Received an e-mail a day or two ago, posing a question I cannot answer. So now it's up to you.

"Since you appear to be a guru of all things in the music industry, I wonder if you can help me out. I'm looking for various old records and tapes which I can't find on google or anywhere else I look, no matter what search terms I use. If nobody's selling them, they apparently don't exist. My latest strategy is to track down the record companies that published them. Somebody, somewhere, must own the rights to this stuff, even if the original label has disappeared into the ether. That somebody might be able to give me enough information to find the recording somewhere. Where can I find a list of recording companies and what happened to them?

"At the moment, I'm looking for Roundhouse Records, which was once located in Nashville. They produced two tapes called Great American Train Songs, volume I & II. There are 2 CD's out with the same name, but different songs.

"Also, I'm looking for an LP with "Rockabilly Hits" in the title. It has approximately 14-20 songs on it, one of which is Jungle Rock by Hank Mizell. I don't know the label for this one.

"Rhino Records published a CD called Sun Story (possibly one word) which has songs by various artists.

"Either Revenant or Norton published a 2-CD set by Charlie Feathers called Get With It: Essential Recordings (1954-69).

"These are all rockabilly music."

Any suggestions?

All I could suggest is to go to the copyright website, http://www.copyright.gov/ and do a search (tab on the far left), and try to track down the album(s) they are looking for.
It is also possible that eBay or Amazon might have someone selling what he is looking for.

The record industry has made orphans out of great music of the past, in an idiotic rush to cultivate and exploit people like 50 cent.

Rockabilly was some great music, ala the King of Rock and Roll...Elvis

I tried a search on http://www.songsearch.net , but got an internal sever error...they might be having probs. But they're a good source for old stuff.

This brings up another ethical question. Let's say I just happen to own a copy of Great American Train Songs (which I don't).

Let's further say that the album is out of print and is no longer commercially produced. The record label is vapor.

Would posting music from that album on P2P help or hurt the artists who were included?

I am beginning to wonder if some artists are worth fighting for because of thier lack of support for the consumer against the RIAA crap. Contract or No Contract they need to start speaking up....

I vote for help. I have long seen an analogy between music and food consumption. Everyone has different tastes. When a new food product is introduced, it is common to have someone handing out "samples" to interest you in the product. I can certainly see an artist who hasn't been heard in years, who could have their careers revived by a demand being created after people start finding their music on peer to peer networks.

I like Hellbound Train by Savoy Brown myself .

Sorry for second post...but I want to agree with JamesD2. They better start "representin' " their fans !

I ejoy a good information hunt. Here is what i've managed to find:

Unfortunately i could only find their address same as you: Roundhouse Records P.O. Box 210-315 Nashville TN 37221-0314 (might help someone else find it)

For the Rockabilly Hits, i've found Bear Records which has '20 rockabilly hits' in vinyl format on this page.
http://www.bear-family.de/tabel1/calalog/2002_2/div_-dvd.htm
which is part of http://www.bear-family.de/

Give me time i'll see what else i can find.

is silencethepoet good or what!!!!!!!
Bravo silence....

Is This the one ?

http://music.shoppingsavvy.com/465-Charlie-Feathers---Get-With-It-Essential-Recordings-1954-1969-CD.html

The Sun Story; by Rhino Records, purchasable here: http://www.1website.co.nz/music/search/goods.htm

welp, looks like niterider and i found everything now except for that blasted Roundhouse Records. i found a 'snapshot' page of a forum post about them which gave me their address (at ask.com)... the person who wrote the post offered to copy the cd/record whatever it is and send it to someone else, but alas the post returns a 4oh4. Here is the search string:
http://web.ask.com/web?q=%22If+you're+not+able+to+find+this+CD%22&qsrc=1

i got that slowly through repeated searching of the phrases at the end of the post. It says that they found the CD through TRAIN magazine, maybere there is a place to start.

This is called the sun story,,dont know if its the one or not..


http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1121648&sourceid=1500000000000000034730

(Sorry for repeated posting, don't beat me^.^;;;;

here is the e-mail address of the editor of Trains Magazine. he might be able to get you the information, or at the very least, find someone who can get you the information (their ad department for instance) about the Roundhouse Record album:
editor@train-magazine.com
ok, i'm finished now. g'luck^^;;

It looks like Great American Train Songs and Get With It are in stock at www.gemm.com.

Glad this topic came up. Nick Snow has a used record & vinyl store in LA Museum Square (across from Jim Griffin's office on Wilshire.) I love these guys and they are monster searchers on obscure internet sources. Send Nicky a note with your request for an item

nick@foundmusic.com

I'm not saying he's going to give up his secret list of sources, y'unnerstand--I wish you happy hunting!

Last one i promise!

I just wanted to say 'thanks code^.^:;'
coming from you that's a real awesome compliment^^

Also, if you like obscure rockabilly you can hunt down the titles issued by AVI, who is now out of business. They did comprehensive comps on Billy Lee Riley, Sonny Burgess, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich's Sun recordings and some others. They also did a 3 disc series called Sun Rockabilly. Also check out the Rhino box called Loud Fast & Out Of Control, The Wild Sounds of 50s' Rock - this one is still in print.

when I see something good I point it out. when I see something bad I point it out.

