Ninth Street Opus is an independent

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 ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. Founded in 2008 by producer Wayne Skeen, Opus is a genre-agnostic label, with recordings that focus on artists with strong live musical performances. Their catalog’s recordings have dipped into

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

music genres A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

. Opus offers management, tour support, Internet and traditional marketing and promotion, long term career and fan building and publishing.

Artists

The artist roster has seen steady growth since the label's start (see complete discography). The first band to sign on to Ninth Street Opus in 2008 was

Blame Sally Blame Sally is a collaboration of four solo female singer-songwriters from San Francisco who have recorded and performed together frequently over the past decade. The members of the group include Pam Delgado (percussion and vocals), Renee Harcour ...

. Their first album with the label, ''Night of 1000 Stars'', was released in May 2009. Shortly thereafter, Opus released

Carrie Rodriguez Carrie Luz Rodriguez (born July 31, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and the daughter of Texan singer-songwriter David Rodriguez and Texas painter Katy Nail, and is the granddaughter of prolific Texas essayist Frances Nail. She sings and ...

’ ''Love and Circumstance'' which remained in the top three on ''Billboard'''s Americana Charts for over six weeks. In the winter of 2010, Opus released

Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion Sarah Lee Guthrie (born February 17, 1979) and Johnny Irion (born John Phillip Irion; February 3, 1969) are a musical duo. Guthrie and Irion were married on October 16, 1999, and began performing together as an acoustic duo in late 2000. Their m ...

's album ''Bright Examples'', produced by

Andy Cabic Andy Cabic is a folk rock singer-songwriter, and lead member of the band Vetiver (band), Vetiver. He was born in Virginia and attended school at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He moved to San Francisco in 1998. He is a longtime c ...

and Thom Mohanan of

Vetiver ''Chrysopogon zizanioides'', commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae. Vetiver is most closely related to ''Sorghum'' but shares many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such as ...

and includes artists such as

Gary Louris Gary Louris (born March 10, 1955) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter of alternative country and pop music. He was a founding member of the Minneapolis-based band the Jayhawks and their principal songwriter and vocalist after the ...

and Mark Olson of

The Jayhawks The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene in the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists/guitarists/songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson (musician), Mark Olson, their country rock ...

. Along with long term “label artists”, Opus also works on projects on an individual basis. These projects have included recordings with young artists looking for a professional album to tour with, side projects of signed artists and longer termed series projects with various artists.

Studio

Opus Studios, also located in the Ocean View district of

West Berkeley West Berkeley is generally the area of Berkeley, California, that lies west of San Pablo Avenue (though sometimes it may also refer to the larger area west of Sacramento Street though this includes Westbrae, Berkeley, California, Westbrae), abutti ...

, has a 48 channel mixer and a plethora of instruments including a grand piano, vintage mics, a

Hammond B3 Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in South ...

and

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

available for recording artists to use. The studio includes a glass vocal booth, control room and large tracking room so full bands can record together live. Chief engineer/studio manager is Dave Luke. Along with founder, Wayne Skeen, in-house producers include San Francisco duo, The Rondo Brothers. The Rondo Brothers, Jim Greer and Brandon Arnovick, formally joined the Opus team after producing the first recordings of Rondo Sessions with The Kin.

Artist roster

* Cyndi Harvell *

Diego's Umbrella Diego's Umbrella is an American gypsy rock band consisting of five members from San Francisco, California. They are celebrated as San Francisco's Ambassadors of Gypsy Rock. The current members of the group include Vaughn Lindstrom (acoustic guit ...

* Forrest Day * Greylag * The Real Nasty *

Rondo Brothers The Rondo Brothers are a musical duo from San Francisco, United States, consisting of multi-instrumentalists and producers Diamond Jim (Jim Greer) and The Bastard Prince (Brandon Arnovick). Origins Greer (primarily keyboards, bass guitar, rh ...

* The Roseline *

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion Sarah Lee Guthrie (born February 17, 1979) and Johnny Irion (born John Phillip Irion; February 3, 1969) are a musical duo. Guthrie and Irion were married on October 16, 1999, and began performing together as an acoustic duo in late 2000. Their m ...

Opus Project Series

Annie Bacon & her OSHEN
* Felsen
The Pam and Jeri Show

U.S. Elevator
*

Angelo Moore Angelo Carmen Christopher Moore (born November 5, 1965) is an American musician, best known for his work as lead singer and saxophonist for the Los Angeles ska and funk metal band Fishbone. Moore also performs and records under the stage name Dr ...

Discography

References

External links

* http://ninthstreetopus.com {{Authority control American independent record labels Record labels established in 2008 Companies based in Berkeley, California 2008 establishments in California simple:Independent record labels