NEWS
1924: “Open Up Your Golden Gate” is now available
Our 24th Phonographic Yearbook, 1924: “Open Up Your Golden Gate” is now available and shipping immediately. The collection features 25 selections and includes a richly illustrated 24-page, full-color booklet with an essay on key events of the year and notes on all the selections.
Centennial wins two GRAMMY Awards
We’re thrilled that Centennial, our deluxe box set presenting the 1923 recordings of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, won both GRAMMYs for which it was nominated at this year’s awards. Author Ricky Riccardi won Best Album Notes for his masterful telling of the story of Papa Joe Oliver and Lil’ Louis Armstrong. Rich Martin and Meagan Hennessey won in the category of Best Historical Album, which recognizes the work of the producers (Martin and Hennessey) and mastering and restoration engineer (Martin). You can view the announcement of both categories, opening of the envelopes, and acceptance speeches in the video below.
Three GRAMMY nominations for Archeophone releases
GRAMMY nominations have been announced, and we’re proud to share that Archeophone releases have been recognized with a total of three nominations. Centennial is nominated in the categories of Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes, and After Midnight is also a nominee for Best Album Notes. Congratulations to our nominated authors, Tim Brooks and Ricky Riccardi, as well as our collaborators on both projects. Winners will be revealed on February 2, 2025, in LA.
Genius of the Seventh Ward now available
Thirty years before some fiddlers from Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia started recording a new genre of music called “hillbilly,” a Creole of color from the Seventh Ward of New Orleans named Louis Vasnier beat them to the punch. Recorded in 1891, “Thompson’s Old Gray Mule” is the most raucous version of a song that would later enter the country music canon. For the short-lived Louisiana Phonograph Company Vasnier also waxed sermons by a fictional preacher named Brudder Rasmus, and “Adam and Eve and de Winter Apple” joins “Thompson” on this 45-rpm vinyl disc. Vasnier’s two surviving cylinders are the earliest extant sounds from New Orleans, and Genius of the Seventh Ward presents them with a 16-page booklet featuring notes and new research by Richard Martin. Learn more and order your copy today!
TODAY IN ACOUSTIC HISTORY
- 1896 — J. W. Myers recorded The New Bully
- 1896 — J. W. Myers recorded Say "Au Revoir" but Not "Good-bye"
- 1896 — J. W. Myers recorded Onward, Christian Soldiers
- 1917 — Albert Campbell and Henry Burr recorded Lookout Mountain
- 1919 — Bert Williams recorded Ten Little Bottles
- 1920 — Bert Williams recorded Unlucky Blues
PRAISE FOR ARCHEOPHONE
- “Truly epochal reissues, which unearth completely forgotten chapters of musical history. The tiny Illinois-based Archeophone label has been doing that kind of archaeology for several years now, almost single-handedly championing the popular music of the acoustic recording era.”Jody RosenSlate.com
- “In the digital age, when liner notes have been reduced to a song name scrolling across a streaming playlist, the husband-and-wife team of [Richard] Martin and Meagan Hennessey are an anomaly. They gather rarities from the earliest era of recordings, research the music and put out entire books of analysis alongside the music.”Geoff EdgersWashington Post
FROM OUR BLOG
A Love Letter to the 1920 Eddie Kuhn Records
posted: June 7, 2023
posted: September 23, 2021
Wallin’s Performers: Beyond Anonymity
posted: September 3, 2021