Country of origin US Official website www.ohboy.com Founders John Prine, Dan Einstein | Location Nashville, Tennessee Founded 1984 | |
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Distributor(s) Alternative Distribution Alliance (US), Fusion III (Canada), Proper Music Group (UK), I.R.D. (Italy), Shock Records (Europe), Elite Imports (NZ) Genre American folk, Americana, country Albums The Missing Years, Fair & Square, John Prine Live, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings, German Afternoons Profiles | ||
Oh Boy Records is an independent American record label founded in 1981 by singer John Prine, his manager Al Bunetta and their friend Dan Einstein. The label has released more than 40 audio and video recordings by singer-songwriters Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Daniel "Slick" Ballinger, Shawn Camp, Dan Reeder and Todd Snider, along with a dozen reissues of classic country music artists. Oh Boy Records also manages two subsidiary labels, Steve Goodman's Red Pajamas Records and speciality label Blue Plate Music. Oh Boy is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Contents
History
Al Bunetta was a talent manager with Paul Anka's management company CMA, working with artists like Bette Midler, Al Green and The Manhattan Transfer. When Anka signed John Prine and Steve Goodman to management contracts in 1971, Bunetta became the manager for both of them. In 1980, Prine finished his recording contract with Asylum and moved to Nashville. Rather than sign with another major label, he decided to start one of his own, and was joined by Bunetta and associate Dan Einstein. The new Oh Boy label's first release was a red vinyl Christmas single with Prine singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" on the A-side and "Silver Bells" on the B-side. The first full-length release was Prine's Aimless Love in 1984. Around 1989, Sony offered to buy Oh Boy Records, but Prine decided to keep the label independent and turned down the offer.
Recent projects
In 2000, the label began reissuing a series of classic country music artists titled Oh Boy Classics Presents... These are remastered versions of the original recordings. The first three artists in this series were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. In 2007 Oh Boy released Standard Songs for Average People, an album of classic country duets by Prine and bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman. 2010 saw the release of a new Prine live album, In Person & On Stage, followed by Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows, a tribute album of Prine songs performed by artists like Sara Watkins and Old Crow Medicine Show. Both of the 2010 releases debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Album charts.