Search - Various Artists :: Paramount Old Time Recordings

Paramount discs are perhaps the most sought-after by collectors of 78 rpm records. One reason for their collectability is the admirable 12000 series that provided some of the finest blues recordings ever made ? most notably by such great names as Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Ma Rainey and many others. In addition, the company recorded a number of jazz luminaries: Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Johnny Dodds and Fletcher Henderson. The company also recorded ?rural? performances of hillbilly or old time music (OTM) - an area rather neglected when it comes to re-issues. To be fair, there was a fine LP issued on the J.E.M.F. label in the 1970s, devoted to OTM artists who cut sides for Paramount, and a number of tracks on anthologies, but this is perhaps the first time a more in-depth collection or assessment has appeared. Courtesy of Joe Bussard, the man who has preserved so much classic American roots music, JSP is proud to present 100 tracks of Paramount old time music. There is no denying the importance of some of the musicians and singers featured on this anthology. Some may have been overlooked because interested parties have concentrated on the works of the better-known musicians. It is pleasing to be able to give a ?new? audience a taste of such underrated names like Emry Arthur, Frank Welling & John Mc Ghee and Hugh Gibbs?s String Band. The label was established by the Wisconsin Chair Company, which by 1914, among other things, was manufacturing the playback mechanisms for phonographs. Four years later the company decided to share in the money being made by record companies by establishing their own - the New York Recording Laboratories. Material was first issued on the Puritan label, Paramount?s predecessor. Evidently the idea of the Paramount label was that the company could give away discs when a phonograph was sold. The label?s most enduring success was in the recording of black artists/artistes from 1922 until 1932. The company first seems to have recorded white country musicians in 1924. The results were issued on the 33000 series, which continued until 1926. Early the following year, the company replaced the 33000 series with the 3000 series which was designated solely for ?Olde Time Tunes?. This series appears ran until late 1932, by which time the label as a whole was foundering.