Rounder Records began in 1970 as a collective enterprise by three college friends, Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy and Bill Nowlin, passionate music-lovers all, to record, preserve and pioneer the development of what later came to be called roots music and its contemporary offshoots. Artists from J. D. Crowe, Tony Rice and Norman Blake to Alison Krauss, as well as the late Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, Si Kahn, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Nanci Griffith, the late Bill Morrissey and many thousands of others have made Rounder their label home at various times over the decades. Acquired a few years ago by the Concord Music Group, the largest independent label and music catalog company in the world, Rounder continues its own independent musical journey within that wider context. The vast Rounder catalog includes Appalachian music, bluegrass, acoustic music, blues from New Orleans and Memphis, singer/songwriters and alternative music.
80 years young Alice Gerrard, nominated for a 2015 Grammy™, is known as a champion of Appalachian old-time music, she is probably best known for her collaboration with Hazel Dickens in the ‘60s and ‘70s with two albums released by Rounder. Gerrard has appeared on more than 20 recordings, is a tireless advocate of traditional music and has won the respect and many honors of the roots and acoustic music community over the years.
Si Kahn is known as a songwriter, activist and organizer. His 50-year body of work incorporates a musical history of the region: from the Southern Civil Rights Movement, to organizing for unions and workers’ rights in Appalachian coal camps and mill towns, to writing serious and humorous songs, musicals and books about family, community, love, work and freedom. Kahn has worked hard to help preserve and advocate for the region’s culture and history, and has recently added to his passionate causes protecting Alaska’s magnificent Bristol Bay forever by working with other musicians to help stop the proposed Pebble Mine.
To register for the SERFA Conference May 13-17 in Black Mountain, NC, apply for official showcases and for more information, please go the SERFA website: serfa.org. SERFA is a region of the Folk Alliance International, a 501(c)3 federal charity based in Kansas City, MO. FAI holds an Annual Conference and Music Camp each February. There are four other North American regional organizations of FAI: NERFA--the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance; FARM--Folk Alliance Regional Midwest; SWRFA--Southwest Regional Folk Alliance; FAR WEST--Folk Alliance Regional West (Coast). These regions include Canadian and Mexican members. Additionally FAI has many international members, and independent networks in Europe and Australia. Please go to folkalliance.org to become a member or for information on these other regional conferences.
