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Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students. It once served as a major distributor^{[citation needed]} and central sales location for other independent labels specializing in roots music, at one point representing as many as 450 other labels.^{[citation needed]} In the 1990s, though, the company cut back on the distribution effort in order to focus on its own productions. In the early 2000s, shortly after the merger of the PolyGram and MCA label families, Rounder signed a manufacturing and distribution deal with Universal Music, which also purchased an interest in the label.

Starting with blues, blues-rock, string band, and bluegrass, Rounder expanded to over 3,000 titles of folk, soul, soca, Cajun, and Celtic. The name was chosen partly because of its association with the band Holy Modal Rounders. The word rounder also means a hobo or tramp. One of their earliest successes was the blues-rock band George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

One of the label's projects is the Alan Lomax Collection, a series of releases of the work of the pioneering ethnomusiclogist and folklorist.

Among Rounder's artists, bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss (who had been with the label for the duration of her career) was offered a number of major label deals following her commercial breakthrough in the late 1990s, but Krauss opted to remain with Rounder.^{[citation needed]} Rounder was one of the very first labels to become involved with compact discs, in 1985. In 2004, the company launched a book division known as Rounder Books.

Rounder formed a children's music division called Rounder Kids in the 90s, distributing soundtracks of the popular PBS Kids series Arthur. It's current label roster is the Canadian children's entertainer Raffi Cavoukian.

In 2010, Rounder was purchased by the Concord Music Group. It will continue to be distributed by Universal, as all of Concord has a distribution deal with UMG.[1]

On January 31, 2012, Rounder Records released the Soul Rebels Brass Band's debut record on the label entitled "Unlock Your Mind".

Artists (past and present)[link]

• Soul Rebels Brass Band
• Tom Adams
• Darol Anger
• Etta Baker
• The Balfa Brothers
• Marcia Ball
• Russ Barenberg
• Pierre Bensusan
• Big Shoulders
• Tony Bird
• Norman Blake
• Blue Rodeo
• The Blue Sky Boys
• The Bobs
• Bodeans
• Roy Book Binder
• James Booker
• Sandra Boynton
• Brave Combo
• Bob Brozman
• Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
• Buckwheat Zydeco
• Solomon Burke
• J J Cale
• Chuck Carbo
• Cephas & Wiggins
• Marshall Chapman
• Bruce Cockburn
• The Cottars
• Country Cooking
• Cowboy Jazz
• Cowboy Junkies
• Dailey & Vincent
• The Damnwells
• Delta Spirit
• Dennis DeYoung
• Hazel Dickens
• disappear fear
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band
• Michael Doucet
• Dry Branch Fire Squad
• Ronnie Earl
• John Fahey
• Cathy Fink
• Béla Fleck
• Benton Flippen
• The Freight Hoppers
• J. Geils
• Jimmie Dale Gilmore
• Girl Authority
• Philip Glass
• Mike Gordon
• The Grascals
• David Grisman
• Richard Greene
• David Grier
• Nanci Griffith
• Woody Guthrie
• James "Slim" Hand
• Cheb Hasni
• John Hartford
• Juliana Hatfield
• Tish Hinojosa
• Holy Modal Rounders
• Sierra Hull
• Mississippi John Hurt
• Huxtable, Christensen & Hood
• The Incredible Casuals
• Bill Keith
• Kids of Widney High
• King Wilkie
• Alison Krauss
• Sleepy LaBeef
• David Laibman
• Lead Belly
• Sondre Lerche
• The LeRoi Brothers
• John Linnell
• Lisa Loeb
• David Mallett
• Del McCoury
• John McCutcheon
• Natalie MacMaster
• Magic Dick
• Mike Marshall
• John Mellencamp
• The Meters
• John Miller^[1] (guitarist, three albums, also member of Country Cooking)
• Whistlin' Alex Moore
• Lynn Morris
• Nashville Bluegrass Band
• Tracy Nelson
• NRBQ
• Alecia Nugent
• Laura Nyro
• Ellis Paul
• Tom Paxton
• Carl Perkins
• Madeleine Peyroux
• Grant-Lee Phillips
• Pianosaurus
• Robert Plant
• Preacher Jack
• Raffi
• Ed Reavy
• Leon Redbone
• Tony Rice
• Jonathan Richman
• Amanda Shaw
• Riders in the Sky
• Jimmie Rodgers multi-volume catalog reissue
• Rush
• Mike Seeger
• Peggy Seeger
• Allen Shelton
• Jon Sholle
• Ricky Skaggs
• Son Volt
• Jo-El Sonnier
• The SteelDrivers
• Steep Canyon Rangers
• SteveSongs
• Sweet Honey in the Rock
• Tut Taylor
• The Tragically Hip
• Ten Shekel Shirt
• Vienna Teng
• They Might Be Giants
• Linda Thompson
• George Thorogood and the Destroyers
• Happy & Artie Traum
• Tony Trischka
• Dan Tyminski
• Uncle Earl
• Joe Val
• Guy Van Duser
• Rhonda Vincent
• Loudon Wainwright III
• Martha Wainwright
• Doc Watson
• Ween
• Cheryl Wheeler
• The Wild Magnolias
• Bob Wills

[edit] Subsidiary labels a.k.a. The Rounder Records Group^[2]

• Bullseye Blues
• Dolphin Safe
• Easydisc
• Flying Fish
• Grand Illusion
• Heartbeat
• Heavy Rotation
• Henry Street
• Hudson Music
• Moon Junction
• Philo
• Rounder Select
• Rounder Specials
• Symmetry
• Tone Cool Records
• Trampoline
• Upstart
• Varrick
• Vestapol
• Zoë

See also[link]

• List of record labels

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance by Michael F. Scully (University of Illinois Press, 2008)
• Radio Interview with founders Marian Leighton Levy and Ken Irwin

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

Jay Farrar
Jay Farrar in Los Angeles, 2007
Background information
Born	(1966-12-26) December 26, 1966 (age 45) Belleville, Illinois
Genres	Alternative country
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Giant/Rockville Records Sire Records Warner Bros. Artemis Records Act/Resist Legacy Recordings
Associated acts	Uncle Tupelo Son Volt Gob Iron

Jay Farrar (born December 26, 1966 in Belleville, Illinois) is an American songwriter and musician currently based in St. Louis, Missouri. A veteran of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond his established talents as a songwriter, he is a guitarist, harmonicist, and a vocalist.

