Genre Country | Country of origin United States of America | |
Parent company ABC-Dunhill from November, 1972 Location Head Quarters: Gainesville, Georgia
Music Division: Nashville, Tennessee | ||
Cartwheel Records was a record label located in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was responsible for the start of the country music career of Billy "Crash" Craddock. He had his first #1 country hit on the label with Knock Three Times.
Contents
Background
The label started out in Gainesville, Georgia and then later moved its Music division to Nashville, Tennessee with just the headquarters remaining in Georgia. In November 1972, the label was purchased by ABC, Dunhill. It was reported in Billboard that there were some artists who would have had existing contracts prior to the sale of the label. They were Pam Gilbert, Glen Canyon and Duane Lee and Harold Lee. The article stated that their contracts and promotion on the market were being honored.
Staff
The Nashville end of the company was headed by A&R man Ron Chancy. Dale Morris who was formerly with Buck Owens Enterprises and Certron was in charge of promotion. In July 1972, Dale Morris was promoted to vice-president in charge of marketing and promotion. His position of national promotion manager was filled by Jon Conteras. Conteras who had a solid background in promotion was Native American. In 1971, he had been involved with the Southeastern Indian Antiquities Survey in organizing a benefit for the organization. Following the purchase by ABC, Dunhill in November 1972, Don Grant who was an Acuff-Rose executive was put in charge of the Nashville office. After John Conteras left the ABC-owned Cartwheel records, he became an assistant to Monument Records president Fred Foster, In that capacity, he assisted artists such as Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin and Billy Swan in their recording careers.
Artists
In 1971, Billy "Crash" Craddock signed with Cartwheel. He had five top ten country singles with the label from 1971 to 1972. They included a remake of "Knock Three Times" and "Dream Lover". Another artist to come on board in 1971 was Johnny Darrell. Before the year was out he already had a record released with the label.