ATLANTA, GA – Landslide Records is proud and excited to announce an October 29 release date for LANDSLIDE RECORDS, 40TH ANNIVERSARY, a double-CD package commemorating its 40th year in business. The album features many of the notable recording artists who have appeared on the label over the years, including The Derek Trucks Band, Widespread Panic, Col. Bruce Hampton, The Brains, Tinsley Ellis, Sean Costello and Webb Wilder. The specially-priced album, consisting of 33 tracks and over two hours of music from its catalog, is an eclectic mix of Southern Roots, Blues, Jazz and Rockabilly genres that will also appear in all digital formats.
“‘You should start a label, man,’ said the beyond-classifiable Atlanta musician Bruce Hampton (then known as the city’s ‘only living art object,’ but not yet a ‘Colonel’) in 1981 during one of our many discussions about music,” Landslide Records founder and president Michael Rothschild recalls. “Hampton was coaxing me into producing the other-worldly material he’d been creating with his musical partner, the terrific multi-instrumentalist Billy McPherson, who were known professionally as The Late Bronze Age (LBA). I’d seen some of their shows, which were fun, but the songs, though rhythmically catchy, contained impenetrable and wholly non-commercial lyrics. ‘The annexed vortex tranquiled an address thief’s grief’ and ‘merged moons perpetuated a resurgence of guesswork’ were lines obviously not destined for the Billboard pop charts. Nevertheless, making a record with these talented characters promised to be an entertaining sideline from my corporate job. Hampton also assured me that consequently ‘we would all be riding around in limousines.’ Even if the truth fell short of his assessment, it was the beginning of Landslide Records.”
Founded in Atlanta in 1981, the label’s first release was Outside Looking Out by The Late Bronze Age. The album was received well critically and, along with early records by percussionist David Earle Johnson (with jazz guitarist John Abercrombie and pianist Dan Wall) and reed master Paul McCandless, the company was able to establish offices in downtown Atlanta and set up credible independent national distribution. Early on, Landslide released debut albums from Webb Wilder and The Beatnecks, Widespread Panic, Cigar Store Indians, the Lost Continentals and The Derek Trucks Band. It has since focused on a wide array of roots-oriented Southern-based recording artists, including its latest release, Alafia Moon, by Tampa blues-rocker Damon Fowler.
“Outside Looking Out garnered some excellent reviews, but despite a rave by Robert Palmer in the Sunday New York Times’ Arts and Leisure section, the album sold maybe two records in every state – a total stiff,” Rothschild remembers. “Yet, right off the bat we were deluged with demo submissions from aspiring artists across the country, all of whom apparently thought that if we’d released The Late Bronze Age, we’d release anything. Moving forward, Hampton helped point the label towards a jazz-based roster with friends like David Earle Johnson, joined by John Abercrombie and Paul McCandless. In 1983, Tinsley Ellis and his hardworking blues band, The Heartfixers featuring Chicago Bob Nelson, came on board, and along with The Brains, new wavers led by an innovative singer/keyboardist/songwriter named Tom Gray, opened up fresh genres for us to pursue. We are proud to have since released debut albums from Webb Wilder, Widespread Panic and The Derek Trucks Band, and to continue on at 40 years to market an abundance of high quality, roots-oriented Southern artists. I feel privileged to have been able to work with so many highly-talented musicians and producers, several of whom have become close friends over the years. It’s been a great ride so far. We’ve coped with all the music business changes along the way…from vinyl records to cassettes to compact discs, to digital downloads and streaming, all of which presented new challenges. Currently, we look forward to moving ahead with a new slate of releases scheduled for 2022.”
LANDSLIDE RECORDS, 40TH ANNIVERSARY’s colorful package was designed by the company’s longtime art director, Atlanta’s J. Flournoy Holmes, who has designed most of its album covers since the beginning.
LANDSLIDE RECORDS, 40TH ANNIVERSARY will be available at retail accounts, online, and through www.landsliderecords.com
Landslide Records 40th Anniversary Track Listing and Credits
DISC A
DISC B
1. DAVID EARLE JOHNSON w/John Abercrombie & Dan Wall – Route Two (Johnson) Frozen Inca Music, BMI
2. THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND – Mr. PC (Coltrane) Jowcol Music, BMI
3. WIDESPREAD PANIC -Travelin’ Light (Cale) ATV Music, BMI
4. COL. BRUCE HAMPTON & THE LATE BRONZE AGE – King Greed (Hampton-McPherson) Three Bronson Bark Music, BMI
5 THE BRAINS – Dancing Under Streetlights (Gray) Gray Matter Music, BMI
6. MIKE MATTISON – Midnight In Harlem (Mattison-Trucks) Thumb Plus Music ASCAP/Younkin Music, BMI
7. GARY BENNETT – Human Condition (Bennett) Speelyai Creek Songs, BMI
8. BLUEGROUND UNDERGRASS – Clock Goes On (Mosier) Frozen Inca Music, BMI
9. STEAM DONKEYS – Little Honky Tonks (Quigley) Frozen Inca Music, BMI
10. THE LOST CONTINENTALS – Notorious (Lost Continentals) Lost Continentals Music, BMI
11. WEBB WILDER – Hit The Nail On The Head (R. Smith) Fifth Floor Music/WB Music, ASCAP
12. JAN SMITH – Woman Your Guitar (Smith) Honey Bird Music, ASCAP
13. SCRAPOMATIC w/Mike Mattison & Paul Olsen – Night Trains, Distant Whistles (Mattison-Olsen) Thumb Plus Music, ASCAP and Swampfoot Music, ASCAP
14. CURLEW w/George Cartwright, Bill Laswell, Nicky Scopelitis – Panther Burn (Cartwright) Welruc Music, BMI
15. PAUL MCCANDLESS w/David Samuels – The Great Lawn (Traut) Common Tone Music, ASCAP
16. COL. BRUCE HAMPTON & THE LATE BRONZE AGE – Walking With Zambi (Try Hoodah) (Hampton-McPherson) Three Bronson Bark Music, BMI
For a complete list of credits and musicians, please go to https://www.landsliderecords.com/landslide-records-40-years/
Compilation produced by Michael Rothschild; Compilation mastering by Stephen Mason, Two PM Junction Studios, Fernandina Beach, FL
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