999

Singles: 65 prefix series

Wooden Nickel singles, like the albums, started with their own numbering system, but in 1973 were put into the consolidated RCA numbering system where they shared a catalog numbering sequence with all of the RCA-distributed labels. The label design was the same as for the albums, that is, a brown, wood-like color with a buffalo nickel backdrop, and "wooden nickel" in white at the top of the label. Promotional records used the same design, with "NOT FOR SALE" printed on the label. Promo copies usually featured the same song on both sides, one mono and one stereo. The deejay numbers on the 65-0100 series were completely different (e.g., the promo issue of "Guitar Picker" was SP/SPS-45-314 vs. the commercial issue of 65-0105). The WB-10000 series deejay issues used the same numbers, but with a "JH-" prefix instead of "WB-".
*65-0100 - David Patton - The Devil In Me/You Are Gone 971*65-0101
*65-0102 - Megan McDonough - Pocketful/Don't Worry Mama 972*65-0103 - David Patton - Her/Like Tonight 972*65-0104 - Siegel-Schwall Band - Always Thinking Of You Darling/Sleepy Hollow 972*65-0105 - Megan McDonough - Guitar Picker/Stay In Touch 972*65-0106 - Styx - Best Thing (9-72, #82)/What Has Come Between 972*65-0107 - David Patton - People In Dallas Go Hair/Los Angeles Leavin' 972*65-0108 - Wolfman Jack - I Ain't Never Seen A White Man (9-72, #106)/Gallop 972*65-0109 - Megan McDonough - Lady In Love/? 972*65-0110 - Wolfman Jack - There's An Old Man In Our Town/Hey Wolfman 972*65-0111 - Styx - I'm Gonna Make You Feel It/Quick Is The Beat Of My Heart 972*65-0112 - Megan McDonough - Broken Guitar/No Return
*65-0113 - James Lee Stanley - Every Minute/I Knead You 973*65-0114 - Siegel-Schwall Band - Good Time Band/Hey Billy Jean 973*65-0115 - Exile - Devil's Bite/Mabel 973*65-0116 - Styx - Lady/You Better Ask 973*65-0117 - Wolfman Jack - Ling Ting Tong/Johnny Do It Faster 973*65-0118 - James Lee Stanley - Wishing Well/This Could Be Goodbye 973

Singles: RCA APB0 series

The series used four prefix characters, the first of which indicated if the single was on the RCA parent label (=A) or a subsidiary/distributed label (=B). The second letter indicated the label, with "W" indicating Wooden Nickel. The third letter was mostly "B" except for a few pop artists' reissues (=A). The final character was intended to always be a "0" (zero), but was often erroneously typeset as a capital O. Since several labels shared the sequence, the Wooden Nickel numbers are not continuous.

*BWB0-0006 - Exile - Do What You Think You Should/Hold Tight Sweet Woman 973*BWB0-0032 - Megan McDonough - Daddy Always Liked A Lady/Wishing 973*BWB0-0065 - Styx - You Need Love/Winner Take All 973*BWB0-0066 - Siegel-Schwall Band - Old Time Shimmy/Blow Out The Candle 973*BWB0-0110 - Wolfman Jack - The Rapper/My Girl 973*BWB0-0137 - Megan McDonough - Love Comes And Love Goes/? 974*BWB0-0138 - James Lee Stanley - Afternoon Rain/Lydia 974*BWB0-0190 - Siegel-Schwall Band - I Think It Was The Wine/Traitor From Decatur 974*BWB0-0207 - Christopher - Henry's Highway/Get Me Goin' In The Right Direction 974*BWB0-0252 - Styx - Young Man/Unfinished Song 974*BWB0-0264 - Richie Lecea - Magic Is You/Season Of The Mist 974*BWB0-0322 - Mo McGuire - Mama Was A Cowgirl/Saturday Night In The Summertime 974

Singles: RCA "PB" series

RCA Consolidated numbering system changes to the PB-10000 sequence, with the letter prefixes pared down to the middle two letters of the four-letter combination above.
*WB-10004 - James Lee Stanley - Plenty Of Reason/Windmill 974*WB-10027 - Styx - Lies/22 Years 974*WB-10043 - Richie Lecea - Season Of The Mist/Slowin' Down But Goin' Faster 974*WB-10101 - Mo McGuire - First Of May/Just About Over The Hill 974*WB-10102 - Styx - Lady (12-74, #6)/Children Of The Land (Short Version) 974*WB-10107 - Donny Mann - I'm A Weak Man/Try Me 974*WB-10193 - Boa - Crazy Days/Love Ranger 975*WB-10194 - Jaggerz - 2+2/Don't It Make You Want To Dance 975*WB-10272 - Styx - You Need Love (5-75, #88)/You Better Ask 975*WB-10329 - Styx - Best Thing/Havin' A Ball 975*GB-10492 - Styx - Lady/Children Of The Land 975*WB-11205 - Styx - Best Thing/Winner Take All 978, Golden Standard Series

Singles: promotional

*SP/SPS-45-299 - Megan McDonough - Pocketful (mono)/Pocketful (stereo) 972*SP/SPS-45-314 - Megan McDonough - Guitar Picker (mono)/Guitar Picker (stereo) 972*SPS/SP-45-411 - Wolfman Jack - There's An Old Man In Our Town (stereo)/There's An Old Man In Our Town (mono) 972*SPS-45-442 - Styx - Father O.S.A./A Day 972*JH-10272 - Styx - You Need Love (stereo)/You Need Love (mono)

See also

* List of record labels
* Styx: The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings

References

{{Authority control

Record labels established in 1971
Record labels disestablished in 1977
American independent record labels
RCA Records