I suspect Gene Rosenthal will roll his eyes at the obviousness and artlessness of this observation, but let history officially note: In 1966, when Eric Clapton and company were reviving Skip James‘ “I’m So Glad” for Cream’s debut LP (an album well primed, thanks to its worldwide distribution – even, unofficially, Saudi Arabia), Rosenthal had already recorded the pioneering blues guitarist two years prior — James’ first recordings since the Depression — at his parents’ house in Silver Spring, Maryland!
Adelphi Studios – Original Site
516 E. Indian Spring Drive
Silver Spring, MD
Thus, Gene’s Adelphi Studios helped to put Silver Spring on the world’s musical map before Track Recorders had even opened its doors, while Rosenthal’s audio engineering skills would help draw attention to such other “rediscovered” blues artists as Mississippi John Hurt, Bukka White, Johnny Shines, David ‘Honeyboy‘ Edwards, Big Joe Williams, Furry Lewis, and Gus Cannon, as well as emerging local guitarist, “Takoma” John Fahey.
Rosenthal, as some blues enthusiasts might tell you, was part of a so-called “East Coast Blues Mafia” of non-conformists and free-thinking types who took an activist approach toward revitalizing the careers of forgotten American blues artists. This group of renegades would include Fahey and Bill Barth (who tracked down Skip James), Ed Denson (who relocated Bukka White, with assistance from Fahey), Dick Spottswood and Tom Hoskins (who used the lyrics of “Avalon Blues” to locate Mississippi John Hurt), along with Michael Stewart, Henry Vestine, Max Ochs, Stefan Grossman, Nick Perls, and others who collectively sought out blues, country, folk and other “primitive” sounds (i.e., simple, therefore “unsophisticated”) decades before the rest of America would catch on to the notion that ‘simple’ can convey a power that often eludes more athletically-gifted musics with fancy time signatures and such.
Gene Rosenthal
Adelphi Studios c. 1963
“Beloved abroad, but underappreciated at home” is a common theme that runs through the history of the arts and one that would ring true to some extent, at least initially, for Adelphi Records. As Billboard would note nearly 40 years ago in its December 24, 1977 edition, “The label is another example of small American record manufacturers finding a greater response for its artists abroad.”
And yet Adelphi Records is still very much a vital concern some 48 years later, having signed a new artist — Ken Swartz& the Palace of Sin, who recorded an album in New Orleans, Smile Away the Blues — and inked a major deal with respected Oxford, Mississippi-based indie label Fat Possum to acquire Rosenthal’s vaunted “Blues Vault,” from which it has assembled Worried Blues, a ten-album series that features rare and previously out-of-print recordings on vinyl, CD, and digital download (released July 21, 2017).
Zero to 180 notes an independence of spirit in Rosenthal, whose label remains one of the last of the original postwar independent labels (having entered the business initially as a distribution point for Takoma and Arhoolie as early as 1964) that brings to mind another notable “indie” – Syd Nathan – whose King Records would inspire Seymour Stein (and Richard Gottehrer) to create Sire Productions, thus sowing the seeds of today’s contemporary “indie” scene. Rosenthal, in fact, would help organize his fellow music entrepreneurs into a national association of independent record distributors (known initially as the National Association of Independent Record Distributors, or NAIRD) just a few years after forming Adelphi Records.
Gene Rosenthal –
The Track Years
This historian-in-training would arrive in the DC area just as Track Recorders was closing its doors, thus making my (first) attempt to piece together the studio’s history feel somewhat like groping in the dark [note: second attempt much more successful]. Let me first express much appreciation to all the participants who helped “crowd source” this work-in-progress and fill in the historical gaps, particularly Rosenthal, who helped me understand his unsung supporting role, as it relates to the Track Recorders story:
“Adelphi made a (zero-dollar) deal with Track’s then engineer, Obie O’Brien, and loaned Track Adelphi’s Spectrasonic 16x4x2 Mixing & Recording console, along with their Scully 280-2/4, which is clearly visible [in this photo] as the 2nd Scully in the main studio, as well our Sony ES 22T studio transport machine which was used in Studio ‘B.’ When Obie left, he couldn’t guarantee the safety of Adelphi’s equipment any longer, so it was removed at the same time as his departure.”
Adelphi’s Scully 280-2/4
Adelphi’s Sony ES 22T
Ah, the truth is starting to become clear!
In the earlier Track Recorders history piece, do you recall the Billboard snippet from the June 17, 1972 issue that noted Track’s having “two rooms” — albeit the second one “incomplete” and thus not fully operational? Rosenthal, consequently, endowed Track with equipment that helped transform “Studio B” into a secondary room that could be used for playback and editing, as well as a place for conducting auditions.
Unsurprisingly, Silver Spring’s Track studio — with its futuristic Neve 8036 console, not to mention 3M 16-track tape machine — would be the recording facility of choice for a handful of Adelphi artists in the mid-to-late 1970s on the following LP releases:
AdelphiArtists @ Track Recorders
Liz Meyer (and Friends) — Once A Day –[Adelphi AD 2009] Recorded 1975-77 at Track Recorders but not released until 1982, Meyer’s group — Jeff Wisor, Bob Siggins, Mitch Collins, and Bob Larabee — receives additional musical support from Buddy Charleton, Mike Auldridge, Tom Gray, Lance Quinn, and Winnie Winston among others. Album produced by Obie O’Brien and Liz Meyer — audio link to “Arms Full Of Empty” and “Someone You Can’t Love” (with Emmylou Harris).
Liz Meyer, who would later be based in the Netherlands, was — as noted in Richard (“music writer”) Thompson‘s 2011 obituary for Bluegrass Today — “one of Europe’s adopted American bluegrassers” who was a “very pro-active and vocal promoter of the European World of Bluegrass (EWoB) and European bluegrass music in general.”
1983 Record of the Year Award Honorable Mention Stereo Review
Bill Holland & Rent’s Due — If It Ain’t One Thing… [Adelphi AD 4104] If It Ain’t One Thing was recorded and mixed substantially at Track between 1974-75, released 1975. The album — reviewed by none other than Robert Christgau (“Dean of American rock critics”), who bestowed the album with a B+ — sparked radio airplay on Bethesda, Maryland’s WHFS, as reported in Billboard‘s December 27, 1975 edition. Holland’s “light jazz feelings,” writes Walrus Magazine, “are equaled by his songwriting talent which ranges easily from humorous to poignant.”
In the April 1980 edition of DC arts monthly Unicorn Times, Phred A. Heutte would observe If It Ain’t One Thing to be “one of the first Adelphi rock albums,” as well as “one of the only local albums in a barren period for DC vinyl,” noting that it “was well recorded by the standards of the day, and received positive notices from all quarters, particularly for Bill’s solid, quietly humorous and intelligent lyrics.” Holland would inform Heutte that “Gene Rosenthal somehow sold 2000 Bill Holland records – before anybody outside my close family knew who that was – simply because they heard it on the air, or saw it in a store, or somehow told them about me,” adding that he “had worked very closely with Adelphi on all phases of the first LP, from recording to mastering to stuffing publicity packages himself. ‘I could have written that article in the March issue [about manufacturing records],’ he laughs.’”
Unicorn Times
Stephen Spano: Eye to Eye –[Adelphi AD 4103] Recorded in 1975 at Track’s main studio, as well as Adelphi Studios and Bethesda’s Urban Recordings, with Spano (guitar, vocals & other instruments) accompanied by Larry Ochfeld (keyboards), Skip Adams (lead guitar), Joey Watson (electric piano & tubular bells), Rob Cherney, Hampton Childress & Michael May (bass), Victor Spano (drums) — engineering and production responsibilities on this album performed by Rosenthal.
Trippy photo montage & “textured” cover
This “kaleidoscope of folk, rock, and jazz” (as described by Adelphi) is well demonstrated on album opener “Love Is the Sound,” with its inventive bass work. Music blogger Play It Again, Max (who profiles “out-of-print LPs never issued on CD”) declares Eye to Eye to be “a great record” and “well worth the listen.” Engineered by Bill Tate, Gene Rosenthal, and Richard Drevo – with striking layout work by Howard Rosenthal.
The Reuben Brown TrioFeaturing Richie Cole — Starburst [Adelphi AD 5001] This album, recorded completely at Track 1975 and released 1976, finds Cole backed by DC jazz group, The Reuben Brown Trio: Reuben Brown, Marshall Hawkins, Bernard Sweetney. This recording, produced by Cole and engineered by Gerry Wyckoff and Tony Anderson, was later issued on compact disc — audio link to “Lucy & Desi.”
Richie Cole — who was twenty-one when he joined Buddy Rich’s band — has also worked with Lionel Hampton, Art Pepper, Sonny Stitt, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Crawford, Boots Randolph, Phil Woods, Eddie Jefferson, Bobby Enriquez, Nancy Wilson, Tom Waits, and Manhattan Transfer. Cole later served for one year as Chair of the Board for the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Nighthawks, hailed in 1976 by one Atlanta reviewer as “the best white blues band going today,” recorded several full-length releases at Track Recorders:
Open All Nite [Adelphi AD 4105], the group’s Adelphi debut, was engineered at Track by Obie O’Brien and Cap’n Jon (Curlin) in 1976, with the album’s final track “Red Hot Mama” recorded live with Pinetop Perkins at DC’s famed Cellar Door. Billboard‘s May 22, 1976 issue deemed Open All Nite a ‘Recommended LP’ in its praiseful review that concluded, “While many white bands prostitute the blues, this Washington-based group has a nice touch.” The album would receive radio airplay on New York City’s WNEW, Atlanta’s WRAS (the entire LP) and Houston’s KPFT, among other stations.
