A&R Pioneers: Architects of American Roots Music on Record

We like to assume that the recorded body of American roots music-blues, jazz and “hillbilly”/country-accurately represents the best work of America’s diverse musical community in the early 20th century. But there are two things that cast that evaluation in an uncertain light. The first is that recordings of this music were released on 78 RPM discs that had a maximum duration per side of about 3 minutes. The second is that only a dozen or so men, almost all white-and almost none women, decided who got to record and what songs they recorded. As detailed in A&R Pioneers, the process of finding musicians and recording their music was thorough and haphazard, targeted and arbitrary and often unscrupulous. The origin of the expression “Artist and Repertoire” (A&R) is not clear-it may have been coined by Billboard magazine in the 19-teens-but it’s ironic that work done under this lofty title would have such a Wild West quality. The same way that conestoga-driving would-be homesteaders raced to claim the best land offered by the government for settlement, the recording industry sent its representatives out to (mostly) rural America in a race to find, record and put under contract the best roots musicians. It’s key to remember that “best” in this case, means most marketable. Knowing that music was chosen above all on its sales potential imparts the vaguely uns