Favored Nations Entertainment is a

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 pr ...

founded in 1999 by guitarist

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...

and Ray Scherr, former owner of

Guitar Center Guitar Center is an American Music store, musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California. Guitar Center oversees various sub ...

. The first album released by the label was ''

Coming to Your Senses ''Coming to Your Senses'' is the eighth studio album by guitarist Frank Gambale, released on 8 February 2000 through Favored Nations Entertainment. Track listing Personnel *Frank Gambale – guitar, electric sitar, sound effects, arrangement ...

'' by guitarist

Frank Gambale Frank Gambale (; born 22 December 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Recording career Solo ...

in 2000. Soon after, a variety of artists were signed, such as

Johnny A. John Antonopoulos (born November 14, 1952 in Malden, Massachusetts, United States), known professionally as Johnny A, is an American musician, guitarist, and songwriter. Early life Johnny A. was born in Malden, Massachusetts, of Greek heritage ...

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorded ...

, Peppino D'Agostino,

Marty Friedman Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 unti ...

Johnny Hiland Johnny Hiland is a legally blind American musician/guitarist. Early life Hiland grew up in Maine, with an eye disease called nystagmus. He started playing guitar at age 2, played his first talent show at age 5, performed on Dick Stacey's Jamb ...

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with resp ...

, Eric Johnson,

Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands. Music career Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

, Novecento,

John Petrucci John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with former member Mike Portnoy before he departed the band in 201 ...

, Eric Sardinas,

Neal Schon Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...

Andy Timmons Andy Timmons (born July 26, 1963) is an American guitarist who has played in the bands Taylor Bay Band, Danger Danger, Pawn Kings, and Andy Timmons Band (ATB). He has also released several solo albums and has worked as a session guitarist. H ...

Dave Weiner David Jason Weiner (born September 24, 1976) is an American musician, best known for being one of Steve Vai's touring guitarists. He also posts instructional videos, called the "Riff of the Week", every Wednesday on YouTube, iTunes and his own w ...

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwe ...

, and

Dweezil Zappa Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa; September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Dweezil deve ...

. Favored Nations was followed by the creation of separate branches, Favored Nations Acoustic in 2002 and Favored Nations Cool in 2004. Pro-Found is a sister label that promotes Favored Nations artists through the Favored Nations and ProFound websites.

Notable artists

Favored Nations

* Eric Johnson * Eric Sardinas *

* Tony Macalpine *

Mattias Eklundh Mattias Bernt Johannes Eklundh (born 6 October 1969), also known as IA, is a Swedish guitarist and vocalist. He is known for his work with Freak Kitchen, Jonas Hellborg and Art Metal, and he has also produced several noted solo Freak Guitar ...

Favored Nations Acoustic

Philip Aaberg Philip Aaberg (born April 8, 1949) is an American pianist and composer. He gained international recognition through a series of successful piano recordings released on Windham Hill Records. Although classically trained, Aaberg incorporates cla ...

* Peppino D'Agostino *

Pierre Bensusan Pierre Bensusan (born 30 October 1957) is a French-Algerian acoustic guitarist. As Sephardic Jews, his family came from Spain, Spanish Morocco, and French Algeria. His music has been characterized as Celtic, folk, world music, New-age, and cha ...

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

* Peter Huttlinger *

Adrian Legg Adrian Legg (born 16 May 1948) is an English guitar player who has been called "impossible to categorize". He plays custom guitars that are a hybrid of electric and acoustic, and his fingerstyle picking technique has been acknowledged by the re ...

*James Robinson

Favored Nations Cool

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He ...

* Mimi Fox * Novecento featuring

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control American independent record labels Record labels established in 1999 Rock record labels 1999 establishments in California