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2. ROCK IT
- University Press of Mississippi
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24 2 ROCK IT The immediate success enjoyed by Starday was rare for an independent label, especially one devoted entirely to country music. At the onset of World War II, the American Federation of Musicians declared a nationwide recording ban, claiming that jukeboxes and radio airplay cut into a musician’s potential salary and that the recording companies should contribute to a fund to pay unemployed musicians. The ban began on August 1, 1942, and carried into November 1944, when Columbia and Victor reached an agreement with the musician’s union (Decca struck their deal with the AFM in September 1943). Although the recording ban ended, the recording industry’s production remained limited throughout the war. The use of shellac, the brittle material used in the making of both phonograph records and bombshells, was initially frozen by the United States government but was later made available in limited quantities. In preparation of the ban, major labels had been warned to stock up on their shellac supplies. In an attempt to maximize profit, the more popular big band and pop catalogs comprised the majority of releases, drastically reducing both the country and “race” records. When the ban was lifted, numerous independent labels formed, eager to cash in on the surplus of unrecorded talent. In addition, several independent studios and pressing plants were popping up as well, thus making the record business far more accessible to average businessmen than it had been prior to 1941. According to Pierce, most of the new labels primarily focused on the more lucrative rhythm and blues market, while the country and western musicians remained a largely ignored minority. As Pierce recalls, “There was just a much bigger market [in R&B] than in country . Just think, in those days the rhythm and blues businesses are all independents . Majors didn’t do much with it. You had Imperial. You had Modern. You had Specialty. You had Atlantic. You had Chess. Those guys are selling tons of records, way more than the country music buyer. Five to one. So it sustained about ten successful independent labels. But 4 Star and Starday were about the only ones that were country.” ROCK IT 25 Though there were other successful independents recording country music, most of them relied heavily on rhythm and blues as well. Sam Phillips’s Sun Records started just prior to Starday and quickly scored hits in the rhythm and blues market, yet it took over three years before the Sun name would appear on any Billboard country charts. Even Syd Nathan’s King label, which started out primarily as a country label, was by 1954 relying on rhythm and blues tarts by Billy Ward and the Dominoes, the Ink Spots, and others. Starday chose to be different from the others and to release only country material (it should be noted that Pierce’s Hollywood R&B label was operated independently from Starday, with no input or investment from either Daily or Starns), though it still shared one significant commonality with the other successful independents. Like Herb Abramson, who started Atlantic Records, Herman Lubinsky, who started Savoy, Ike and Ben Berman of Apollo, and Pierce’s friend John Dolphin of Recorded In Hollywood, Pappy Daily ran a record store. According to researcher Charlie Gillett, “Most independent record firms started through a combination of accident, coincidence, and opportunism, often by people who owned record shops or a chain of jukeboxes , who saw that the audience wanted certain kinds of music that existing companies didn’t know about or disdained dealing with.”1 Daily’s association with the record store and jukebox business, as well as his admiration for country music, certainly gave him an advantage. Even so, connections and knowledge of the industry will only take someone so far. As Starns proudly proclaimed, “A good recording company is first, good songs are next.” Starday already had “You All Come,” but Starns said “songs.” An even bigger hit lay just around the corner. Pierce recalls: “I was returning from one of my trips across the state of Texas and I stopped at Midland. Red Hayes was there. Red had done a lot of the fiddle work on the recordings that we made in Houston. He said, ‘I have a song that I want you to hear.’ He sang it for me, and it was terrific. It was ‘A Satisfied Mind.’ Red said, ‘You can have the song for Starday, but I want to make the first record on it...