Side Pocket Shot, the group’s “progressive” and wider-ranging follow-up album, includes The Rhythm Kings Horns, plus Tommy Hannum on pedal steel [Adelphi AD 4115], engineered and mixed by Gerry Wyckoff and (Cap’n) Jon Curlin in 1977. Walrus Magazine deemed Side Pocket Shot a ‘Merit Album,’ while Billboard praised it as the band’s strongest work to date, “highlighted by some complex rhythms and melodies that integrate mainstream commercial rock with soft country textures.” The album enjoyed radio airplay on Syracuse/Utica’s WOUR and Providence’s WBRU, as well as Bethesda’s WHFS.
Jacks & Kings “Full House” [Adelphi AD 4120] from 1978, was recorded with members of The Muddy Waters Band — Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin, Guitar Jr., and Calvin Jones — plus Dave Maxwell “in the wee wee hours of Summer and Fall 1977” at Track. Cash Box‘s Aaron Fuchs‘ would designate Jacks And Kings as one of his Top Ten LPs of 1978. The album, which received radio airplay on Syracuse’s WAER, “has a vitality which many of the old time blues bands can only get in a bar,” so says Walrus.
Times Four is a double album from 1982 that combines live tracks (venues: Toronto’s El Mocambo and Bethesda’s Psyche Delly) with studio work recorded 1977-78 at Track Recorders [Adelphi AD 4130/35]. Brawner Smoot‘s review for the October 1982 edition of Unicorn Times‘ asserts that the “previously unreleased material is a representation of the broad range of influences The Nighthawks have absorbed during their ten year, ten album trek around the States.” Times Four, furthermore, is Adelphi’s first release under its ‘new’ distribution arrangement with JEM Records. The LP’s front and back cover photos were taken by Big Al Sevilla — check out highlight “How Many More Years” with Guitar Jr.
Bill Blue Band = Two Adelphi LP releases recorded and mixed at Track: Sing Like Thunder — Recorded 1978 and released 1979 [Adelphi AD 4109], with guitarist/vocalist Blue accompanied by Glenn Pavone (lead guitar & vocals), Bruce Courson (keyboards), Sharon Garland (percussion & vocals), Dave Carey (bass), and Dave Poole (drums & vocals). Givin’ Good Boys A Bad Name — Recorded 1979 and released 1980 [Adelphi AD 4118], album jointly produced by Cap’n Jon Curlin and Bill McCullough, with Blue receiving musical support from Ricky White (guitar & vocals), Zip Irvin (sax & vocals), Steve Snyder (trombone & vocals), Dave Carey (bass), and Mark Crump (drums).
After releasing two albums Indian Summer Blues and Street Preacher on the Richmond, VA-based Feather Records, Bill signed with the prestigious Adelphi Records, one of the best blues labels in the US with worldwide distribution releasing Sing Like Thunder and Givin’ Good Boy’s A Bad Name. This gave [Blue] the exposure to play venues all over Europe and the US.
Unicorn Times
July 1979
Thanks to theBill Hanke Music Research Archives –
all Unicorn Times back issues
+
However, there is a built-in structural problem in trying to tell the history of Gene Rosenthal and Adelphi Records in a linear fashion for, at any point in the story, a number of vectors may be in play, as Gene has worn many hats over the years: musicologist, audio engineer, photographer, producer, label owner, distributor, political organizer and activist (who spoke out, for instance, against the strict segregation policy of DC’s Glen Echo amusement park).
[L to R: Irv Kratka; Gene Rosenthal; Ed Denson; Charlie Morrison]
Rosenthal – along with Takoma’s Charlie Mitchell and Bob Koester of Chicago’s Delmark Records – would serve on the Steering Committee when the NAIRD officially established itself in 1973 (the same year, incidentally, Adelphi would release the first solo album by one of pop music’s all-time songwriters, Gerry Goffin). By the time of NAIRD’s ‘Confab’ in 1976, Rosenthal had become a Trustee — along with Ed Denson (Takoma), Irv Kratka (Music Minus One & Inner City), Charlie Morrison (Tropical Distributors), and Billy Thomas (Detroit distributor, Tant Ents) — and remained on the NAIRD Board throughout the 1970s.
The Original Adelphi Studios:
516 East Indian Spring Drive
Silver Spring, Maryland
Prior to the studio’s construction, Rosenthal had been – as Billboard‘s Chris Morris would later note – a “discophile” who used his reel-to-reel equipment to copy rare, expensive blues 78s (likely from Joe Bussard, who was influential to other blues scholars in making his 78s collection available to people like John Fahey). “The only way to make copies of early 78s, because you couldn’t afford to buy them,” Rosenthal pointed out, “was to have a tape recorder. Most of us couldn’t afford brand-new equipment, but very good second-hand semi-professional gear. Shortly after that, as my friends actually started going out and doing the first round of rediscoveries, the only thing to add was microphones. I had an early interest in audio, anyway, so it was just a natural progression.”
Construction efforts to turn the basement of 516 East Indian Spring Drive into a proper functioning recording studio began in late 1962 and were completed by mid-1964. Adelphi Studios’ inaugural recording – John Fahey’s third album, Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites – would take place on August 22, 1964, with DC’s new “beltway” (i.e.,Interstate 495) but a stone’s throw away, having officially opened five days prior.
The following month or so, Rosenthal would record Skip James within days of his being rediscovered and brought back to the DC area by Fahey, Bill Barth, and Henry Vestine. Gene Rosenthal fills in the details via the Adelphi Records website:
Skip [James] was found in the Tunica County, Mississippi, hospital by John Fahey and Bill Barth, young guitarists who were acting on a tip from Ishmon Bracey. Like James, Bracey had recorded blues 78s during the late 20s/early 30s heyday, but, as a sanctified preacher, Bracey had no interest in returning to the Devil’s music. According to Barth, age and infirmity had put James at the bottom of the plantation hierarchy, responsible for such mindless tasks as overseeing the sowing of cotton seeds into furrows, and Skip was both delighted and anxious to leave Mississippi farm life. The two young men paid the modest hospital bill and whisked Skip away to the thriving East Coast folk scene. After rehearsals and several performances, including a brief but memorable appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, Skip was ready to record again. Fahey, Barth and partner Ed Denson arranged for sessions with sound engineer Gene Rosenthal in the basement studio of the Rosenthal home in Silver Spring, Maryland. Those sessions, supplemented with live performance tapes made by Rosenthal at the Ontario Place Coffee House.
These 1964 recordings, engineered by Rosenthal and produced by Bill Barth, Ed Denson, and John Fahey for Takoma, would not see release, however, until 1993, after Rosenthal had the opportunity to buy back his own recordings. These sixteen songs would later be reissued on vinyl by Fat Possum in 2017.
Later in 1964, perhaps November or December, Rosenthal would record Mississippi John Hurt at the Ontario Place Coffee House for Dick Spottswood‘s Piedmont label (Gene also engineered Pete Seeger‘s interview of Hurt at a house in DC’s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood around that same time). Toward the end of 1964, or possibly early 1965, Rosenthal would also record blues guitarists Archie Edwards and Frank Mizell, at Adelphi Studios.
Rosenthal — who met Michael Stewart while attending George Washington University from 1960-62, where he co-founded GW’s Folk Music Club (incorporated later as the Folklore Society of Greater Washington) — worked for Project Hope between the years 1962-1964, before recording Mississippi John Hurt in late 1964.
Gene then returned to his studies, first locally for one year (Montgomery College, 1964) then in St. Louis for a couple more (Washington University, 1966-1967), before deciding to take the big plunge – via Adelphi’s founding in 1968 – to commit himself fully to music.
Soon after the label’s formation, Rosenthal — along with his sister, Carol, and Mike Stewart — would take to the road. As noted in The Guardian‘s 2007 obituary for Stewart:
Adelphi conducted several field trips to blues locales to trace and record half-forgotten musicians. Stewart was always on hand, whether to jog the performers’ memories by playing them their own music, learned from rare 78rpm discs, or to provide accompaniment. In Memphis he played with guitarist Richard ‘Hacksaw‘ Harney; in Chicago with Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim, David ‘Honeyboy‘ Edwards and Big Joe Williams [the latter serving as talent scout]; and in St Louis with pianist Henry Brown and singer-guitarist Henry Townsend.
Adelphi’s inaugural release, meanwhile, would be the 1968 debut album by a fellow member of the so-called East Coast Blues Mafia member, Mike Stewart, under the nom de guerre “Backwards Sam Firk” — with Tom Hoskins joining on guitar and vocals for “Old Reliable One-Way Gal” (album now available as a digital download – GCD 1001). As it turns out, Stewart had been the first to lay down tracks at Adelphi Studios in 1963, before construction had been completed on the recording facility.
Firk would team up with Stephan Michelson (i.e., “Delta X“) for 1969’s Deadly Duo (on which the pair would be joined by “Fang” (i.e., Tom Hoskins) on “Nineteen Fifty-One Blues“).
1969 would see three additional Adelphi blues releases —
Debut album (and one of very few recordings by) George and Ethel McCoy (guitar and vocals) that also includes contributions from Catherine McCoy (washboard), Jimmie Brown (washtub bass), and Backwards Sam Firk (guitar).
Double album of performances by Chicago blues musicians Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Shines, Big Joe Williams, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, and John Lee Granderson, in collaboration with Backwards Sam Firk.
Backwards Sam Firk joins Furry Lewis (guitar and vocals), Bukka White (guitar and vocals), and Gus Cannon (banjo and vocals) — with washtub bass and kazoo contributions from Dewey Corley — on eight blues originals plus one traditional song (the title track).