Silence,...you are a very valuable asset to any movement or task you undertake. I for one always appreciate your input, and this time, you went above and beyond the call...lol...

Great job!

And also props to Niterider52. mroop, and as usual, Tom

I see they have a bunch of the Charlie Feathers at half.com. Directtoyou has a factory sealed copy and I've purchased out of print stuff from them many times and never had a problem. Half.com also has both volumes of Great American Train Songs new for 8-10 bucks each.

Did I mention I am the king of finding out of print cd's on the internet? Well, I am.

I forwarded a link to the person who posed the question. Seems like the team came through.

Good job!

You are certainly good at it!

I just realized he is looking for the cassettes of Great American Train Music, not the cd's. For the cassettes go here:

http://www.greenhillmusic.com/ghTitlePage.asp?P=5381

Also, your friend said he used google, but he must not be using the advanced search page. Let him know he should use this page:

http://www.google.com/advanced_search

Also, if he is looking for an overview of Sun, the best is "The Sun Records Collection" 3 cd box on Rhino. If he is an audiophile type, remastering guru Steve Hoffman recommends "Best Of Sun Rockabilly" volumes 1 & 2 on Charly. These are out of print and have been superseded by newer Charly comps. The catalog numbers are "Charly 16" for Volume 1 (22 tracks) and "Charly 36" for Volume 2 (25 tracks). These pop up on ebay but not often so you have to be persistent. Happy hunting.

Just about all nashville musicians don't want their music put on the net,there was stories publish not too long ago when some important people went to nashville to get them to understand the internet they voiced their concerns with it and denounced the internet because of what they hear from the RIAA and all of their nonsense.

maybe thats why it's hard to find the music other than that sorry I don't listen to much rockabilly or country.

Thanks for everybody's help! "Sun Story" at www.1website.co.nz is the right one. "Get With It" is also the right one. I found the version of "Great American Train Songs" on half.com and gemm.com, but that's a different cd by a label called CMH. greenhillmusic.com has yet another recording of the same name, with not all the same songs. However, some of the other links or contacts may help me find the right one. I found Trains magazine, which is different from the one silencethepoet posted. (that one is train singular) I'll ask both mags. bear-family.de gives me a 404 error. There are *a lot* of compilations called "X Rockabilly Hits", so I'll keep looking & emailing. Small stores run by music lovers might be a better source for the obscure recordings than the big searchable sites. Thanks again for all the good contacts and websites!

Kelly

P.S. BTW, I vote yes on sharing out-of-print music. Whether or not the artist earns any money off the publicity, they would probably be happy that people were enjoying the music. That's what music is for, after all! )

Maybe slightly off-topic . . . but remember when Sugar Hill Records was a pioneering rap label (i.e. the Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash) instead of a bluegrass label that now boasts the likes of Dolly Parton? In addition, there were at least one or two labels called Roulette before the one associated with Morris (Moishe) Levy sprung up. And there was a Liberty label founded in the mid-'40's, some ten years before the label of the same name started by Si Waronker was launched.

But as for "O.O.P." music: The Smithsonian Folkways label has a place on their website for people to order (for a price, natch') custom CD's of old ethnic or folk albums (i.e. of Arabic and Druse music, or Pennsylvania Dutch folk songs). Why the other companies wouldn't consider that avenue for fan favorites no longer regularly available on CD, I'm sure is complicated and all that, but a G.D. shame nonetheless. The back catalogue of the old Riverside label, for example, is (I.I.N.M.) owned by Fantasy. One of the albums put out by Riverside, in 1956, was an album of Israeli folk songs by Hillel & Aviva. Surely there are some people out there who'd remember this duo and want some of their music.

Update: I found bear-family through another link; they have 2 different LPs titled "20 Great Rockabilly Hits" but neither has "Jungle Rock". I may have found the right one through another site, but I have to email the guy & make sure.

I have "The Sun Records Collection" CD set.
It was one of the last CD's I bought a few years ago.
Until everything blew up, I was in the process of sharing all of the songs on all 3 of the CD's (at 320 K).
I learned about a lot of artists while downloading, including some songs I either forgot about or never knew a particular artist or group had done.
Thanks for the valuable links and info.

The Kid

One of my favorite sites for locating old out of print music is http://www.musicstack.com/show.cgi ( i know its a bit pricey but some things i havent heard in awhile that i know i wont find elsewhere then im willing to part with a little green.....better there than some schill for the record companies

JamesD2

The RIAA empire would definitely fall if 80% of the BIG 5 label artists would leave them for Indie when their contracts expire.

I don't know much about Music industry contracts, so please bear with my next question...

What consequences occur when tearing up a music label contract? George? Leflaw? Anyone?

Would love for the artists to do that if they could get away with it.

Another place to look:

http://www.fullcyrklerecords.com

Get the phone number off the website & call them. Great recource for everything from import/out of print CDs to 45s to clay 78s.