Recording career[link]

In 1995, Farrar collaborated on the song "Rex's Blues", which appeared on the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization.

As a solo artist, Farrar has released two full length albums, two EPs, one film score, and various live recordings. His full length albums are Sebastopol (2001) and Terroir Blues (2003), the first released on the independent record label Artemis Records and the second released on his own label, Transmit Sound.

An EP of songs from the Sebastopol sessions, entitled ThirdShiftGrottoSlack was released in 2002. His score for the independent film The Slaughter Rule (2002, directors Alex and Andrew Smith) was released in 2003 on the independent record label Bloodshot Records. Farrar formed his own independent record label in 2003, Transmit Sound (formerly called "Act/Resist Records").

In 2004, Farrar released a six song live acoustic EP entitled Live EP. Also 2004 marked the release of the live CD/DVD Stone, Steel & Bright Lights.

Style[link]

His musical style ranges from sparse, unaccompanied folk music to full rock and roll band arrangements comparable to Neil Young or Dinosaur Jr.. His solo recordings also often include sound experiments, reminiscent of psychedelia, with a distinctly Eastern bent. One of the hallmarks of his sound is the use of alternate tunings on the guitar. His love for Woody Guthrie inspired a custom guitar made by Creston Lea of Vermont. The guitar was made from artifacts Jay gathered from the site of Guthrie's childhood home. In 2012 the guitar was featured in a painting by modern artist Karl Haglund.

Related artists[link]

After the dissolution of Uncle Tupelo in 1994, Farrar formed the rock group Son Volt, whose original lineup released three albums in the late 1990s, before undergoing a hiatus in 1999. In 1999, Farrar was invited to participate in the tribute album for Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence, who was terminally ill with cancer. The album, More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album (Birdman, 1999), was an album of cover versions of the songs on Spence's only solo album, Oar (Columbia, 1999).

In 2005, the band re-formed with a different lineup and has since (as of May 2009) released four additional albums.

Farrar worked closely with keyboardist Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips during the recording of Sebastopol. Eric Heywood, Mark Spencer from the Blood Oranges, and the rock group Canyon have often accompanied Farrar in his solo recordings and performances. Spencer is now a full-time member of Son Volt.

In 2006, Farrar announced the formation of a new band, Gob Iron, with Varnaline's Anders Parker. The songs which would make up their debut album were recorded in autumn 2004, while Farrar was in the process of recording a new Son Volt album.

Farrar collaborated with Ben Gibbard (of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie) to create all of the music for the soundtrack for the 2009 documentary film One Fast Move or I'm Gone, about Jack Kerouac's time spent at Big Sur. The soundtrack was released on October 20, 2009.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2012)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jay Farrar

• Official Jay Farrar website
• Official Son Volt website
• Gumbo Pages - Son Volt/Jay Farrar page
• Jay Farrar reviews at the Country Standard Time website
• Soundtrack info for One Fast Move or I'm Gone

Anders Parker is an American singer-songwriter, guitar player, singer and multi-instrumentalist with a career spanning two decades.^[1][2] He has performed and recorded as a solo artist and as a key member in bands such as Varnaline and Space Needle. Parker has been involved in various collaborations over the years including Gob Iron with Jay Farrar.

Discography[link]

Anders Parker[link]

• New Multitudes (with Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, and Yim Yames) (2012)^[3]
• Cross Latitudes (2010)
• Skyscraper Crow (double CD) (2009)
• 14th & Division (live) (2007)
• Anders Parker (2006)
• The Wounded Astronaut (EP) (2005)
• Tell It to the Dust (2004)

Gob Iron (with Jay Farrar)[link]

• Death Songs for the Living (2006)

Varnaline[link]

• Songs in a Northern Key (2001)
• Sweet Life (1998)
• A Shot and a Beer (EP) (1997)
• Varnaline (1997)
• Man of Sin (1996)

Space Needle[link]

• The Moray Eels Eat the Space Needle (1997)
• Recordings 1994-1997 (compilation) (2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anders Parker

• AndersParker.com, the official website
• Varnaline.com, an archive from the Varnaline days
• GobIron.net, the official Gob Iron website

This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (January 2012)

Jim James
Background information
Birth name	James Olliges, Jr.
Also known as	Yim Yames
Born	(1978-04-27) April 27, 1978 (age 34)
Origin	Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Genres	Psychedelic rock, Indie rock, Jam rock
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, Omnichord
Years active	1992–present
Associated acts	My Morning Jacket, M. Ward, Bright Eyes, VHS or Beta, The Decemberists, Mont de Sundua, Hotel Roy, Monsters of Folk
Notable instruments
Gibson Flying V, Gibson ES-335.

James performing in 2007.

James singing in 2008.

James Edward Olliges Jr. (born April 27, 1978), professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames,^[1] is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Louisville, Kentucky-based rock band My Morning Jacket.