Nighthawk Records

Nighthawk Records was founded by Robert Schoenfeld who began operations in 1976 with the release of four vintage post-war blues reissue LPs that Living Blues Magazine called "the major event of the year for lovers of post-war blues."^{[citation needed]} Today this series consists of nine volumes of post-war blues recordings from Chicago, Detroit, Memphis and the Delta, New Orleans and the Southwest.

In 1979 Nighthawk expanded by launching the 200 series of blues productions with "Mule", an album by St. Louis bluesman, Henry Townsend. Henry made his first recordings for Columbia Records in 1929. Since then he has recorded and performed on a variety of labels including a lengthy and important history with the RCA/Bluebird label as well as recording for Paramount, Bullet and Prestige/Bluesville.

The 300 series began in 1980 with "Wiser Dread", an anthology of Rastafarian roots-music recorded between 1972 and 1978. Steven Davis, author of "Reggae Bloodlines", has called "Wiser Dread" the "...best reggae anthology since The Harder They Come' ten years ago."^{[citation needed]} Since then we^[who?] have released a self-produced album by The Morwells of some of their best singles and three volumes of Nighthawk's own Jamaican productions: "Brutal Out Deh" by the Itals, "Symbol of Reality" by the Gladiators and "Calling Rastafari" featuring Culture, the Itals, the Gladiators, Wailing Souls and Mighty Diamonds. These are all new recordings and our productions.

The music is recorded and mixed by pioneer studio engineer Sylvan Morris at the Harry J studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Mastering and pressing are given virtually audiophile attention. Liner notes are extensive and well researched often making use of original interview material.

See also

• List of record labels

External links

• Nighthawk Records homepage
• Illustrated Nighthawk Records Discography