Little Brother Montgomery’s Long Road to “Folsom Prison Blues“ … and Adelphi Records:
“Crescent City Blues“
Recorded at St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans
October 16, 1936
“piano solo”
Zero to 180 previously examined the issue of Johnny Cash having to pay restitution to Gordon Jenkins over the misuse of a song “Crescent City Blues” that Cash essentially adapted for “Folsom Prison Blues.” Clearly, Zero to 180 did not examine closely enough, as Jenkins himself had appropriated the title as well as melody of Eurreal “Little Brother“ Montgomery‘s 1936 instrumental of the same name (as noted by Jonathan Silverman in Nine Choices: Johnny Cash & American Culture from 2010).
1971 would see the beginning of additional new recordings of Adelphi artists previously recorded on the road in 1969, facilitated in part by these same artists visiting the Washington, DC area for musical engagements, such as Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival.
Adelphi’s early releases would embrace African-American “roots” music — Furry Lewis, Bukka White, Gus Cannon, David“Honeyboy” Edwards, Johnny Shines (one-time touring mate of Robert Johnson), and George & Ethel McCoy (niece and nephew of Memphis Minnie [McCoy]) — at a time when many (white) Americans were still getting their blues distilled through a British sensibility – if at all.
“Ben Edmonds from CREEM Magazine promised to run photographs of Houston, Hacksaw and Williams whenever I want, but I may wait until the records are out“
Suni McGrath, whose Cornflower Suite would be Adelphi’s second full-length release, notes his primary musical influences in the album’s cover notes:
The music on this record is my attempt to explore and further the American acoustic guitar. I have four sources for the musics here presented: Bulgarian music for rhythmic modes and ideas, also modulation of melodic modes and harmonies; Hindustani for subtle melodic graces and ideas of variation; [John] Fahey for the conception of the art; Bartok for modal harmonies analogous to conventional western harmony, and treatment of themes.
[Pssst:click on triangle to play the entire title track]
1969’s Cornflower Suite (currently out of print and trading on Ebay for $19-$87) was recorded at Silver Spring’s Adelphi Studios, as well as the following albums bulleted below:
Adelphi LPs at Adelphi Studios
Suni McGrath‘s Call of the Mourning Dove — these songs of praise from God Pop‘s golden age were produced by Rosenthal in 1971, with rear cover liner notes written by McGrath. Cash Box, in its ‘Insight & Sound’ column, pronounced the album “super and well worth going out of your way for” in its October 30, 1971 issue.
Roy Bookbinder, who recorded Travelin’ Man at Adelphi Studios, with Gene producing and engineering, was the first Adelphi artist honored with a 45 release (“Delia” b/w “Candy Man“) issued in 1972. Bookbinder recorded his Travelin’ Man album for Adelphi after meeting one of his musical influences, Pink Anderson — ignore the impulse to cleave Roy’s surname into two words, insists Rosenthal.
Neil Harpe – renowned for his marine art – also enjoys a reputation for having owned hundreds of guitars (“not a collector, more of a catch-and-release fisherman,” he once joked), and has written (as “the Stella Guitarchaeologist“) the definitive book about Stella Guitars, an unelectrified brand prized by early blues musicians. Harpe, who recorded his first solo effort for Adelphi in 1972, enjoys vocal and instrumental support from Max Ochs, June Symonds, and Ty Ford on these thirteen songs: twelve lesser-known vintage blues numbers plus one original, “Blind Blake Blues.”
Suni McGrath‘s 1972 album, Childgrove — with guitar contributions from Jack Denlinger and vocals from Ellen Matthews — received engineering and production assistance from Gene Rosenthal (who also served as photographer). “The variety of musical styles and approaches should stimulate interest in guitar fans unfamiliar with McGrath’s earlier work,” opined Walrus Magazine, who designated Childgrove a ‘Merit Album’ in its October 24, 1973 issue.
Paul Geremia recorded one album each for Folkways (1968’s Just Enough) and Sire (1971’s Paul Geremia) before Gene Rosenthal engineered/produced the thirteen songs that comprise 1973’s Hard Life Rockin’ Chair, a mix of originals and blues penned by such pioneers as Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Blake, and Big Bill Broonzy. Geremia receives instrumental support on some tracks by Rocky Rockwood (mandolin) and Dick ‘Rip Bang’ Bangham (trombone) — album reissued 2002 in Japan.
Henry Townsend, whose earliest recording “Henry’s Worry Blues” was released by Columbia in 1930, made a series of recordings for Adelphi — including sessions at Adelphi Studios (1971), as well as in St. Louis (1969 & 1974) and Potomac, Maryland (1970) — that were compiled into a full-length release, Henry T. Music Man.
Stephen Spano recorded the backing track for “Pam’s Song” from 1975’s s Eye to Eye at Adelphi Studios, while the song would be further embellished at Track Recorders (album profiled in Adelphi Artists at Track Recorders above):
Harmonica Frank Floyd, the one-time “medicine show” performer probably best known for the classic “eephin’” A-side “Swamp Root” (recorded for Chess in 1951) taped these songs in his mid-60s at Adelphi Studios between 1972 and 1974 for what could well have been (1975’s Blues That Made The Roosters Dance album notwithstanding) his first ever full-length release. Adelphi would release the Swamp Root LP in 1976.
Cover design & illustration by Dick Bangham
Liner notes by Frank Floyd
Letter to CreemMagazine
Feb. 1974
Historical Spotlight:
Dick Bangham
DC-area artist Dick Bangham — most famously associated with his front cover image for Root Boy Slim‘s Zoom album of 1979 — has relished working with Gene Rosenthal on a number of album releases over the years, with respect to cover design, illustration and/or art direction. Most recently, he and wife, Linda Bangham (graphic artist and Rip Bang co-owner) did the art and design work on the new album by Ken Swartz & the Palace of Sin noted near the top of the piece.
Bangham’s earliest Adelphi commission was to provide the ink illustration for DC-area “hippie” ensemble Beverly Pureheart‘s (now rather rare) EP of “psychedelic rock” from 1969:
Bangham also created the watercolor art that adorns the front cover of Suni McGrath‘s Call of the Mourning Dove, the guitarist’s second album from 1971, and designed the back cover, too.
Additionally, Bangham provided (except for the front cover image) art direction on Patrick Sky‘s (in)famous Songs That Made America Famous album [see In Defense of the First Amendment below].
Bangham designed the logo for the Adelphi Jazz Series and provided layout and art direction on several Adelphi jazz releases, including David Murray‘s Low Class Conspiracy (1976), ThePortal of Antrim from “extremely facile” pianist, Jessica Williams (1976), and Steve Lacy‘s album Raps (1977) — as well as the aforementioned Reuben Brown Trio‘s Starburst album, featuring Richie Cole [profiled in Adelphi Artists at Track Recorders above].
For the cover of the debut (and sole) album by eclectic banjoist (and former Buffalo Gal), Susie Monick, Bangham good-naturedly spoofed Salvador Dali’s classic 1931 painting, The Persistence of Memory. Melting Pots, it might not surprise you to know, was one of the LPs in rotation on WHFS, Bethesda, Maryland’s free-form, progressive radio station, for the week ending September 18, 1976, according to Cash Box.
Bangham also performed overall design work for The Nighthawks‘ fourth album, 1977’s Side Pocket Shot, (utilizing David Suter‘s illustrations), while for The Phil Woods Quartet‘s ‘More’ Live album (of a 1979 Grammy-winning performance at Austin’s Armadillo World Headquarters), he would apply air brush directly onto a black-and-white photograph.
Bangham would use his airbrush on Charlie Cline‘s More Dobro LP (see below: Adelphi 1970s Album Releases), as well as Rosslyn Mountain Boys‘ self-titled debut (also below: Adelphi 1970s Album Releases) — both albums from 1976. Similarly, for The Fugs‘s 1982 “hits” reissue (see below: Adelphi 1980s Album Releases), Bangham would apply color paint onto a black & white photo of himself (in silhouette) taken by Jeanne Keskinen (see Historical Spotlight below). Bangham would also assist in the design of 1977’s North Mt. Velvet, Jaime Brockett’s return to recording after an unhappy stint at Capitol (see below: Adelphi 1970s Album Releases).
Furthermore, Bangham would do art work — logos, et al. — on the first six or seven releases in the Genes (pronounced “Jenn-ESS”) Blues Vault” CD series: Rev. Robert Wilkins, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Houston Stackhouse, Rev. Gary Davis (see below: Adelphi 1990s Releases).
Historical Spotlight:
Joe Lee
In 1974 – notes Forbidden Alliance radio show host, Robbie White – 7054 Carroll Avenue in Takoma Park, Maryland became a hub of music, mischief, and mayhem when Joe’s Record Paradise opened in the front room of Adelphi Records.
At the showing of Lights, Camera, Mayhem: A Tribute to Music Maven, Joe Lee — a cinematic celebration lovingly assembled in 2024 by Jeff Krulik, Dick & Linda Bangham, Richard Harrington, Eddie Dean, Dave Nuttycombe, Brian Horrorwitz, Brad Dismukes, and Matilda & Johnson Lee [link to 12-page memorial program that accompanied the film event] — Rosenthal would tell the audience at Silver Spring’s American Film Institute that Lee’s discriminating and wide-ranging tastes often prompted Gene to leave his Adelphi Records back office to ask Joe what piece of vinyl playing on the record store’s sound system was currently tickling his ears. Joe Lee, Rosenthal admits, was a pivotal conduit into keeping Adelphi apprised of potential new talent for the label as the 1970s progressed.
Dick Bangham shared these memories of Joe Lee with music historian, Eddie Dean:
Instead of merely marching to a different drummer, as so many of the young generation did during the late ’60s, Joe Lee became a drummer and singer for a hippie garage band called Beverly Pureheart [see above]. Their mission was to offend anyone within earshot of their music, and they hit a bull’s-eye before they even had a public performance.
