Ten Acts Who Belong in the Country Hall of Fame: Syd Nathan (#3)

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My third active "top ten" list isn't a look at any particular group's ten favorite songs of mine, but rather my favorite music (country) and the glaring omissions from its hall of fame. Moving into the top three, these are beyond glaring omissions -- they're embarrassments to the Country Music Association for not being included. #3: Syd Nathan Syd Nathan never sang a note in country music history. So, who is he? And why's he ranked so highly above so many other singers? That's easy: Syd Nathan invented the independent record label, and without him a lot of indie artists today wouldn't have anywhere to go. Here's your history lesson: in 1943, there were "the big four" record labels (RCA [Victor in those days], Columbia, Capitol, and Decca). There were plenty of smaller labels but they had nothing on these big labels. In order for someone to have a big hit they had to be on one of these big labels. Also, in 1943, country music (then still called "hillbilly music") wasn't looked at too favorably. The labels begrudgingly had hillbilly acts on their record labels (notably, Roy Acuff on Columbia, the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers on Victor); however, the publishing companies wanted no part of them. Roy Acuff (fourth Country Music Hall of Fame inductee) and Fred Rose (second inductee) founded a publishing company, Acuff-Rose, for that very reason: to give the country music songwriters a place to have their music published. All of that doesn't mean that country music wasn't popular. Quite the contrary, it was. The Carters and Rodgers were superstars in a Depression-ravaged nation in the 30s. The outbreak of World War II served to make it even more popular, when soldiers took their music with them as they went overseas (not to mention countless country singers who fought in the war themselves!). In Cincinnati, Ohio, a musical hotbed if ever there was one, a record store owner by the name of Sydney Nathan noticed that he couldn't keep "hillbilly" records in stock. It inspired him to start a record label. He named it King. It changed country music forever as the nation's first all-"hillbilly" record label. Starting with "The Sheppard Brothers" (a pseudonym for Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis, who were contracted to WLW radio and, as such, forbidden to make recordings) and the song "The Steppin' Out Kind," King Records put country music into a light it had never seen. While the other labels had pop, jazz, and "high-brow" music to promote, leaving country as the "ugly stepchild" (no matter how well it sold), King Records had one genre, and one genre only. And the roster? Grandpa Jones, Merle Travis, the Delmore Brothers, Homer & Jethro, Bill Carlisle, Pee Wee King, and Minnie Pearl are all Hall of Famers; and Cowboy Copas, Moon Mullican, and Al Dexter should be. Nathan had everything at his disposal: a recording studio (a marker in front of the old Herzog Studios in downtown Cincinnati points out that it's the only building standing where Hank Williams recorded), a pressing plant, and distribution. On top of that, he had one of the most powerful radio stations in America, WLW, from which to draw talent, both musical (most of the aforementioned artists were WLW stars, along with others like Chet Atkins and Rosemary Clooney) and technical (the "Herzog" of Herzog Studios was Earl Herzog, a WLW engineer who toyed with recording equipment in his spare time). From this roster some of the most classic, iconic songs in country history came: "Blues, Stay Away From Me" by the Delmore Brothers, the first recording of "Tennessee Waltz" by Cowboy Copas, "Mountain Dew" by Grandpa Jones, and "Sunny Side of the Mountain" by Hawkshaw Hawkins are but a few of the hits from King. With a sizable African-American population in Cincinnati (not to mention that King boasted the distinction of having the first African-American executive in a Caucasian-owned business in Dr. Henry Glover), Nathan launched a second label, "Queen" Records. Dealing solely in what were called "race records" at that time, Nathan built a roster that included James Brown's earliest recordings. Because of the link to James Brown, Hank Ballard, and other soul artists, Syd Nathan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Seymour Stein was so heavily influenced by King Records that he named his record label Sire in honor. In the mid-50s Nathan began signing bluegrass acts such as Reno & Smiley and the Stanley Brothers. Those contributions landed him in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2006. Neither the work in rock and roll or bluegrass is even a FRACTION of Syd Nathan's contributions to country music. I say this every third year, when it's time for the "non-performer" category to select an inductee for the Country Music Hall of Fame: the CMA really needs to wipe the egg off its face and induct Syd Nathan. Sydney Nathan Born: April 27, 1904, Cincinnati, Ohio Died: March 5, 1968, Miami, Florida (heart attack) Claim to fame: Record company executive and pioneer Best work: "Blues, Stay Away From Me" (Delmore Brothers) "Freight Train Boogie" (Delmore Brothers) "Gone With the Wind This Morning" (Wayne Raney) "I'm Using My Bible For a Road Map" (Reno & Smiley) "Three Strikes and You're Out" (Cowboy Copas) Here's a great King recording, the highly influential (listen to the elements of rock and rap) "Freight Train Boogie" by the Delmore Brothers, featuring what is reported to be the first "boogie woogie" guitar break ever recorded: