Don Kent is a collector of blues and bluegrass recordings, a founder and owner of record labels (such as Mamlish Records[1], Country Turtle Records, Flying Crow Records), and a much sought-after writer of liner notes not only on his own label's issues but also on others', such as Yazoo Records. Many of the blues reissue albums of the 1960s and 1970s use 78 rpm records out of his large collection.[2][3][4]
In the 1960s he was member of the so-called New York "Blues Mafia", a group of blues enthusiasts, whose other members were Steve Calt (writer of liner notes and books), Samuel Charters (RBF Records), Lawrence 'Larry' Cohn (CBS/Epic, Columbia/Sony Records), John Fahey (aka 'Blind Joe Death', Takoma Records), Stefan Grossman (aka 'Kid Future', Kicking Mule Records), Tom Hoskins (aka 'Fang', who 'rediscovered' Mississippi John Hurt), Bernie Klatzko (Herwin Records), Jim McKune, Nick Perls (Yazoo and Blue Goose Records), Phil Spiro (who - along with Nick Perls and Dick Waterman - 'rediscovered' Eddie 'Son' House) and Pete Whelan (Origin Jazz Library).