Benchmark Recordings 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 prod ...

that was founded in 2000 by music industry veterans Bill Coben and

Denny Bruce Denny Bruce (born in 1944 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) is an American record producer and artist manager. While living in Los Angeles in 1965 Denny was hired by Frank Zappa as a second drummer with The Mothers of Invention. After 6 months he cont ...

. The initial catalog included the first four albums by

The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Recor ...

, which were originally released in the late 1970s and early 1980s on the

Takoma Records Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s.

label and distributed by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright A ...

. The early albums featured

Kim Wilson Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, "Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top ...

on vocals and harmonica and

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant in ...

on guitar. A compilation of live recordings and new material titled ''Tacos Deluxe'' was released in 2004. In 2008

Jon Monday Jon Monday (born 1947 in San Jose, California) is an American producer and distributor of CDs and DVDs across an eclectic range of material such as Swami Prabhavananda, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Huston Smith, Chalmers Johnson, and Char ...

, who had worked with Denny and Bill at Takoma Records in the 1970s and 1980s, joined the company as its President. A CD titled '' I'm With You Always'' by

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his ...

, a live recording from 1977 (exact date unknown), was released in late 2008. The songs on the album are a catalog of blues history, spanning acoustic, Chicago, and blues-rock styles. In 2011 Benchmark released a "Best of" collection documenting live and studio recordings from their first decade, titled, The Best of the Fabulous Thunderbirds: Early Birds Special. The album features a collection of songs from the original tracks from their first four albums, live versions, and the hits from their later albums: Tuff Enuff and Powerful Stuff.

Catalog

* 8002-2 CD The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Girls Go Wild * 2003-2 CD The Fabulous Thunderbirds, What's the Word? * 2004-2 CD The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Butt Rockin' * 2005-2 CD The Fabulous Thunderbirds, T-Bird Rhythm * 2006-2 CD The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tacos Deluxe * 2007-2 CD Mike Bloomfield, I'm With You Always * 2008-2 CD The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Best of the Fabulous Thunderbirds: Early Birds Special

References

External links

Benchmark Recordings Official website
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 2002 2002 establishments in the United States