In 1969, Joe had graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and moved back to Silver Spring into a furnished room in the barn behind the Lee family residence. It became Beverly Pureheart’s house, too, a sort of Silver Spring version of The Band’s legendary Big Pink: in it was an old out of tune upright piano, cheap drum kit, electric guitar, microphone and reel to reel tape deck.
One evening around dinnertime, the band was banging out some ‘experimental’ tunes. The racket reverberated, echoing across the lawn and into the sturdy frame of the Lee residence. It didn’t take long until the barn door flew open, and there stood Joe Lee’s highly agitated dad, Blair Lee III, the soon-to-be governor of the Free State of Maryland. “This is the closest thing to total non-music I’ve ever heard,” he announced to the now silent bandmates. “Kindly turn the volume down 75 percent.” Then he turned and left in a huff, slamming the door behind him.
As it turned out, the tape of the reel-to-reel machine was still running. The band knew the stern warning of Joe’s Dad that was preserved on that tape was pure gold, and would make excellent fodder for a song. After gleefully playing it back over and over and over, the band was inspired to compose a song titled “Never Trust A Person Over Thirty” inserting his words with echo effects as the instrumental break. The lyrics bear repeating more than six decades later:
Never trust a person over thirty They’re always doing something low down and dirty Never be upstaged by some guy who’s middle aged Never trust a person over thirty Stay away from people who are older They’ll stand around and stare over your shoulder They’ll devour modern culture like some evil starving vulture Stay away from people who are older
Adelphi Album Releases:
1970s
Adelphi would hew pretty closely to this country blues sound throughout the early 1970s — Roy Bookbinder, Rev. Gary Davis, Paul Geremia, Neil Harpe — before signaling a willingness to broaden its palette considerably with the release of Joel Rubiner‘s (unaltered) field recordings of the Master Musicians of Jajouka (see Historical Spotlight below) on 1974’s album of the same name.
Adelphi’s releases in the 1970s were in no way exclusive to Rosenthal’s own Adelphi Studios or even nearby Track Recorders but would, in fact, come to the label having been birthed elsewhere.
Historical Spotlight:
Gerry Goffin
It Ain’t Exactly Entertainment
Recorded by one of the Brill Building songwriting greats in Muscle Shoals — at both Fame Recording Studios, and also its young upstart competitor across town, Muscle Shoals Sound, in November and December of 1972 — Gerry Goffin’s debut solo album would be published by Screen Gems, for whom Goffin was contracted, and yet (like the Patrick Sky album, see Historical Spotlight below) no label would touch it. Certainly not Bell Records, the label most closely associated with Screen Gems. The sprawling double album, with its Americana roots vibe and counterculture spirit (particularly on album-opening track “Down on the Street“), aimed far afield from the classic Brill sound and aligned more closely, for instance, with Exile on Main Street-era Stones, especially on the album’s second track “Reverend Bottom’s Tojo Saloon” (with slide guitar by Eddie Hinton).
Despite a winner of a single in the radio-friendly title track (which charted in Cash Box, according to Rosenthal), the album was considered radioactive within the industry and, thus, sank like a stone — although lovingly reissued as a 2-CD set for the Japanese market in 2001 by Air Mail Archive. Worth pointing out, as Rosenthal recently noted on Facebook, that there is some “really great stuff from those sessions that Gerry decided NOT to include in the 4102 LP release, quite possibly (unbeknownst to me at the time) because he understood that we were already at MAX LP cutting time — probably correct because I had to recut one of the original sides 3 times because we just flat kept running out of groove space. You had to see it on the lathe playback!”
Adelphi Records has signed veteran writer Gerry Goffin to Adelphi’s standard one-LP, non-exclusive contract. Signing covers the new Goffin album, written with keyboard veteran Barry Goldberg. Double-disk packaging focuses on political turmoil, with Goffin completing initial compositions prior to last fall’s elections and then adding additional material later. *First single from It Ain’t Exactly Entertainment will be “Maryland Again.”
*Note: “It’s Not the Spotlight” ended up being released as the 45 instead.
“Patrick Sky had been performing several selections as part of his infrequent club appearances and garnering rave reviews. Then the story of the recording (made in March 1971), in its journey among the major companies, began to appear in print. By November, 1972, Al Aronowitz (‘the Outlaw Journalist’) assembled the fragments of the tale and reported on the then-languishing status of Songs That Made America Famous for The New York Post. Of the majors’ reactions, he reported the following — John Hammond of Columbia: ‘It’s incredible!’; David Wilkes of Vanguard: ‘This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard’; Jerry Greenberg of Atlantic: ‘I won’t put it out, but I’d like to have a copy to play at one of my parties.’
Front cover
Hudson Armstrong
“In total, the album was turned down by 10 different record companies until it came to the attention of Herb Gart. Gart got United Artists to agree to put it out but without their name on the label and without the word ‘America’ in the title. Except that Columbia, Capitol and RCA, who own the pressing plants, refused to manufacture the record, insisting that the older women who work in Quality Control should not be subjected to such filth. Now release of the album is in doubt and the songs may be lost to the ages. Not to worry, Al. Gene Rosenthal of Adelphi Records heard the masters and found sufficient ‘redeeming social content’ in Sky’s outrageous satire to issue the LP, complete with its controversial title, cover art and label design (a bare ass take-off on the Apple Records label.)
Of course, America still had a sense of humor in those days…”
Sky’s “offensive” album – designated by Cash Box as “THE social commentary disc of the decade” – also features the earliest recording of Dave Van Ronk‘s “Luang Prabang.” Sky is be the second artist accorded the honor of an Adelphi 45 single release.
In 1973, Adelphi would release a Rev. Gary Davis collection of 1969 recordings O, Glory that had been made at John Townley‘s Apostolic Studios — a 10th Street loft in New York’s East Village.
The following year, Adelphi would issue the debut album by Hickory Wind, four West Virginia University students, according to Discogs — Sam Morgan, Bob Shank, Pete Tenney, and Glen McCarthy, who were then joined in May 1973 by lead vocalist, Mark Walbridge. Walrus Magazine deemed At The Wednesday Night Waltz a ‘Merit Album’ in its February 12, 1975 issue. Check out this documentary video link to Hickory Wind: American String Band Music[Hickory Wind album now available as digital download GCD 2002].
That same year, Herb Smoke (fiddle) would join forces The North Mountain Ramblers — Sam Glynn (banjo), Don DePoy (guitar), and Ginger DePoy (bass) — for a one-off album released on Skyline Records and distributed by Adelphi.
In 1974, Adelphi would also issue the first of two Charlie Cline LP releases – Country Dobro – on which the dobroist is accompanied by Bill Poffinberger (fiddle), Danny Curtis (mandolin), Leon Morris (lead guitar), Dave McDonald (electric guitar), Howard Cline (rhythm guitar), Tom Gray (string bass), Carroll Harbaugh (electric bass), and Jeff Harbaugh (drums). Check out this video clip of Charlie Cline & Cronies at Joe’s Record Paradise (in the former pool hall on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring).
More Dobro finds Charlie Cline in partnership with The Marrakesh Express, an impressive collective of musical talent ultimately that includes William Poffinberger (fiddle), Leon Morris & Pete Adcock (guitar), Daniel Curtis & Timmy Adcock (mandolin), Jonathan Adcock & Thomas Neil (banjo), and Thomas Gray & Chris Adcock (bass). Album cover art by Dick Bangham — audio link to “Pickaway.”
Following Brian Jones‘ historic field recordings of 1968, Joel Rubiner, as noted by On An Overgrown Path, would trek to Morocco in 1972 to make fresh (and “unfiltered”) recordings, after which Adelphi, indeed, “took a chance” on its original vinyl release two years later [issued with a multi-page booklet, liner notes provided by Robert Palmer]. When asked by Zero to 180 as to well the album originally performed in the marketplace, Rosenthal had this to say:
“It DID NOT SELL worth a damn, even in spite of a MAJOR Bob Palmer (VERY extended) timely review in Rolling Stone Magazine! (That’s Bob Palmer the “writer” & horn player with the Insect Trust, and ALSO the “then” Music Reviewer for the New York Times, NOT that “other” musician aka Bob Palmer!
But I digress — it was the single “most expensive” PACKAGE that Adelphi EVER produced till this very day! I made an overt decision right then, that if the music was worth producing and releasing and if you believed in it…. then you’d better put your money where your mouth is —- and just do it all the way to the best of your ability! Although that release was a financial disaster, it absolutely helped establish Adelphi as a ‘quality’ Small Independent Record Label in 1974.“
Adelphi Ad
Unicorn Times
c. 1976
Note references in the ad above to – two albums that never came to pass by (1) Liz Meyer and (2) Fast Flying Vestibule
In 1976, Adelphi would release the first full-length solo album Twelve Songs by John Guernsey (originally of The Reekers), who received musical accompaniment from a few fellow members of Claude Jones (who recorded their 1971 EP at Track Recorders), such as Happy Acosta, Frannie Day, and Mike Henley. These twelve songs were recorded live at Willow Mill Studio in Falls Church, Virginia, with cover design by Dick Bangham — album received radio airplay on Bethesda’sWHFS.
The Rosslyn Mountain Boys‘ debut album from 1976 features local talent — Joe Triplett, Tommy Hannum, Peter Bonta, Barry Foley, and drummer Bob Berberich (of Grin fame) — as well as airbrushed cover art by Dick Bangham. Billboard‘s July 4, 1976 edition includes a news item (“DC Local Bands Score“) which notes that “The Nighthawks already have recorded two albums on minor labels, and the Rosslyn Mountain Boys have completed a master of their first album and are negotiating with major record firms.” Upon the album’s release, Washington radio station WMAL would add the Rosslyn Mountain Boys album into rotation, as reported in Record World‘s January 15, 1977 and January 29, 1977 editions.
Two Adelphi recording artists were named in this novelty news item from Cash Box‘s April 29, 1978 edition:
Milos Foreman, directing the movie version of Hair, needed a cast of thousands for a Washington Monument-Lincoln Memorial outdoors scene. Accordingly, 11,000 D.C. area youths showed up with “60s” clothes and plenty of flowers to hear Bonnie Raltt, the Rosslyn Mountain Boys, Catfish Hodge, Ronnie Dyson, and Melba Moore.
Banjoist, Susie Monick (formerly of Buffalo Gals), recorded her one-and-only long-playing album Melting Pots for Adelphi in 1976 (with the Salvador Dali-inspired cover (above) by Dick Bangham) — ten songs that feature guest appearances by a number of artists, including Alto Madness, David Avram, Charlie Chin, Eddie Gomez, John Hartford, Jeremy Steig, and Jay Ungar, among others. Melting Pots received radio airplay on Syracuse/Utica’sWOUR, as well as New Haven’sWYBC and Cambridge’sWCAS.
Former Fonotone recording artists, The Carroll County Ramblers, recorded one full-length album for Adelphi that includes mostly original songs written by banjoist, Chris Warner, along with fiddler/lead guitarist, Joe Allison. This 1976 album – recorded at Bethesda’s Urban Recordings – was produced by Dick Drevo, with front cover art by Dick Bangham. Upon the album’s release, Bethesda’s free-form, progressive radio station WHFS would add the Carroll County Ramblers album into rotation, as reported in Billboard‘s July 2, 1977 edition.
In 1976, Adelphi would also release a one-off album recorded at Bethesda’s Urban Recordings by Eastern Heritage — Dick Drevo (bass), Dan Curtis (mandolin), Johnny Knight (guitar), and Fred Knight (electric bass) — with cover art and layout work by Dick Bangham.
John Townley, chief organizer behind The Top Hits of 1776, chimes in via John Townley‘s Astro Cocktail about the making of this patriotic album: .contemporary performances of popular songs from the American Revolutionary era using vintage instruments.
Excerpt –
“It’s been long enough since this original history-documenting LP has been available – missing reprint in either cassette or later CD formats – that it needs a brief twenty-first century historical note itself. In the early 1970s, I was asked to sing and play on a variety of American history recordings in the run-up to the Bicentennial, including album sets for The National Geographic Society and Oscar Brand, who published a book and several albums of American Revolution period songs. Throughout, I found it peculiar that almost all the material was political, as if singing about the war was the only music on American lips at the time, which was very much not the case. So, after a year or so of poring over period music collections, songbooks, sailor’s companions, broadsheets, and contemporary musical biographies at the New York Public Library, Julliard, and elsewhere, I came up with a collection of what were actually the most commonly found songs in the historical record of the late Colonial and early post-Revolution periods. From these I subtracted the political songs (already recorded) and with the generous help and support of Gene Rosenthal at Adelphi Records, went into the studio and recorded the cream of the crop. They were the songs of love, drinking, hunting, humor, entertainment and even wry cultural commentary that America was singing as it was born, mostly penned in mother England.
The reasons this effort has fallen into obscurity, without reprint, are both technical and economic. When the final mix was taken for disc mastering, it turned out the construction and electronics of the 8-track studio we used had conspired to hide serious distortion above about 12,000 Hz (it was a rock ‘n’ roll studio, nobody had noticed before), so we had to roll off everything above that level, turning it into a seriously lo-fi product – well, Martha Washington might have mastered it with one of her knitting needles, so perhaps there’s something vaguely historical there. Second, when release time for the spate of Bicentennial records came along in the spring of 1976, the press raised a terrific hue and cry about the “commercializing” of the event (in contrast to the mercantile bonanza of the 1876 Centennial), and the result was almost nobody made any money doing so. Even the most lavishly-funded and promoted productions lost money – indeed, this album was not even reviewed by a major newspaper, until it became the front-page pick of the New York Times art section exactly an entire year later.
Nine years before the release of John Townley’s Chesapeake Sailor’s Companion concept album, The Starboard List would record Songs Of The Tall Ships, fourteen traditional sea shanties for Adelphi, who released them during the year of our nation’s bicentennial. The following year, Adelphi issued the trio’s second and final album, Crusin’ Around Yarmouth (featuring “Handsome Cabin Boy“) for Adelphi.
In 1977, Jaime Brockett, the multi-instrumentalist who Capitol Records (his former label) once described as “one of the most well known secrets in music,” recorded North Mountain Velvet for Adelphi, with help from Ricky Skaggs, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Kevin Roth, A.J. Rubino, Jan Davis, and all the members of The Seldom Scene: Mike Auldridge, John Duffey, John Starling, Ben Eldridge, and Tom Gray. Brockett’s Adelphi album — which includes trucker tune “Just Stopped By To Git a Cup of Coffee” — features art direction and cover design by Dick Bangham.
The following year, the original ‘Monsters of Folk’ – Holy Modal Rounders (i.e., Peter Stampfel & Steve Weber) – would go one “last round” (at least until 1981’s Going Nowhere Fast) on a full-length album for Adelphi that boasts a front cover embellished by Stampfel’s own bottlecap collection, as well as the effective deployment of the distinctive “Rugby” typeface. Album recorded at Workshoppe in New York City — audio link to “Euphoria.”
Bill Harrell (former Don Reno sparring partner), recorded the Ballads & Bluegrass album for Adelphi at Track Recorders in May/June of 1978, with musical contributions from Mike Auldridge (dobro), Darrell Sanders (banjo), Carl Nelson (fiddle), and Ed ‘Metronome‘ Ferris (string bass). Album engineered by Bill McCullough and Gerry Wyckoff — executive produced by Hap Passman.
・ Michael Dunkley (Guitar, Vocals) ・ Larry Benade (Lead Guitar, Vocals) ・ Brit Stenson (Banjo, Dobro, Vocals) ・ Jack Cowardin (Mandolin, Fiddle) ・ Michael Schonbach (Bass)
According to Michael Dunkley —
When our band was formed in 1973 as The Mindless Wonders, Track was the main recording studio for the region and was well-known for being very ‘musician-friendly.’ As we arrived for our first session, the engineer brought out 5 pairs of headphones for us to wear while recording, and we said ‘Who performs wearing headphones? No thanks.’ Ah, youth. Most of the songs were recorded in one take, in real-time, with all of our studio hours booked between 9PM to 3AM, and everyone fueled by the 24-hour Little Tavern across the street.
We self-financed our recording sessions at Track and had already finished the album, to the point of having a metal master made by George Marino at Sterling Sound, when we received a call from Gene and were told that he would sign us to Adelphi and release our album … but only if we were to record a song entitled “The Ballad Of Bradford Bishop,” a song written by someone we knew and one that Gene had heard us perform at one of our shows. We readily agreed and went back to Track, recorded the song and had the record re-mastered.
The story behind the album’s cover is somewhat checkered, and we were delighted to have Jerry Douglas tell us that it should have won an award for “Best Cover” — later we learned that David Grisman has a copy of it on his music room’s ‘Wall of Fame.’ On the other hand, one club owner said that he could never mount our album on the club’s wall, because it would end up “shot full of holes!”
For those not familiar with the group, they were a truly ‘All Star’ lineup of performing musicians, as well as guest appearances on the LP by Jimmy Thackery, Tom Principato and Dave Birkin, let alone the ‘all-star’ producer/mixing icons, including Bob Margolin, various members of The Nighthawks, as well as the Track Recorders ‘A’ team – Gerry Wykoff and Bill McCullough.
The released LP contained(s) a total of 12 songs (6 per side). Both sides ran over 20 minutes. In those days, those were considered to be ‘Long’ sides, generally meaning that you’d either have to cut back the ‘Bass’ levels in the ‘inside’ bands, or have to reduce the overall fidelity/dynamic range or ‘compress the [daylights] out of everything. Only by my using the ‘Best’ Mastering engineer in the business at that time (George Marino, of Sterling Sound, NYC) were we able to get all 12 songs on without degrading the fidelity.
The real problem, I just discovered, was that we had just too much good stuff mixed and ready to go. The CD reissue (is expected to have) a minimum of 5 additional songs from the same Track sessions as the other ones, and who knows what digital magic might do for the “live stuff.”
Jimmy Madison (drums) recorded Bumps On A Smooth Surface with Larry Schneider (saxophones), Tom Harrell (trumpet & flugelhorn), Harold Danko (keyboards), Bill Washer (guitar), and Jon Burr & Mike Richmond (bass). Album recorded Halloween 1977 at NYC’s Garden Studio — mixed at Track Recorders by Gerry Wyckoff and Bill McCullough, with liner notes penned by Dan Morganstern. Bumps was designated a ‘Merit Album’ by Walrus Magazine, who found it “very impressive that a drummer-led band can hold together so well on a stylistic level.”
Black Arthur Blythe‘s Bush Baby album from 1978 finds the alto saxophonist in collaboration with Bob Stewart (tuba), and Ahkmed Abdullah (congas) — “the most unusual three-piece band we’ve ever heard,” wrote Cash Box‘s Bob Porter in the February 24, 1979 issue. Gene Rosenthal points out, “This release pretty much ‘launched’ Arthur’s career, so much so that a year or so later, when he signed to Columbia, he ‘re-recorded’ several of these songs — changing their ‘names’ and his Columbia ‘producer’ didn’t even notice. Suffice it to say, Columbia settled immediately when it was brought to their attention.”
The North Star Band‘s 1979 debut album for Adelphi – Tonight the North Star Band –features “Redneck Hippie” and includes contributions from Jay Jessup (pedal steel & dobro), Chris Sonnenberg & Gantt Kushner (electric guitar), Al Johnson (acoustic guitar), Louis Hager (piano), Tony Migliore (synthesizer), and Bob Spates & Jim Queen (violin).
In 1979, Adelphi served as the US distributor for an anthology album by Canada’s Downchild Blues Band, fronted by Don Walsh, who contributed – thanks to his friendship with Dan Aykroyd – two songs on 1978’s hit album by The Blues Brothers. So Far was designated a ‘Merit Plus Album’ by Walrus Magazine, who dubbed Downchild “one of the great bar bands.”
Lenny Breau (“one of the true geniuses of the guitar,” according to Chet Atkins) recorded Five O’Clock Bells for Adelphi in 1979. The album kicks off with a contemplative version of “Days of Wine and Roses” that is preceded by a most lovely and arresting intro. Five O’Clock Bells was designated a ‘Jazz Album Pick’ in Cash Box‘s July 28, 1979 edition.
The DC region in the 1970s, Gene Rosenthal points out, was considered a “crossover” market, in terms of black artists crossing over into the white market and vice versa. As a result, the Mid-Atlantic area received special attention from the major labels, especially at a time when electronics whiz George Massenburg (a pioneering force behind parametric equalization, and an important presence at Silver Spring’s Track Recorders during its early years) had designed, built, and managed the massive ITI studio complex in Hunt Valley, Maryland, as well as famed Blue Seas Recording, the converted barge which floated in nearby Baltimore harbor until its tragic and untimely demise.
Massenburg’s partner, Burgess Macneal, who owned the ITI brand after the Hunt Valley studio’s liquidation in 1975, continued operations and renamed the brand as Sontec (whose first customer would be NYC’s Sterling Sound). Rosenthal is still a proud owner of a vintage-era Sontec equalization unit (below).
Sontec Parametric EQ
Gene Rosenthal’s private collection
Adelphi Album Releases:
1980s
In 1980, Adelphi reissued Tracy Nelson‘s Doin’ It My Way album from two years prior released on tiny indie label, Audio Directions. This debut album by the former Mother Earth vocalist kicks off with “Lies” — penned by Roger ‘Jellyroll‘ Troy and Nick Gravenites — and includes musical support from Reggie Young and Wayne Jackson, among many others, with mastering (as usual) by Bob Ludwig.
Saxophonist Charles Tyner closes his sole album for Adelphi (recorded live in May 1979 on the Verna Gillis Show WBAI FM) with a free jazz take on the title track: .rhythm & blues classic, “Sixty Minute Man” (1951 hit for King Records subsidiary, Federal, by The Dominoes).
Lenny Breau‘s Mo’ Breaualbum of solo guitar is divided into standards (side one) and original compositions (side two) — highlights include the sadly beautiful “New York City.”
Obie O’Brien – as guitarist, keyboardist, percussionist, producer, engineer, and mixer – threatens to steal the show on Gene Johnson‘s one and only album from 1981 (with Lance Quinn on rhythm guitar, Hugh McDonald on bass, and Steve Sheppard on guitars & keyboards, et al.)
“Tom Rapp’s Pearls Before Swine [was] perhaps the greatest band venturing in psychedelic-folk during the 1960s. Their two [ESP-Disk] masterpieces, One Nation Underground (1967) and especially Balaklava (1968) are mosaics of atmospheric songs that defy classification, evoking the hallucinated state of Dali’s surrealism, lushly arranged, and influenced by both classical and jazz music,” so says Piero Scaruffi. Adelphi’s 2-LP set is a reissue of both ESP-Disk albums — ESP-Disk later reissued these tracks in 2005 on a single compact disc.
Adelphi would also bravely reissue an anthology of “hits” by that other group of renegade avant-folksters, The Fugs, that includes a short essay by Lester Bangs (whose unedited version packs an appropriate punch) on the back cover, as well as album design by Dick Bangham, with photo images by Jeanne Keskinen — LP a joint venture between Adelphi and PVC, a subsidiary of Passport Records.
Historical Spotlight
Jeanne Keskinen
“Yes, I worked with those guys (Gene R and Dick B) through the 80s on various projects. I got the photo gig for the FUGS album cover (Proto Punk) through Dick, though I knew Gene for many years before that. I was just out of the Corcoran School of Art in DC (now called something like Corcoran School of Design and Art—can never remember the name, don’t get me started) with a photo and design degree and was ready to do record album art! Throughout school I worked at Unicorn Times part-time weekends as a graphic artist and was very much tied into the music scene—another long story. Dick knew I was crazy about Beatniks (Allen Ginsberg, Lester Bangs—Creem and Rolling StoneMagazine!) so that sold it. In other words, they wanted something wacky and strange which was right up my alley, plus connected with the punk scene that I was following. I have a few other pictures from the “shoot” but they’re just of Dick writing on the wall in the photo and a few other poses—title at the time of the album was “Rock and Wall”—with no actual photos of the FUGS. It was also clever then to paint color on B&W photos and make photo edging dark and mysterious — a Saturday Night Live influence, I guess.
I sadly never met the FUGS but knew so much about them and was really happy that the first really big photo credit I ever got was tied into their Grammy winning album! I get to say I did a photo for a Grammy winning album but when people ask who it was, you can see their faces change to “huh, who? the FUGS?” Everyone involved on the album got a bottle of champagne. I still treasure my champagne box (yes, we drank it, of course) still on my bedroom dresser that I still use for my jewelry box.
Afterwards, I went on to work on Mary Chapin Carpenter‘s first album (w/ Dick and Tom Carrico) along with Reggae albums and CDs for Sunsplash and RAS Records (Gary Himmelfarb), Tex Rubinowitz, Root Boy, Patty Reese, and on and on.
I see Gene from time to time, but we travel in such different circles, the relationship is very different now. I can say that Gene really is/was a fearless engineer of much of the music production and promotion of those days that was not always discovered on its own, and he accomplished it locally—never really staking out NYC, LA or using email or internet. I always noticed how his struggle was always very real for him and that he really stuck to his beliefs. It was such a different time and super competitive—so much more than today—and Gene really rose to the challenge.”
Widespread Jazz Orchestra‘s Swing Is the Thing would anticipate, in 1983, the “jump, jive ‘n’ wail” revival by a good dozen years or more (audio link to a live performance of “Swing Is The Thing” from the 1983 Montreux Jazz Festival) — all selections on this collection published by ASCAP.
Singer-songwriter Chris Smither‘s 1984 album for Adelphi, It Ain’t Easy, features the wry, fingerpicked “Ninety Nine Year Blues,” as well a number of original compositions, including opening track “Footloose.” Billboard‘s November 24, 1984 edition selected It Ain’t Easy as a ‘recommended’ Pop pick, with Smither’s “twisted rendition” of Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline” singled out as a highlight.
Meanwhile, Lenny Breau (who recorded an album with steel guitar master Buddy Emmons for Flying Fish in 1979 and delighted us with an Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearance in Zero to 180’s tribute to Curly Chalker in 2021) cut a limited edition ‘Audiophile Direct to Disk’ LP with his Trio — Claude Ranger on drums and Don Thompson on acoustic bass — in 1979 that saw reissue on Adelphi in 1985. Chet Atkins featured on the opening track — yet another Adelphi LP mastered by the master of mastering, Bob Ludwig.
From favorites composed during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, when tobacco was king, to Tin Pan Alley numbers of the early 20th Century, when hydraulics began to replace muscle, this Sailor’s Companion charts the history of an important musical journey. Like this nation, the songs begin an ocean away from England to Africa and are transformed by commerce, technology and social change into something uniquely American.
A meticulous researcher with musical skills to match, John Townley leads ThePress Gang—a group of friends and fellow musicians who were ‘shanghaied’ into a recording studio for these sessions. Among their number are cellist Anne Waple, pianist Blanton Bradley and grand champion Scots fiddler John Turner.
Townley’s enlightening liner notes are accompanied by vintage maritime illustrations to complete this delightful package.
Debut releaseForrest Fires by synth-pop group The Trees — Martin Forrest (guitar & vocals), David Mellet (keyboards & guitars), Mike Bannon (bass), and James Bamber (percussion) — would signal yet another stylistic shift of not insignificant proportions for the label. Album produced by Forrest and Cap’n JonCurlin, with special assistance from Our Lord.
Lenny Breau‘s final solo guitar recordings, Last Sessions — recorded not long before his untimely death in August, 1984 — were issued by Adelphi in 1988. This collection of primarily original compositions (which also includes Breau’s own take on Morris Albert’s “Feelings“) was designated a ‘Jazz Feature Pick’ in Cash Box‘s December 17, 1988 issue.
Gene Rosenthal formed Sunsplash Records in order to issue performances from the 1982 Reggae Sunsplash Festival (by a number of artists that the Rocksteady Kid would later spin as a guest DJ on University of Maryland’s WMUC), such as these six releases issued in 1983:
Toots & the Maytals play a set dedicated to Bob Marley that includes “(Marley’s Gone) His Songs Live On,” plus backing from such all-star musicians as Winston Wright (keys), Hux Brown (guitar), Jackie Jackson (bass), and Paul Douglas (drums).
Chalice — Robi Peart (lead vocals & guitar), Wayne Armond (guitar & vocals), Ervin “Allah” Lloyd (keyboards & vocals), Trevor Roper (guitar & vocals), Mickey Wallace (bass), and Desmond Jones (drums) — receive stellar horn support from David Madden, Dean Fraser, Ronald “Nambo” Robinson & Junior “Chico” Chin on such songs as “I’m Trying.”
