From Tin Pan Alley to Capitol Nashville

From Tin Pan Alley to Capitol Nashville

By Tom Roland

With its strong penchant for classic songwriting technique, Nashville has been referred to as the modern equivalent of Tin Pan Alley. That makes it fitting that a legendary songwriter who got his start during New York's Tin Pan Alley era had a founding interest in one of Country Music's labels, Capitol Records. Johnny Mercer, whose resume includes "Hooray For Hollywood," "Moon River" and "I'm An Old Cowhand (On The Rio Grande)," had moved from Manhattan to Los Angeles in the 1930s. He discovered a city that was still viewed derisively by Broadway theatre executives and the record industry, which was based entirely on the East Coast.

Mercer and record retailer Glenn Wallichs, who owned the Music City record store in Los Angeles, wanted to establish the first major record company on the coast. They enlisted Paramount Pictures' Buddy DeSylva, who put up $25,000 to start the company, which opened for business on April 8, 1942, as Liberty Records.

It could not have been a worse time. It had been just four months since Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and World War II had led the government to regulate the distribution of shellac, a key component of vinyl records. Plus, the American Federation of Musicians was planning a strike that would prohibit its members from participating in recording sessions.

Mercer's wife, Ginger, persuaded the entrepreneurs to rename the label Capitol, and in short order - despite the odds that were stacked against it - the company began churning out music.

Country was a part of it from the beginning. Silver-screen cowboy Tex Ritter signed a contract on June 1, and 10 days later, he recorded "Jingle! Jangle! Jingle!" in his first Capitol session, produced by Mercer.

Within two years, Mercer handed the A&R reins to drummer Lee Gillette, who further entrenched the label in the Country genre with the help of assistant Cliffie Stone, a future Country Music Hall of Fame member. By the end of the decade, Capitol's roster would include Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hank Thompson, Merle Travis, Jimmy Wakely and Western Tex Williams.

When Gillette shifted to the pop division in 1951, he recruited his former Chicago co-worker Ken Nelson to Hollywood to run the Country A&R department. Nelson maintained that post for the next 25 years, building a solid core of artists in part by mining the wealth of talent in California. Tommy Collins, Ferlin Husky, Jean Shepard and Wynn Stewart were among the artists he signed from the Golden State, in addition to Southern acts Roy Clark, Sonny James and Gene Vincent.

Three of Nelson's signings in particular stood out: Bakersfield stalwarts Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and Los Angeles session guitarist Glen Campbell. With last year's addition of Campbell, all three artists are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame with Nelson. The original founders sold Capitol to the British corporation EMI, which took over the label in 1955. And in April 1956, the firm opened its new Hollywood headquarters, the world's first round office building, at Hollywood and Vine Streets.

Despite Capitol's success on the West Coast, Nashville had become the center of the Country Music business, and Nelson established a Music City office, splitting his time between Tennessee and California.

By the late-1970s, Capitol's influence in the industry had waned. The label still had a major star in Anne Murray and other hitmakers including Mel McDaniel, Juice Newton and Gene Watson, but it didn't regain its luster until April 1984, when Jim Foglesong was hired to run the Nashville office, which had previously sunk from 15 employees to five.

Foglesong was given latitude to turn around Capitol's fortunes, which he did by landing artists Lee Greenwood, Barbara Mandrell, Tanya Tucker, Don Williams and a newcomer named Garth Brooks. Foglesong would earn his own place in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004, but he was not around long enough to experience Brooks' overwhelming success.

Jimmy Bowen replaced Foglesong in December 1989, just as Brooks was emerging as the best-selling artist in the genre's history, a phenomenon that focused national attention on Nashville's best-known export. To provide better separation between the Country division and the company's pop wing, Bowen changed the label name to Liberty and brought artists John Berry, Billy Dean and Suzy Bogguss to the peaks of their careers, also introducing the world, via Brooks, to American music legend, Chris LeDoux.

After Bowen retired and moved to Hawaii, record producer Scott Hendricks took over control of the label on May 1, 1995. He renamed it Capitol Nashville. During his tenure, he introduced hit artists Trace Adkins and Deana Carter, and signed eclectic three-piece band The Ranch, which included guitarist/singer/ songwriter Keith Urban.

By the end of 1997, former beer marketer Pat Quigley was brought on board. Quigley, too, stayed only a short time, succeeded by Mike Dungan, current Capitol Records Nashville President/CEO and CMA Board President.

During the Dungan era, Brooks left Capitol, which has undergone an artistic makeover. Adkins, Dierks Bentley and Urban are now the flagship artists on a roster that includes Luke Bryan, Chris Cagle, Eric Church, Amber Dotson, Jennifer Hanson, The Jenkins, Jamie O'Neal, Ryan Shupe & The RubberBand, Cyndi Thomson and Emily West. The label has signed Haggard and Kenny Rogers, bolstering ties to its Country heritage. Plus, comedy artists Rodney Carrington, Mark Gross, Roy D. Mercer and Tim Wilson are on the label.

Capitol Holdings

» As the American arm of EMI, Capitol's catalog naturally contains significant labels from Country's past. Among them are: Liberty Records, developed in Los Angeles in 1955. Known mostly for pop acts Jan & Dean and Bobby Vee, the company introduced the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, whose music was shifted to United Artists after its parent company, Transamerica, purchased the label in 1968.

» United Artists, a music company set up to market soundtrack material from the UA movie studio, expanded greatly during the 1970s and was bought in '78 by two executives with money borrowed from EMI. When they were unable to pay off the loan a year later, EMI took control of UA, whose biggest Country assets were Crystal Gayle, Rogers and Dottie West. From fall 1980 through 1984, UA became Liberty.

» Imperial Records, started by Lew Chudd in 1947, issued Slim Whitman's hits in the early-1950s and the first albums by Ricky Nelson.

On the Web: www.capitol-nashville.com

April 25, 2006