Melotone Records (US)
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Melotone Records was a United States based record label issuing 78 rpm disc records from 1930 through 1938. In late 1930 Warner/Brunswick Records introduced the Melotone label in the U.S. and Canada as a budget subsidiary.[1]
It then became part of the American Record Corporation collection of labels in 1932.
Melotone issued popular dance tunes of the era (usually a group of studio musicians issued under a variety of pseudonoms, including Ralph Bennett and his Seven Aces (all eleven of 'em), Bob Causer and his Cornellians, Owen Fallon and his Orchestra, Sleepy Hall and his Collegians, Vic Irwin and his Orchestra, Chick Bullock and his Levee Loungers, Vincent Rose and his Orchestra, Paul Small and his Orchestra, etc.), together with a variety of jazz, country music, blues, Mexican music, Cajun music, and Hawaiian music. Artists whose recordings were issued on Melotone include Eddie Cantor, Annette Hanshaw, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Leadbelly, and Blind Boy Fuller.
Audio fidelity is average for the era even though the shellac material wasn't quite as high quality as the more expensive labels (although a mint copy played with a good diamond stylus produces good-for-the-era sound).
Melotone Records are a common Depression cheap priced label, which indicates their popularity. Much of their dance bands and jazz are commonly found; the blues records less so.
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[edit] Notes
- ^ Brunswick and Vocalion. Retrieved on 2006-11-22.