California-based due, Macaw — Khalid Abudullah (percussion & vocalist) and Benson Brown (keyboardist & vocalist) performed six songs, including “Joy Ridin’.”
Best Of The Festival – Day One brings together John Holt, U-Roy, and Roy Shirley (all backed by Byron Lee & the Dragonaires), plus Big Youth, and Toots & the Maytals.
Art direction: Dick Bangham
Three more Reggae Sunsplash releases were issued 1984 on vinyl:
Big Youth enjoys solid support on his set from Carlton “Santa“ Davis (drums), George Fullwood (bass), Earl “Chinna” Smith (guitar), Tony Chin (guitar) and Keith Sterling (keyboards) on such songs as “Ten Against One.”
The Twinkle Brothers — Norman Grant (lead vocals), Aston Grant (lead guitar), Ralston Grant (rhythm guitar), Tony Steir (keyboards), Derrick Brown (bass), John Wheatley (drums), Bongo Asher (percussion), and Karl Hyatt (percussion) — perform seven selections, including “I Don’t Want To Be Lonely Anymore.”
In 1992, Genes issued one last Reggae Sunsplash title — The Mighty Diamonds (eight songs, including “Pass The Kutchie“) and Mutabaruka (seven songs, including “Hard Times Love(r)“) not on vinyl but rather compact disc.
All Sunsplash releases were recorded (in part) by DC’s own Jim Fox, mixed by legendary engineer Errol Brown at Tuff Gong, and mastered by the aforementioned Bob Ludwig — with art direction and design from Dick Bangham, who also did extensive work for Silver Spring-based reggae indie label, RAS Records (which would eventually be purchased in 2003 by UK-based Sanctuary Records Group).
Gene Rosenthal with Bob Ludwig
Adelphi Releases:
1990s
The Genes Blues Vault
As Chris Morris notes in his piece for Billboard February 25, 1995 edition that trumpets Adelphi’s new Blues Vault Series, Gene Rosenthal “wound up recording [Mississippi John] Hurt for Piedmont and [Skip] James for Takoma in 1964” and, by 1970, “Adelphi began releasing a handful of Rosenthal’s own recordings and some of the tapes cut for Piedmont and Takoma that had languished in the vault.” As Rosenthal explained to Billboard —
What happened was, as we started building our own label, a lot of this earlier material that we still had in our vaults, because we were protecting masters for other people, became available for sale … We bought back our own tapes, basically.
Adelphi’s original release of blues recordings in the early 1970s, unfortunately, would happen to be, according to Rosenthal, “the very end – we didn’t know it was the end at that point – of the blues revival.”
Consequently, Adelphi would weather the 1970s and ’80s by diversifying into other musical genres. But the success of the Robert Johnson Complete Recordings in 1990 signaled a renewed interest in fingerpicking country blues, and from Rosenthal’s perspective, “it was pretty obvious that there was a bona-fide blues revival going on” and, thus, an opportune time to clean up the label’s master recordings from the 1960s and ’70s for entry into the marketplace, most for the first time ever.
Preparation of these recordings for release on compact disc, however, would require painstaking care. As Rosenthal recounted —
One of the major problems working with these tapes from the ’60s is their willingness to self-destruct for no apparent reason … The tapes are so fragile that [with] many of the machines, if you try to put these tapes on, you watch the backing go one way and the oxide go the other way.
Morris notes the “exceptional care” that went into not only remastering but also the annotation and packing of each title in the Blues Vault Series, with liner notes by a number of respected blues scholars, and images by such legendary photographers as Jim Marshall and David Gahr.
Adelphi’s Blues Vault Series launched in 1993 with the following three titles:
The aforementioned Skip James live (Ontario Coffee House in DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood) and studio sides (Adelphi Studios) from 1964 that were produced by John Fahey, Ed Denson, and Bill Barth — with photographs by Jim Marshall and liner notes by Dick Spottswood & Larry Hoffman.
These Rev. Robert Wilkins studio sessions, engineered by Gene Rosenthal and Dick Drevo at Bethesda’s Urban Sound Recordings in August of 1971, with liner note contributions from Dick Spottswood and Robert Palmer — final track of the set (“In The Army Of The Lord“) was recorded at the 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival.
This Mississippi John Hurt 2-CD anthology of Hurt’s 1964 Washington, DC performances at the Ontario Coffee House also includes a 30-minute interview conducted by Pete Seeger and engineered by Rosenthal.
Two additional Blues Vault titles would follow in 1994:
Bukka White‘s November, 1963 live performance at The Cabale in Berkeley, California (produced by John Fahey and Ed Denson) contains thirteen songs, including the title track, “1963 Isn’t 1962 Blues” — liner notes by David Evans.
These Houston Stackhouse recordings were engineered by Gene Rosenthal at Adelphi Studios in 1972 (audio link to “Big Road Blues“) — photography by David Gahr and liner notes by noted Robert Johnson researcher, Steve LaVere.
In 1996, three new titles in the Blues Vault Series would be issued:
This compact disc reissue of the O Gloryalbum from 1973 by Rev. Gary Davis (who plays guitar, piano, harmonica & banjo) features three additional tracks (recorded in New York City in 1964 & 1965), as well as liner notes by Apostolic Studios founder, John Townley — a few tracks include vocal support by Sister Annie Davis and the Apostolic Family, plus guest harmonica turns from Larry Johnson.
Guitarist/vocalist Richard ‘Hacksaw‘ Harney recorded these songs with engineer/producer Gene Rosenthal at Adelphi Studios in February of 1972 — CD release includes photography by David Gahr and liner notes from Larry Hoffman and Denise Tapp. Harney, who died in 1973, along with his brother Maylon Harney accompanied singers Walter Rhodes and Pearl Dickson when the duo recorded in 1929 for Columbia in Memphis as “Pet” And “Can,” notes Discogs. This Blues Vault title has not yet reissued by Fat Possum.
These analog recordings capture Skip James in performance October 29-30, 1964 at a Cambridge, Massachusetts club — with photography by Jim Marshall and liner notes by (Billboard writer, not the Adelphi recording artist, right?) Bill Holland. This Blues Vault title has not yet reissued by Fat Possum.
In 1997, two additional Blues Vault titles would be released:
“Medicine show“-era musician/comedian Harmonica Frank Floyd recorded this set of songs in July of 1972 with engineer/producer Gene Rosenthal at Adelphi Studios — liner notes by Denise Tapp. This Blues Vault title has not yet reissued by Fat Possum.
These eleven songs, performed at DC’s Ontario Place Cofee House by Mississippi John Hurt in November of 1964, could not be accomodated in 1993’s Memorial Anthology Volume 1 — includes liner notes by Larry Hoffman and producer Dan Doyle. This title appears to have been issued only in the UK — not yet reissued by Fat Possum (despite the inclusion of “Worried Blues“).
1999, an especially fruitful year, saw the release of five new Blues Vault titles:
The CD reissue of Henry Townsend‘s Adelphi album from 1974 includes two additional tracks — “Cairo Blues” and “Tired Of Being Mistreated” — not included on the original vinyl LP release. This title has not yet been reissued by Fat Possum.
Little Brother Montgomery‘s 1969 album with Jeanne Carroll, No Special Rider, was also reissued on CD in 1999 with two extra tracks, “Farrish Street Drive” and “Muleface Blues” — includes liner notes by Dick Spottswood & Mike Stewart.
Guitarist/vocalist R.L. Burnside – accompanied by Red Ramsey (harmonica) on a handful of tracks – recorded these songs with engineer/producer Gene Rosenthal in both Memphis and Independence, Mississippi in October of 1969 (audio link to title track, “My Black Name A-Ringin’“) — liner notes by Larry Hoffman and Denise Tapp.
Guitarist/vocalist David ‘Honeyboy‘ Edwards (first recorded by Alan Lomax in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1942) laid down these tracks in both Chicago (1969) and Silver Spring (1971) with occasional guitar accompaniment by Big Joe Williams, Johnny Shines, and Mike Stewart, Don’t Mistreat a Man from 1999.
The CD reissue ofOn The Road Again by Furry Lewis with Bukka White & Gus Cannon includes one additional track – “Goin’ Back (To Memphis Tennessee)” – not included on the original 1969 Adelphi LP release, plus liner notes by Mike Stewart and Denise Tapp.
The last new title from the Blues Vault Series would be issued, fittingly, in the, final year of the twentieth century (i.e., 2000):
Recordings of guitarist/vocalist Furry Lewis with guitarist Lee Baker, Jr. captured October of 1969 in Memphis (plus liner notes by Jim Dickinsonand Dave MacKenzie – cover photo by Jim Marshall). Fat Possum’s 2017 Furry Lewis compilation LP would mix tracks from both On The Road Again and Take Your Time.
Toward the end of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Adelphi had begun to reissue various titles in its back catalog on compact disc — Chris Smither, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Patrick Sky, The Nighthawks, Lenny Breau, Reuben Brown Trio with Richie Cole, Reggae Sunsplash series.
Amidst these CD reissues would be two new titles issued in 1996:
Otis Rush concert album recorded in Europe, with backing from Julian Vaughn (drums), Tim Green (bass), Duke Levine (guitar), and Ken Vangel (piano) — includes liner notes from John Swenson.
Genes CD
(1996)
Gerry Goffin recorded his second (and final) solo album for Adelphi, even though his recording contract originally only called for one album with the label — collection of originals includes a couple songwriting collaborations with co-producers Bob Dylan (including “Masquerade“), Tim Drummond (“Rough Theology“), Ralph Shuckett (“A Woman Can Be Like A Gangster“), and Barry Goldberg, (opening track, “Never Too Late To Rock And Roll.”
