Gennett

Gennett Records was an American record label and record-manufacturing operation established in Richmond, Indiana, in 1917 by the Starr Piano Company. It was named for Harry, Fred, and Clarence Gennett, the brothers who jointly managed the enterprise, and was created to give Starr a record business that could reach beyond the company's piano-store network. Earlier Starr-branded records had appeared by 1915, but the Gennett name became the company's principal identity for a broad catalog of commercial and contract recordings. The label's importance rests less on its scale than on the range and historical significance of the artists it recorded. During the 1920s, Gennett captured early performances by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Duke Ellington, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Big Bill Broonzy, Georgia Tom Dorsey, Gene Autry, Vernon Dalhart, and many other musicians. Its catalog covered jazz, blues, old-time and hillbilly music, gospel, popular song, classical music, ethnic music, spoken-word material, and sound effects. Gennett's Richmond facility was unusual for its time. Rather than concentrating all recording activity in New York, Starr operated a substantial studio and pressing plant beside its piano works along the Whitewater River. The location enabled the company to attract performers from the Midwest, the South, and Chicago, including artists who were often neglected by the largest urban record companies. Recording also took place at Gennett's Manhattan studio, in Starr stores, in temporary regional studios, and with portable equipment. This decentralized approach helped preserve local traditions, especially Kentucky old-time music, Southern blues, immigrant folk repertories, and African-American religious and popular performance. The company issued several related labels. Gennett was the principal imprint, while Starr, Champion, Superior, and Van Speaking served different parts of the catalog and market. Champion, introduced in 1926, was a budget line that frequently reissued material previously released on Gennett. The company also pressed records for outside labels, including records sold through Sears and contract work for labels such as Autograph, Rainbow, Hitch, Our Song, and Vaughn. Performers were sometimes credited under pseudonyms on budget or contract releases, making the historical catalog difficult to reconstruct. Technically, Gennett moved from vertically cut records to lateral recording in 1919. It experimented with electrical recording in 1926 using a General Electric process, but customer complaints about record wear led to a suspension of that system. The label resumed electrical recording in 1927 after adopting the RCA Photophone process and improving its record material. These technical transitions, combined with the limitations of acoustic recording, produced a catalog whose sound quality varies considerably but whose documentary value is exceptionally high. The Great Depression sharply reduced Gennett's recording and manufacturing activity. The company ended most operations in 1934, retaining Champion for a time and producing sound-effects records for radio stations and filmmakers. In 1935, Starr sold portions of the Gennett catalog and the Gennett and Champion trademarks to Decca Records, which attempted a limited revival from 1935 to 1937. The Richmond plant continued contract pressing under Starr and Harry Gennett, including work connected with Decca and independent labels. Wartime shellac rationing further altered the business, and Gennett's remaining special-purpose production gradually faded by approximately 1947 or 1948. The historic plant later passed through Decca and Mercury ownership before its eventual closure as a Mercury facility in 1969. Gennett is now chiefly remembered as a historical recording archive and as an important physical site in the development of recorded American music. The Starr-Gennett Foundation established a Walk of Fame in Richmond in 2007, honoring artists associated with the label and its recording legacy. The imprint is defunct as an operating label, but its recordings continue to circulate through reissues, archival research, and cultural-history projects.

