In the wake of Lonesome Day Records' most prolific year in its 12-year history, the Booneville, Kentucky-based indie label - home to bluegrass greats Richard Bennett and Jeff Parker as well as roots rockers Girls Guns and Glory and Sarah Borges - has announced the launch of its spin off label, Dry Lightning Records.
The new imprint, which will focus on Americana genre artists, has signed a North American distribution deal with RED Distribution, and has also partnered with The Holland Group to strategize and oversee both label's releases. Lonesome Day Records will continue to remain home to their great roster of bluegrass talent.
"I am very excited about the launch of Dry Lightning Records and the future of Lonesome Day Records. The new label is going to afford us targeted marketing opportunities that we have never had before. I am also looking forward to working with Billy Holland and his company as they help Dry Lightning and Lonesome Day increase the level of services that each label can offer their respective artists," says Dry Lightning Records and Lonesome Day Records owner Randall Deaton.
"Everyone at The Holland Group is thrilled to be a part of this exciting new endeavor with Lonesome Day and Dry Lightning Records. We look forward to working alongside Randall and his very talented roster as we work towards maximizing their potential in the marketplace," says The Holland Group's Billy Holland.
Lonesome Day Records kicked off 2014 with a bang with the first quarter release of Boston Music Awards winners Girls Guns and Glory's new album, Good Luck, which has received both critical and industry acclaim. The album spent weeks in the Top 25 of the Americana Airplay Chart and reached No. 14 on the American Airplay Chart and No. 7 on the Roots Music Report. Good Luck also received the big thumbs up from such music industry tastemakers as No Depression magazine, which declared, "If there is any justice, 'Good Luck' will transform the winners of six Boston Music Awards into a national act which might mean you get to see them live in a city near you!"
Girls Guns and Glory will move over to Dry Lightning Records, kicking off the label in 2015 with a Hank Williams live tribute album recorded during a performance of their very popular New Year's Eve Hank Williams tribute show in Cambridge, MA. Also moving over to the imprint will be fellow Lonesome Day Records alum rocker Sarah Borges, who released her album Radio Sweetheart this year. It is her first solo record since parting ways with her former band, Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles. Borges, a frequent touring mate of Girls Guns and Glory, scored major national television exposure when her song, "I'll Show You How," was prominently featured in the series premiere of the new NBC show, "The Night Shift," in May.
This year also saw the release of bluegrass veteran Richard Bennett's album, In the Wind Somewhere, featuring a standout line-up of musicians, including Mark Schatz (Nickel Creek,
Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt), IMBA Mandolin Player of the Year Adam Steffey, celebrated fiddler Ron Stewart, and Sean Lane of the Grammy-nominated band Blue Highway on tenor vocals. The record was recorded at the Lonesome Day Studio Booneville, Kentucky, and mixed by Grammy Award winning engineer Brandon Bell.
In addition to Bennett remaining on Lonesome Day Records, label fixture Jeff Parker along with fresh signings Jeff Clair and the new bad boys of bluegrass Shotgun Holler will be included on the bluegrass-focused artist roster. Deaton will be busy setting up this label for an equally hectic 2015. "Jeff is on a mission to make bluegrass music with lyrical content that is more relevant to society today than what is found in a lot of bluegrass music," says Deaton of Clair's upcoming new release.
And, Shotgun Holler is a band willing to tackle subject matter that is often shied away from in bluegrass music. Jeff Clair is working on his new record with producer Gary Nichols (The Steeldrivers) while Shotgun Holler is set to go back in the studio to complete their new record in October with Grammy nominated musician Jim Van Cleve as producer.
Also slated for the first quarter of 2015 for Dry Lightning Records are two other tribute records, including the much-anticipated bluegrass homage record to classic rocker Bob Seger entitled Silver Bullet Bluegrass featuring Josh Shilling (Mountain Heart), Tim Shelton, Gary Nichols, Jeff Parker, Keith Garrett (The Boxcars), Ward Hayden (Girls Guns and Glory), Bo Bice (American Idol/Blood Sweat & Tears), and others. "We're also prepping Tim Shelton's honoring of Jackson Browne simply entitled Jackson. It's going to be another busy year," says Deaton.
| About Lonesome Day Records: Randall Deaton founded Lonesome Day Records in 2002 with a simple plan: Make real honest bluegrass music that speaks to his soul. Well, mission accomplished. Over the past decade, the Booneville, Kentucky-based label has released some of the best bluegrass, alt-country, and roots records from artists including Blue Moon Rising, Jeff Parker, and Ralph Stanley II, Richard Bennett, Girls Guns and Glory, Sarah Borges, Tim Shelton, Fred Eaglesmith, Mountain Heart's Steve Gulley, Darrell Webb, Larry Cordle, and others. Lonesome Day Records currently has two locations: a main office and recording studio in Booneville, KY and a satellite office in Lexington, KY. In 2013, Lexington businessman Jeff Carter, a co-founder of television advertising company Via Media, bought an equity position in the label. | About Dry Lightning Records Dry Lightning Records was established with the goal of giving the non-bluegrass artists of Lonesome Day Records their own home while allowing the Lonesome Day brand to continue to emerge in the bluegrass market where it has already made a mark over the last 12 years. Randall Deaton is looking forward to putting as much passion and energy into Dry Lightning Records as he has Lonesome Day Records since its origin in 2002. Like Lonesome Day Records the inspiration for the name Dry Lightning Records comes from the title of a Bruce Springsteen song. |
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