At the time of the album’s release, Goffin would tell Cash Box‘sJohn Rhys that Back Room Blood “is almost totally politically-motivated” and “fulfills his need to express his anger and dismay at a world gone seemingly mad.” Goffin says he was moved to write the songs on Back Room Blood “after the 1994 congressional elections, when conservative Republicans took control of the legislative branch,” according to Billboard‘sChris Morris.
Buch and the Snakestretchers — legendary guitarist Roy Buchanan‘s first recording, captured live in 1971 at Bladenburg, Maryland’s Crossroads night club and released the following year on Bioya Sound (“Blow It Out Your @ss”) — would first be reissued on CD in Italy (as a bootleg, Gene informs Zero to 180, on the Habla label) in 1989 before finding release in the US three years later on Silver Spring’s own Adelphi label. As Marc Fisher notes in the CD liner notes:
Instead of a conventional album jacket, the LP came in a burlap bag with Buch and the Snake Stretchers on it. The album was placed in selected local record stores in the D.C. area. Roy stated years later that about 10,000 copies of the album sold, and it had a reputation for being a ‘bootleg’ album, because of its unique packaging and lack of liner notes. Similarly, the packaging made it almost impossible for the album to get airplay.
Prior to becoming Roy’s percussionist, I had been working at a clothing store in Georgetown called Up Against the Wall. We put jeans we sold into promotional burlap bags with the store’s name along with Landlubber, a brand of bellbottoms. I used one of the burlap bags for my tambourines and maracas. Roy’s manager, Hal Davis, took notice and wanted to use this burlap bag concept for the LP. With no sleeve on the record the albums always had telltale burlap on them. In any event, the album was easily identified, and Roy seemed to enjoy the down home look.
Supporting Roy Buchanan are Ned Davis (drums), Peter van Allen (bass), Chuck Tilley (rhythm guitar & vocals), Teddy Irwin (rhythm guitar), and Dick Heintze (organ & piano) — check out the soulful guitar work on ‘power ballad’ “Sweet Dreams.”
In 1997, Adelphi issued a 2-CD live set that was “captured live during the last days of the world-famous 9:30 Club at its crowded, decadent, smelly and totally lovable original location in Washington, DC.” As The Washington Post‘s Eric Brace would note in the April 18, 1997 edition:
The final weeks at the 9:30 Club’s old F Street NW location at the very end of 1995 were pretty loony, particularly the last few nights. People were chiseling souvenirs off the walls, even as the groups on stage were trying to put on the show to end all shows. The club had booked bands from out of its past to close this chapter, and looking at the schedule that December, Adelphi Records’ Gene Rosenthal wondered if the club was documenting the occasion.
“It was a week before Christmas when I heard they weren’t recording those shows, so I asked if I could,” says Rosenthal. “I just couldn’t believe it wasn’t being documented.” His pal Larry Packer of Uncle Punchy Studios installed himself and his audio gear in the club’s basement, and in its final nights he caught on tape locally based acts like Tiny Desk Unit, Tru Fax & the Insaniacs, Urban Verbs, Black Market Baby, The Insect Surfers and Mother May I, some of which had long since broken up and were regrouping just for that show.
In 1998, Gene (as “E. Richard Rosenthal“) had also made a valiant attempt to unseat an ethically-challeged congressional representative who later resigned his post to avoid a formal investigation. Click on this link to learn more details about Rosenthal’s congressional run.
Just before century’s end, Adelphi would issue a new CD release from a Pittsburgh-based group:
Strange Brew — Marcy Eustice (vocals, flute, and percussion), Fran Rifugiato (guitar), Joe Jeffries (bass), and Mike Visnick (drums) — recorded a set of eleven originals that combine American roots music with elements of blues and rockabilly, as on the title track, “Lost and Broken-Hearted.”
At its peak, when Adelphi Records and its distributor, CARD, were located in Washington, DC at 6401 Chillum Place, NE, the operation had a total staff of fourteen full-timers, including Hap Passman, who “has been with Adelphi forever,” says Rosenthal, who adds, “Actually, he was sorta associated as a retail manager beginning in the mid/late 70s, actual staffer beginning in the mid/late 80s.” Adelphi staff presently numbers three and one-half to four persons (“on a good day”).
With Gene Rosenthal, Sandra Koppel, Diana Quinn & Patsy Sevilla
Adelphi’s blues holdings would suddenly enjoy a new worldwide audience in 2017, thanks to the aforementioned partnership with Fat Possum – in conjunction with Amazon Music – via the 10-album anthology Worried Blues that makes these rare and previously out-of-print recordings available on vinyl and CD, as well as MP3 download. As Fat Possum explained in its public announcement —
These recordings sat untouched for over two decades before seeing a limited CD release in the early 1990s on Adelphi. Worried Blues represents the music’s first widespread release, and first time on LP.
These recordings have long been highly treasured, primarily for their striking variety. Despite nine out of the ten artists hailing from central and northern Mississippi, no two styles are alike. From the ragtime folk-tinged blues of Mississippi John Hurt, to the ebullient signature slide guitar of Furry Lewis, which would later earn him an opening slot on tour with the Rolling Stones, Worried Blues preserves an exceptionally rich moment in our cultural history. In his thoughts on the series, music historian Elijah Wald explains, “The richness of Mississippi blues derived from the combination of isolated, majority-black regions populated largely by young newcomers from other areas as the Delta swamps were drained at the turn of the 20th Century, and these players created quirky, individual styles by mixing older sounds with what they were hearing from neighbors, records, minstrel and vaudeville troupes, and whatever other influences came their way.”
2017 would also see the release of the debut album by the aforementioned Ken Swartz & the Palace of Sin, Smile Away the Blues, in the old-time finger-picking blues style but with an eclectic choice of material and a distinctive New Orleans sound and feel, as on the opening number, “Sally Where Did You Get Your Liquor At.”
Rosenthal is also giving serious consideration to issuing other rare, unreleased, and/or invaluable recordings in the Adelphi vaults, including —
Backwards Sam Firk Memorial Anthology — “two CDs of the finest country blues picking that ever was or will be”
John Fahey Memorial Anthology: “The Early & Middle Years” — a 90-minute DVD that would include three filmed sets live at DC’s Cellar Door, 1969, plus two CDs of previously unreleased performances from the same period
Taj Mahal – two live sessions from the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap Farm Park, (including workshops)
Kerrville Folk Festival — 45 performances (over two hours of music) that were mixed and mastered in 1977 but never released, including selections from Steve Young, Marcia Ball, Townes Van Zandt, Tom Paxton, Tracy Nelson, Steve Fromholz, Delbert McClinton, Guy Clark, B.W. Stevenson, Butch Hancock, and Milton Carroll.
Hunter S. Thompson — spoken word “live” lecture series from 1978 at four college locations: University of Massachusetts, University of Boston at Lowell, Montgomery College, Maryland and Virginia Commonwealth University. Says Gene, “My two weeks ‘on the road’ with Hunter, doing this documentation, should probably explain away to everyone, any and all of my idiosyncratic behaviour beginning in/from 1978. Still absolutely timeless!”
Paul Geremia, Volume 2: “Then & Now” — CD of previously unreleased material, including 25 minutes from 1970s sessions and 25 minutes from several “live” sessions 2012-2013.
Jaime Brockett with The Rudy Toot Band — previously unreleased live sessions from 1978.
Blues Around DC, 1960-1975 — As Gene can tell you firsthand, the DC area had an authentic and indigenous blues scene that was (despite statements to the contrary) “documented beginning in the late 50s and which was substantially over by the late 70s! The primary documentarian of these local DC blues artists was Ed Morris (RIP). Beginning in 1963/4 I met Mr. Ed Morris, who quickly reminded me of what it is all about … by hook or by crook. Ed managed over the next six years to bring to my recording studio beginning in 1964 — Frank Mizell, Ed Green, Flora Molton — and was primarily responsible for also instigating the Archie Edwards Adelphi studio sessions. All done “gratis,” Ed was dedicated, but I’ve failed to mention that Ed had by himself also recorded multiple times (earlier) Buddy Boy Jenkins, as well as Green & Molton. He was so good, that I’ve even found a fully executed contract with Ed (Eddie) Green stuffed inside a 7″ tape reel, tapes being masters of Ed and Flora and Buddy Boy.”
Trivia!
True or False:
Willie Nelson once appeared on an Adelphi LP vinyl release.
This double album includes performances by Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Augie Meyer, and Jerry Jeff Walker, among other lesser-known artists.
Gene Rosenthal & Adephi Records:
Periodical Literature
“Small Indie Distributors Seek Strength Through New Assn.” — Earl Paige in Billboard‘s Apr. 29, 1972 edition
National Association of Independent Record Distributors being formed by Gene Rosenthal & Ray Flerlage (et al.) — Michael Cuscuna in Record World‘s May 27, 1972 edition
“Feb. Memphis Meeting Set To Form Indie Dist./Mfr. Assn.” — Billboard‘s Jan. 27, 1973 edition
Ever wonder how you got to have such a spectrum of musical taste? You were lucky enough to grow up in the D.C. area– might have been a reason. Praise be!
This is awesomely special & much appreciated. As a DC native it’s fun to see so much about so many in one place. Well done & thank you thank you thank you
Linda
6 Responses
Ever wonder how you got to have such a spectrum of musical taste? You were lucky enough to grow up in the D.C. area– might have been a reason. Praise be!
Thanks for writing all this up!
This is awesomely special & much appreciated. As a DC native it’s fun to see so much about so many in one place. Well done & thank you thank you thank you
Linda
What a rosy picture you’ve painted. Unfortunately you’ve left out the thorns.
What might those thorns be? — Gene R.
Just for the record 🙂 — GR