Stackhouse Recording Company

Stackhouse Recording Company



Photo: STACKHOUSE R.I.P.
The Stackhouse, former home of Stackhouse Delta Record Mart, Rooster Blues Records, and Stackhouse Recording Studio (232 Sunflower Avenue, Clarksdale, Mississippi)

Stackhouse Recording Company
c/o BLUESOTERICA ARCHIVES & PRODUCTIONS
Jim O'Neal
3516 Holmes Street
Kansas City MO 64109
(816) 931-0383
E-mail: Stackhouse232@aol.com

New CD Productions & Compilations

Until 2004, CDs produced by BluEsoterica Productions appeared only on the Rooster Blues label (which I co-owned until 1999). Production activities have slowed to a halt at Rooster Blues, but I have plenty of ideas for new albums and plenty of albums in the can that never got released. I had planned for a new label, Stackhouse Recording Company (SRC), to have a retail, mail order, distribution and promotion base in Clarksdale, Mississippi, at the Stackhouse store, which was the headquarters of Rooster Blues Records, Stackhouse Delta Record Mart, and Stackhouse Recording Studio when I lived in Clarksdale from 1988 to 1998 (when I moved to Kansas City).

The store had been open at times in more recent years but it sat inactive for too long and fell victim to the Delta weather (hot summer sun, downpours of rain, high humidity and even the occasional ice storm). The building needs a new roof at minimum and may need to be torn down and replaced altogether. (For all I know, it may be being demolished at this very moment.) I tried in vain to find investors or partners to help keep the business going in Clarksdale, but no one was willing to take the chance, neither the local blues entrepreneurs nor the influx of out-of-town investors and speculators who have been buying up property in downtown Clarksdale. It was with both reluctance and relief that I finally gave up on maintaining a Clarksdale base for the record business, and in October 2005 I sold the building – at a huge loss, compared to what my former partner Patty Johnson and I paid a local realtor for it in 1988 (boy, did they ever see us coming!).

In the meantime, the Stackhouse label did release its first CD, a reissue of the 1983 Rooster Blues LP Keep It To Yourself: Arkansas Blues Vol. 1 -- Solo Performances, in cooperation with the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas, and producer Louis Guida. The CD bears the old Clarksdale address (wishful thinking), but I have actually operated the label out of my house in Kansas City (just as I originally did with Rooster Blues in Chicago). For more details on the CD, see the post on Arkansas Blues Vol. 1. See also the posts on the most recent Stackhouse CDs, Memphis Gold: Prodigal Son and D.C. Bellamy: Give Some Body to Somebody.

CDs are available by mail for $12.98 plus $3.75 postage & handling (USA). Foreign postage: $7.50 (Canada, Europe & South America), $10.00 (Asia & Australia). We accept PayPal, cash, checks, or money orders. (By the way, we also have a stock of old Rooster Blues CDs. See our mail order catalog.)

DISTRIBUTION
Stackhouse CDs are distributed in North America by:

CITY HALL RECORDS
101 Glacier Point, Suite C
San Rafael, CA 94901
PHONE: (415) 457-9080 FAX: (415) 457-0780 www.cityhallrecords.com

Other CDs in the works include:

* Vol. 2 of the Arkansas Blues series, featuring bands recorded in 1976, including Calvin Leavy, Duke Bradley, and Harmonica Slim.

* Several never-released albums recorded at the Stackhouse in Clarksdale (including Monroe Jones, T-Model Ford & Willie Foster, Lonnie Pitchford, and the New Africa String Band).

* Various albums from the Rooster Blues catalog which I once owned and now am licensing back. By agreement with Rob Johnson, who nows owns Rooster Blues, Stackhouse has acquired the rights to release the following CDs which were originally scheduled to be issued on Rooster Blues:

• Foree "Guitar" Wells
• Lane Wilkins
• Willie Foster
• Eddie Rasberry
• Clarksdale, Mississippi: Coahoma The Blues [previously released only on cassette]

Also to come are historical albums from the archives of BluEsoterica Productions, including:

* Gabriel, the Wild Angel of the Blues (1950s-60s)
* St. Louis blues and R&B compilations -- various artists, produced by Gabriel (1950s-60s)
* And possibly some CDs of previously unissued Library of Congress material from Mississippi.

The Delta Cultural Center, the Kentuckiana Blues Society, db promotions, and individual supporters such as former Rooster Blues employee Billy Cochrane (www.vintageknives.com) have helped to sponsor or co-produce several recent and upcoming CDs, and I’m interested in hearing from anyone who’d like to sponsor other CDs or finance new recordings. As noted on the Stackhouse & BluEsoterica Welcome page:

I have a knack for co-founding struggling blues entities, including Living Blues Magazine, Rooster Blues Records, and the Sunflower River Blues Association. I no longer own Rooster Blues, and most folks would say this is a great time NOT to be in the blues record business. On the other hand, with CD sales and work for blues artists in general at a low ebb, the need has never been greater. So, I can't help but take the plunge again with a new record label, Stackhouse Recording Company. There's no money behind this venture, as usual, so new CDs can only be released after enough money has come in from sales of the previous ones. I'll take on an investor or partner if someone wants to take a chance on a good cause, but you can also help out if you're just here to buy records. Visit our online catalog and check out the books, magazines, CDs, LPs, 45s, 78s, and musical memorabilia. I buy and sell soul, R&B, funk, jazz, country, folk, world/ethnic, gospel, soundtrack, and rock 'n' roll records as well as blues.

Inquiries from distributors, retailers, collectors, and potential investors or co-producers are welcome.

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