| Kicking Mule Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Concord Music Group, Ace Records (UK) (UK) |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Founder | Stefan Grossman, ED Denson |
| Status | Defunct |
| Distributor(s) | Concord Records |
| Genre | Country blues, Fingerstyle guitar, Old-time, Bluegrass |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Beverly Hills, California |
Kicking Mule Records was an independent American record label founded in 1972 by Stefan Grossman and Eugene "ED" Denson. Denson was previously a co-owner of Takoma Records. The company's title comes from the country blues sexual two-timing allegory "there's another mule kicking in your stall". During the 1970s the company specialized in solo fingerpicking guitar LPs. The artists who recorded include Grossman, Reverend Gary Davis, Duck Baker, John Renbourn, Bob Brozman, Dale Miller, Davey Graham, Woody Mann, Chris Proctor, Tom Ball and Peter Finger. In the 1980s Denson took over solo control and branched out to include many dulcimer releases, as well as recordings by Charlie Musselwhite and Michael Bloomfield. In the early 1990s Fantasy Records bought both Takoma and Kicking Mule from Denson and soon began to re-release selected LPs on CD. In 2004 all of Fantasy's labels were purchased by Concord Records, which was renamed the Concord Music Group. A few of the Kicking Mule titles were retained by Grossman and have been reissued on Shanachie Records.
Currently, Kicking Mule is handled by Ace Records (UK)[1]