Gennett Records grew out of the Starr Piano Company's effort to enter the phonograph-record business. Starr-branded records were being produced by 1915, and in 1917 the company introduced the Gennett label, named after three Gennett brothers who managed the enterprise. The new identity was intended to separate the record operation from Starr's piano retailing and manufacturing business while supporting wider distribution. Initial pressings were outsourced, but by October 1917 Starr had a large recording and manufacturing complex at Starr Valley in Richmond, Indiana. The site included a six-story phonograph and record-pressing facility beside the Whitewater River. Gennett first maintained a studio in Manhattan, but in 1921 it opened a Richmond studio under Ezra C. A. Wickemeyer. The Richmond room became the center of production, allowing the label to record Midwestern and Southern performers without requiring every artist to travel to New York. Temporary facilities and portable equipment were also used in Cincinnati, Birmingham, St. Paul, Chicago, and other locations. The label initially used vertical, or hill-and-dale, recording. In April 1919 it changed to lateral recording, the format that became standard across the industry. Gennett experimented with electrical recording in 1926 through a General Electric license, but the process and the hardness of the company's record material caused serious wear complaints when played on older phonographs. After suspending the experiment, the company adopted the RCA Photophone process in 1927 and introduced improved pressings marketed with the New Electrobeam designation. Gennett's central historical contribution was its unusually inclusive and geographically broad catalog. Its sessions included major early jazz figures such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. The label also recorded blues performers including Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Big Bill Broonzy, Scrapper Blackwell, and Jaybird Coleman; country and old-time performers including Gene Autry, Vernon Dalhart, Ernest Stoneman, Bradley Kincaid, and Fiddlin' Doc Roberts; and gospel and religious artists including Thomas A. Dorsey and Homer Rodeheaver. Classical ensembles, immigrant groups, Hawaiian performers, Mexican musicians, marimba ensembles, and spoken-word performers were also represented. The company used talent scouts and regional contacts to build this catalog. Dennis Taylor and Fiddlin' Doc Roberts brought many Kentucky performers to Richmond between 1925 and 1931. Chicago-based artists were sometimes sent to Indiana by Fred Wiggins, a Starr Piano store manager and talent scout. Gennett's location also meant that it recorded Black artists and some racially integrated sessions at a time when mainstream labels frequently marginalized such performers. This achievement existed alongside the company's participation in the era's racist commercial economy and local environment. One of the most troubling aspects of the business was Gennett's pressing of privately commissioned Ku Klux Klan records during the 1920s. These red-label records, bearing Klan imagery and slogans, were not generally listed in public catalogs and were sent to Klan headquarters after private payment. The company also recorded speeches by D. C. Stephenson. The existence of these pressings contrasts sharply with Gennett's important documentation of African-American and interracial music; the available account indicates that the Gennett family was not itself involved in Richmond's Klan organization, but the company nevertheless supplied manufacturing services to it. By the late 1920s, Gennett was producing more than 25 labels or label lines and had made more than 16,000 masters by the end of the decade. In 1926, Champion was introduced as a budget imprint, frequently reissuing Gennett material and sometimes using pseudonyms for performers. The company also undertook contract pressing for independent labels and mail-order businesses. Its activities extended beyond music: William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold speech was recorded in Richmond, and later Gennett sound-effects recordings were marketed to radio stations and filmmakers. The Depression weakened the company severely. Recording and production were reduced, and most Gennett operations ended in 1934, although Champion survived briefly and sound-effects records continued. In 1935 Starr sold selected masters and the Gennett and Champion trademarks to Decca. Jack Kapp attempted to revive the names for inexpensive jazz, blues, and old-time releases through 1937, but the effort achieved limited commercial success. The Richmond plant remained active as a contract pressing facility under Starr and Harry Gennett. It pressed records for Decca and independent concerns, but Decca's acquisition of its own Newaygo plant reduced the facility's role after 1938. During the Second World War, shellac rationing disrupted the industry. Joe Davis acquired Gennett's shellac allocation, using part of it for his own labels and selling part to Capitol Records. Gennett continued making declining quantities of special-purpose records until approximately 1947 or 1948. The former plant later passed to Brunswick and then Mercury; Mercury operated it until 1969. The label's legacy was revived institutionally by the Starr-Gennett Foundation, which opened a Walk of Fame near the former studio site in 2007. Its inductees include Armstrong, Beiderbecke, Morton, Carmichael, Autry, Broonzy, King Oliver, and many other artists whose early recordings helped define twentieth-century American music.

• 2007

  Starr-Gennett Walk of Fame launched

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  The Starr-Gennett Foundation began placing artist honors near the former Richmond studio site.

• 1942

  Wartime shellac rationing affected production

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  The War Production Board restricted shellac usage, and Joe Davis acquired Gennett's allocation.

• 1935

  Decca acquired catalog assets and trademarks

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Starr sold some Gennett masters and the Gennett and Champion trademarks to Decca, which attempted a limited revival.

• 1934

  Regular label activity halted

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  The Depression forced Gennett to end most recording and production, leaving limited Champion and sound-effects activity.

• 1927

  RCA Photophone electrical process adopted

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  After abandoning an unsatisfactory General Electric process, Gennett resumed electrical recording with RCA technology and improved record material.

• 1926

  Champion Records introduced

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Fred Gennett established Champion as a budget line for previously issued material and related releases.

