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 ...
started by
Bill Traut William Raymond Traut (March 20, 1929 – June 5, 2014) was an American jazz musician, rock music producer, manager and record label executive. He co-founded the Dunwich and Wooden Nickel record labels, and produced The Shadows of Knight, The Am ...
,
Eddie Higgins
Edward Haydn Higgins (February 21, 1932 – August 31, 2009) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and orchestrator. His performance and composition in 1959's " Cry of Jazz" is preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.
Bi ...
and George Badonsky in Chicago in 1965. Dunwich was also a production company which licensed recordings to other labels, including
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
,
Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to:
Businesses
* ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies
** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company
* Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing ...
, Columbia, Mercury and SGC. The label was primarily known for the release of singles from the emerging Chicago rock scene in the 1960s. Only two artists,
the Shadows of Knight
The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city. When they began recording in 1965, the band's self-description was "the Stones, Animals and the Y ...
Traut, Higgins and Badonsky formed their first record label, Amboy, in 1963 and released recordings of themselves and other bands. In 1965 they changed the label's name to Dunwich, and in December released a cover version of Van Morrison's " Gloria" by the Chicago band
Shadows of Knight
The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city. When they began recording in 1965, the band's self-description was "the Stones, Animals and the ...
. By the spring of 1966, the song was a hit. After some difficulty with nationwide distribution, Traut, Higgins and Badonsky made a distribution deal with Atlantic subsidiary
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...
. By mid-
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
Traut and Badonsky bought out Higgins. Dunwich soon stopped releasing their own records, concentrating instead on producing a range of artists and leasing the master recordings to other labels. The Dunwich lute player logo appears on these recordings. Above the lute player is a cartoon type word balloon that says "It's DUNWICH, man." This logo may have been on a few other Chicago groups records, such as "The Cryan Shames" Columbia albums.
In the spring of 1968, Traut split with Badonsky, joined with producers Jim Golden and Bob Monaco and reorganized Dunwich Records into Dunwich Productions, Ltd. The three continued to produce Chicago-based groups, notably the bands
Mason Proffit
Mason Proffit was an American country rock band from Indianapolis, Indiana, that released five albums between 1969 and 1973. They are known for their song "Two Hangmen", which garnered a significant amount of Album Oriented Rock airplay.
Histor ...
and Coven. The latter group released their first album in 1969 on the Mercury label, but with the Dunwich Productions logo. In 1971, Traut briefly revived the Dunwich label for a live recording of Chicago folk artists, ''Gathering at the Earl of Old Town'', which notably includes the first recording of late singer-songwriter Steve Goodman performing "
Jerry Weintraub
Jerome Charles "Jerry" Weintraub (September 26, 1937 – July 6, 2015) was an American film producer, talent manager and actor whose television films won him three Emmys.
He began his career as a talent agent, having managed relatively unknown ...
to form
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 th ...
, whose early acts included the band Styx.
Since the Dunwich label released mostly singles, two collections released by
Sundazed Records
Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...
in the 1990s are considered to be quite important to appreciating the history of Dunwich Records and its contribution to music. ''Oh Yeah! The Best of Dunwich Records, Volume 1'', was released in 1991. This was followed by ''If You're Ready! The Best of Dunwich Records, Volume 2'', in 1994. Artists appearing on these records include The Shadows of Knight, The Knaves, The Pride & Joy, The Luv'd Ones, Saturday's Children, The Wanderin' Kind, The Rovin' Kind,
The American Breed
The American Breed was an American rock band from Chicago in the 1960s. The band was originally called Gary & The Knight Lites before adopting the name The American Breed in 1967. The band had a number of charting songs in 1967–68, the be ...
, the H. P. Lovecraft band, Sounds Unlimited, The Del Vetts, The Warner Brothers and Little Boy Blues. The albums were produced by Bill Traut and George Badonsky. An earlier collection of Dunwich singles had been released in 1971 on the Happy Tiger label as ''Early Chicago, Volume 1''.
The label's name "Dunwich" refers to "
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a horror novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of '' Weird Tales'' (pp. 481–508). It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusett ...
", a story by H. P. Lovecraft,Later made into a 1970 film starring
Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
,
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingén ...
and
Ed Begley
Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962) and ...
. Se The Dunwich Horror www.imdb.com. The film received mixed reviews. The label's publishing arm, Yuggoth Music, was named after a fictional planet in Lovecraft's stories.
Sundazed
Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...
List of record labels
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Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...