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Freeman ran County
Records as a sideline while working for the railway post office. In 1965, he started a companion business, County Sales, to provide a mail-order retail outlet for his County Records releases and other hard-to-find titles. This enabled him to quit the railway job and focus on music
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Around the same time, Freeman met
Charles Faurot, an old-time banjo player from Chicago who was also living in New York. Faurot proposed that he make some new recordings of the old-time musicians who were still performing in Virginia and North Carolina. Freeman agreed, and Faurot traveled south to
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290:. In contrast to County's focus on old-time and traditional bluegrass, Sugar Hill would specialize in the more modern and progressive bluegrass genres. In 1980, Freeman bought a pioneering bluegrass record label,
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full-time. Both businesses operated from a single room in his father's printing business on East 37th Street in New York. In 1974 Freeman relocated his family, the record label and the distribution business to
294:, from Dick Freeland, one of the label's founders. Rebel's focus is mainstream bluegrass, somewhere between the traditional sound of County and the progressive sound of Sugar Hill.
172:" because it evoked the rural, regional and local aspects of old-time music. Living in New York, Freeman avidly collected recordings from Southern musicians including old-time,
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collector David
Freeman started the County Records label in 1963 to focus on music from the rural Southeastern United States. He told an interviewer that he selected the name "
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247:(County 757) in 1978. Faurot eventually recorded and produced more than a dozen of County Records' early releases, all numbered in the 700 series to indicate non-reissues.
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genre, although
Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's
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It was announced that County
Records went out of business and permanently shut down on 17 January 2018 after over 50 years of operation.
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278:. In 1977, he started a regional wholesale distribution business for old-time and bluegrass music, Record Depot, in
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artists. His new label's first release was a reissue of old-time music drawn from his personal collection of
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200:(County 501) was released in 1964, and several similar reissues followed within the 500 series.
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make field recordings of 15 artists. The first County
Records release of new music was
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Wolfe, Charles (2004). "Dave
Freeman and County Records". In Thomas Goldsmith (ed.).
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on website of the
International Bluegrass Music Museum (accessed July 15, 2009).
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Hoffman, Frank; Ferstler, Howard, eds. (2005). "Country
Records (sic)".
520:"Every County Has Its Own Personality, An Interview With David Freeman"
231:. The album was also the recording debut for fiddle and banjo players
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211:(County 701) in 1965, recorded and produced by Faurot. This
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County
Records founder David Freeman was inducted into the
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239:. Additional Faurot field recordings were released on
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554:"Historic Recordings Tell Clawhammer Banjo History"
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304:International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor
750:Defunct record labels of the United States
141:was a Virginia-based independent American
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639:"County Sales Demise Signals a New Era"
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188:recordings from the 1920s and 1930s by
250:County Records also expanded into the
219:, who had previously been recorded by
209:Banjo: Old Time Banjo and Fiddle Tunes
198:A Collection of Mountain Fiddle Music
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745:Record labels disestablished in 2018
420:Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers
552:Reporter: Paul Brown (2006-03-21).
518:Wyatt, Marshall (August 11, 1999).
730:American independent record labels
606:County Sales going out of business
149:in 1963. The label specialised in
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740:Record labels established in 1963
241:More Clawhammer Banjo (Volume 2)
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530:(2). Durham, NC. Archived from
410:Lilly Brothers & Don Stover
665:Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound
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583:University of Illinois Press
735:Companies based in Virginia
215:included new recordings by
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692:Biography of David Freeman
618:"Virginia County Records"
376:Bill Grant and Delia Bell
262:and the Blue Ridge Boys.
245:Clawhammer Banjo Volume 3
243:(County 717) in 1969 and
118:Charlottesville, Virginia
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84:Record Depot (wholesale)
258:(County 702) featuring
284:Durham, North Carolina
559:All Things Considered
482:List of record labels
194:Leake County Revelers
82:County Sales (retail)
16:American record label
715:County Sales website
671:. pp. 245–246.
585:. pp. 157–164.
579:The Bluegrass Reader
256:Blue Ridge Bluegrass
524:The Old-Time Herald
229:Library of Congress
697:2010-08-14 at the
288:Sugar Hill Records
269:Related businesses
581:. Champaign, IL:
450:Matokie Slaughter
445:Herschel Sizemore
280:Roanoke, Virginia
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107:Country of origin
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260:Larry Richardson
153:and traditional
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123:Official website
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366:Easter Brothers
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321:Clarence Ashley
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310:Notable artists
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252:bluegrass music
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645:on 2018-04-17
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534:on 2016-03-03
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487:Rebel Records
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647:. Retrieved
643:the original
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621:. Retrieved
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536:. Retrieved
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143:record label
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19:Record label
455:Art Stamper
390:Bobby Hicks
336:Robert Byrd
326:Kenny Baker
145:founded by
128:countysales
724:Categories
649:2018-04-17
623:4 February
538:2009-05-21
498:References
361:Kyle Creed
316:John Ashby
237:Kyle Creed
225:Alan Lomax
221:John Lomax
207:Clawhammer
669:CRC Press
470:Wade Ward
331:E.C. Ball
306:in 2002.
217:Wade Ward
174:bluegrass
97:bluegrass
695:Archived
476:See also
286:called
227:for the
213:LP album
151:old-time
115:Location
93:Old-time
178:country
161:History
101:country
69: (
64:Defunct
54:Founder
44: (
39:Founded
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383:&
298:Awards
192:, the
186:78 rpm
170:County
182:blues
89:Genre
673:ISBN
625:2019
587:ISBN
235:and
223:and
180:and
130:.com
110:U.S.
71:2018
67:2018
46:1963
42:1963
564:NPR
726::
562:.
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506:^
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99:,
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681:.
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48:)
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