Paramount Records: The Blues in Wisconsin
Did you know that in the early decades of the 20th century Wisconsin was home to a small record company that made a huge contribution to American music and culture by recording blues performers from Chicago and throughout the American South? Paramount Records was started by the Wisconsin Chair Company, a furniture company based in Port Washington, Wisconsin, to drive sales of their record player consoles.
As chronicled in Paramount's Rise and Fall: A History of the Wisconsin Chair Company and Its Recording Activities by Alex van der Tuuk (Mainspring Press, 2003), Paramount Records introduced Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Skip James, and other blues greats to the world.
Author Sarah Filzen concludes in her 2007 Wisconsin Magazine of History article, "The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records," that:
"Despite all of the company's managerial errors and financial shortcomings, in the span of about ten years Paramount discovered a source of blues performers, tapped into it, developed a national audience of African Americans, and made a permanent contribution to the shaping of modern musical forms. Paramount artists helped give birth not only to the blues, but also to rhythm and blues, rock and roll, gospel, country, dance, hip hop, and rap--all of which transcend racial and geographical boundaries." (p. 127)
Jack White's Third Man Records, in partnership with the Revenant record label, has put out a two-volume survey of Paramount's recording catalog, in deluxe box sets consisting of vinyl LPs, digital audio on flash drives, and accompanying print materials. You can read or listen to this piece from National Public Radio about these box sets and the history they chronicle: "In A Few Fateful Years, One Record Label Blew Open The Blues," Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR, January 31, 2015
Sound interesting? Milwaukee Public Library owns copies of both volumes in our Rarities collection:
Paramount: The Rise & Fall. Vol. One, 1917-1927
Paramount: The Rise and Fall of Paramount. Vol. Two, 1928-1932
If you would like to listen to these recordings, they are available by appointment in the Art, Music, and Recreation department at Central Library for use at the researcher station behind the reference desk. This means that you will need to bring your own computing device that is capable of playing MP3s and has a USB port, as well as headphones. Call 414-286-3071 to request an appointment.
To learn more about Paramount Records, in addition to the sources mentioned above, see:
Luhrssen, David, "Blues in Wisconsin: The Paramount Records Story," Wisconsin Academy Review, Winter 1998-1999. [Click the article title to read full text online or visit Central Library Humanities Dept. to read this article in print.]
Paramount Records Discography, from Mills Music Library at UW-Madison