• 1924

  Louis Armstrong recorded for Gennett

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Armstrong appeared on Richmond sessions with the Red Onion Jazz Babies, among the label's landmark jazz recordings.

• 1921

  Richmond studio opened

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  A second studio began operating at the Starr piano complex, making Richmond the main production center.

• 1919

  Transition to lateral recording

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Gennett changed from vertically cut records to the lateral groove system in April.

• 1917

  Gennett label founded

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Starr Piano Company established Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, naming the label after the Gennett brothers who managed it.

• 1915

  Early Starr record issues

  [1]Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  The Starr Piano Company was producing records under Starr-branded identities before the Gennett label was introduced.

An independent, broadly distributed historical recording label emphasizing genres and regional performers underserved by the dominant New York-centered record companies.

• Primary record label · 1917

  Gennett Records

  The main Gennett imprint issued a wide catalog of jazz, blues, country, gospel, popular, classical, ethnic, spoken-word, and sound-effects records. Its 1920s sessions included early work by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Gene Autry.

• Budget record label · 1926

  Champion Records

  Introduced in 1926, Champion offered inexpensive releases, often reusing material from the Gennett catalog. Some records used pseudonyms for established performers, making the line both commercially flexible and historically complex.

• Record manufacturing service

  Gennett contract pressings

  The Starr plant pressed records for numerous outside labels and mail-order businesses, including work associated with Autograph, Rainbow, Hitch, Our Song, Vaughn, Sears, Joe Davis, Beacon, and other concerns. These services remained important after regular Gennett label production declined.

• Special-purpose recordings

  Gennett sound-effects records

  During the 1930s and later, Gennett produced recordings of sound effects for radio stations and filmmakers, along with specialized material such as skating-rink sounds and church-tower chimes.

• 1920

  Private Ku Klux Klan pressings

  Gennett pressed privately commissioned Klan records during the 1920s, including politicized hymns, custom songs, and speeches by D. C. Stephenson. The records were not generally included in public catalogs and were shipped to Klan headquarters after payment. The business relationship remains a serious contradiction to Gennett's important recordings of African-American artists and integrated musical groups.

  Source

Read more

• 1942

  Transferred wartime shellac allocationStrategy

  Background

  Wartime restrictions reduced the amount of shellac available to record manufacturers and forced new labels to obtain supplies through established companies.

  Action taken

  Joe Davis acquired Gennett's shellac allocation, using some of it for his own labels and selling some to Capitol Records.

  Aftermath

  Harry Gennett intended to use proceeds to modernize the plant after the war, but the cited historical account gives no indication that the modernization occurred.

  Source

• 1935

  Sold selected assets and trademarks to DeccaM&A

  Background

  The Depression had reduced Gennett's regular activity, while Decca wanted established jazz, blues, and old-time material for its developing catalog.

  Action taken

  Starr sold some Gennett masters and the Gennett and Champion trademarks to Decca Records.

  Aftermath

  Decca attempted to revive both names from 1935 to 1937, but the revival had limited success; the Richmond plant continued mainly as a contract facility.

  Source

• 1927

  Resumed electrical recording with RCA technologyStrategy

  Background

  An earlier General Electric electrical-recording experiment produced wear problems when played on older phonographs.

  Action taken

  Gennett adopted the RCA Photophone process and introduced an improved record compound marketed through its New Electrobeam labeling.

  Aftermath

  The company was able to continue electrical recording with records better suited to the demands of the new process.

  Source

• 1926

  Created Champion as a budget imprintStrategy

  Background

  Gennett needed an inexpensive way to extend the commercial life of recordings already present in its catalog.

  Action taken

  Fred Gennett launched Champion to sell budget releases, frequently using reissues and performer pseudonyms.

  Aftermath

  Champion became the principal surviving label activity when the Depression curtailed the wider Gennett operation.

  Source

• 1919

  Adopted lateral recordingStrategy

  Background

  The company began with vertically cut records but faced an industry increasingly organized around lateral groove technology.

  Action taken

  Gennett changed its recording and mastering approach to lateral cutting in April 1919.

  Aftermath

  The change aligned the label with the dominant technical format used by competing record companies and phonographs.

  Source

1. 1Gennett Recordsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Starr-Gennett Foundationstarrgennett.org