Nighthawk Records was an American
independent record label, founded by Robert Schoenfeld who began operations in 1976 with the release of four vintage post-war blues reissue albums. This series consists of nine volumes of post-war blues recordings from
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, Memphis and the Delta,
and the Southwest.
In 1979, Nighthawk expanded by launching the 200 series of blues productions with ''Mule'', an
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
by
Henry Townsend Henry Townsend may refer to:
* Henry Townsend (Norwich) (1626–1695), early American colonist born in Norwich, Norfolk, England
* Henry Townsend (Oyster Bay) (1649–1703), American colonist born in Oyster Bay
* Henry Townsend (missionary) (1815†...
. Townsend made his first recordings for
Columbia Records in 1929. Since then he recorded and performed on a variety of labels including RCA/Bluebird, as well as Paramount, Bullet and Prestige/Bluesville. In the 1980s, Nighthawk became a predominantly reggae label before going out of business in the late 1990s.
The 300 series began in 1980 with ''Wiser Dread'', an anthology of Rastafarian roots music recorded between 1972 and 1978. Steven Davis, author of ''Reggae Bloodlines'', has called ''Wiser Dread'' the "...best reggae anthology since ''The Harder They Come'' ten years ago." Since then Nighthawk released a self-produced album by
The Morwells of some of their singles and three volumes of Nighthawk's own Jamaican productions: ''Brutal Out Deh'' by the Itals, ''Symbol of Reality'' by the Gladiators and ''Calling Rastafari'' featuring Culture, the Itals, the Gladiators, Wailing Souls and Mighty Diamonds.
In October 2017,
Omnivore Recordings
Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore Re ...
acquired the back catalogue of Nighthawk Records.
See also
*
List of record labels
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File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
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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 ...
References
External links
Nighthawk Records homepage
{{Authority control
American independent record labels
Record labels established in 1976
Blues record labels
Reggae record labels
1976 establishments in the United States