Label Profile: Dialtone Records

Austin’s blues scene is alive and well in no small part to Eddie Stout and Dialtone Records. While our blues patriarchs like Pinetop Perkins continue the tradition, a new crop of young guns has been cultivated around the Dialtone imprint to carry the sound into the twenty-first century. The local label has become an outlet for new material from legends like Joe Ducet, Bells of Joy, and the Texas Southside Kings, as well as up and coming artists like those gathered among the Texas Northside Kings. This Thursday, March 13, Dialtone Records presents it’s official SXSW showcase at Lambert’s, featuring Orange Jefferson and Thierry Cognee, Joe Ducett, Spot Barnett with O.S. Grant, the Westside Horns, Little Joe Washington, Texas Northside Kings, Texas Eastside Kings, Ray Reed, and Joe Jonas. The showcase kicks off at 8:00pm and will be one not to miss. For more information on Dialtone, see their official website.

Label Profile: Dialtone

Year Formed:

1998

Present Artists (*Texas Artist):

I still have a young Label so they are all present artists

This is in order of release:

1. Bells Of Joy*
2. Texas Trumpets* with Donald Jennings, Martin Banks, Ephraim Owens and Patterson
3. Ervin Charles* with Richard Earl*
4. Blue Christmas* with Ernestine Fuller, Matthew Robinson, James Kuykendall, Clarence Pierce, The Bells Of Joy and Richard Earl
5. Texas Eastside Kings* with Clarence Pierce, Willie Sampson, Ephraim Owens, George Underwood, James Kuykendall and Donald Jennings
6. Matthew Robinson*
7. Westside Horns*
8. Little Joe Washington*
9. Texas Soul Sisters* with Miss Candy*, Glenda Hargis*, Gloria Edwards* and Lavelle White*
10. Barbara Lynn*
11. Earl Gilliam*
12. Bells of Joy* with Friends / Kimmie Rhodes*, Willie Nelson*, Bobby Rush, Chip Taylor and Joe Ely*.
14.Texas Harmonica Rumble* with Lazy Lester, Bobby Rush, Sammy Myers, Mel Davis*, Joe Jonas* and Orange Jefferson*
15. Joe Doucet*
16. Texas Southside Kings* with Big Walter “The Thunderbird” Price*, Jr, Moore*, Spot Barnett*, Leo Morris* with Oscar O’Bear, Willie Sampson* and Bubba Mitchell*.
17. Texas Northside Kings* with Johnny Moeller*, Shawn Pittman*, Mike Keller, Nick Curran, Eve Monsees*, and Seth Walker*.
18. Ray Reed*

Recent Releases:

Texas Northside Kings
Ray Reed

Upcoming Releases:

Live DVD, recorded at SXSW March 13 2008
Joe Doucet
Westside Horns
Spot Barnett
Joe Jonas
Ray Reed
Northside Kings
Eastside Kings

What was your impetus for starting the label:

I was just born with it; don’t know why but I just seemed to fall into it and started recording the music I grew up listening to.

How do you feel about the current state of Austin's blues scene?

All music grows and the blues is now growing into a new thing, with young white players picking up the blues like all the artists on the Northside Kings’ CD. This is why I did this CD, to show what the blues is today and with some of the old blues masters who are still around.

How do you view the label in relation to Austin's overall music scene and other labels:

I think time will answer that, right now the label does not even show up compared to other labels in Austin. As for the music scene the two CDs Dialtone has (Texas Northside Kings and Texas Eastside Kings) are right on with what is Austin Blues today.

Given infinite resources, what major band or artist would y'all most like to have on the label:

Pinetop, Bobby Rush, King Edward, Little Beaver, Ray Sharp and a lot more....

What do you feel are the most important elements for success of an indie label:

Label identity - when you pick up a Dialtone CD, you know it is going to be roots music. Also you need lots of money.

What have been your most gratifying and most difficult moments in running the label:

Just to look back and see that Dialtone has become a part of a timeline that has frozen Texas music in this period that we are living today. And I cant say about the difficult moments...

You've been a major part of Austin's blues scene for a long time. What are some of your favorite moments not specifically related to the label?

Playing music. Austin is one of the only places in the world that musicians can sit in with each other all the time. I have always said, Austin does not have bands, just everybody setting in with each other. In this way it is very cool.

You've been involved with other labels in the past as well. What have you learned from your experiences with those imprints that have informed your approach with Dialtone:

Every thing has mostly come from my passion to be a record guy. Even when I worked for other companies there were no guidelines that I had to learn from. Working for Antone’s Records did give me the time to work on setting up the international distribution, learning about marketing and marketing around tours.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the record industry, especially in relation to new technology:

From when I started in the 90’s it has totally changed. Now marketing is done all through the internet, recording now is done through Pro-Tools. During the change lots of old school people like me lost their jobs when this technology came in. This is all still good, but you just have to re-learn the new technology all the time to keep up.

Other than the label's bands, what's playing at Dialtone headquarters these days:

The radio, I like to play the old stuff like, Muddy, Otis Rush, Little Walter, also some old jazz from the 50’s Blue Note catalog.

Website:
www.dialtonerecords.com