…thanks to Joe at Each Note Secure for bringing this to our attention…
…for longer than most people realize, this region has served as fertile soil for many genres of music. One of the most influential, yet unacknowledged, forces in the region was the formidable King Records. One of the pioneering independent labels in American music, King Records put Cincinnati on the musical map in the 1940s and 1950s with an impressive stable of acts, ranging stylistically from blues to bluegrass to R & B to western swing…
…the author of King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records, Jon Hartley Fox, will appear at Shake It Records in Cincinnati this Sunday, October 18 at 2 pm to discuss the new book. Here’s a little background on the book:
King of the Queen City is the first comprehensive history of King Records, one of the most influential independent record companies in the history of American music. Jon Hartley Fox tells the story of a small outsider record company in Cincinnati, Ohio, that attracted an extremely diverse roster of artists, including the Stanley Brothers, Grandpa Jones, Redd Foxx, Earl Bostic, Bill Doggett, Lonnie Johnson, Ike Turner, Roy Brown, Freddie King, Eddie Vinson, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, and even a young James Brown. While other record companies of the day made their fortunes by concentrating on one style of music, King Records was active in virtually all genres of vernacular American music, from blues and R & B to rockabilly, bluegrass, western swing, and country.
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