The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records - by Scott Blackwood (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Founded in 1917, Paramount Records was but one of the home-grown record labels of the New York Recording Laboratories (NYRL), a subsidiary of a chair company in Wisconsin with operations near Lake Michigan. No outsized hopes were pinned to Paramount or its sister companies; its founders knew nothing of the music business, the records themselves were only to drive sales of expensive phonograph cabinets they had recently begun manufacturing. Lacking both the resources and the interest to compete for top talent, Paramount's earliest recordings were gained little foothold with the listening public. By 1922, on the threshold of bankruptcy, Paramount embarked on a new business plan that had recently proven successful for other record companies: selling the music of Black artists to Black audiences. Advertising in newspapers dedicated to Black readership and utilizing other strategies such as local talent scouts and sales agents in the South, unconventional distribution channels, an 'open door' recording policy, direct mail order and the eventual hiring of the first Black record executive in a white-owned record company, Paramount expanded its footprint and eventually garnered many of the biggest selling titles in the 'race records' era. By the time it ceased operations in 1932, NYRL had pressed and shipped hundreds of thousands of records, including more than 2,300 recordings of blues, gospel and jazz in its Paramount 'race' series alone, with a slate of performers including the likes of Louis Armstrong, Charley Patton, Ethel Waters, Son House, Fletcher Henderson, Skip James, Alberta Hunter, Blind Blake, King Oliver, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Johnny Dodds, Papa Charlie Jackson, and Jelly Roll Morton. In short, Paramount accidentally accomplished what others could not. On the one hand, Scott Blackwood's The Rise and Fall of Paramount is the story of happenstance. But it is also a tale about the sheer force of the Great Migration and the legacy of the music put down into the shellacked grooves of a 78 record: Black America finding its voice. It is the story the legacy of the Great Migration and how blues, jazz, and folk music transcended boundaries, and how this almost never happened. Blackwood brings to life these many moments-through creative nonfiction-and makes present and full-blooded what hadn't been brought to life before"--

Book Synopsis

Founded in 1917, Paramount Records incongruously was one of several homegrown record labels of a Wisconsin chair-making company. The company pinned no outsized hopes on Paramount. Its founders knew nothing of the music business, and they had arrived at the scheme of producing records only to drive sales of the expensive phonograph cabinets they had recently begun manufacturing.

Lacking the resources and the interest to compete for top talent, Paramount's earliest recordings gained little foothold with the listening public. On the threshold of bankruptcy, the label embarked on a new business plan: selling the music of Black artists to Black audiences. It was a wildly successful move, with Paramount eventually garnering many of the biggest-selling titles in the "race records" era. Inadvertently, the label accomplished what others could not, making blues, jazz, and folk music performed by Black artists a popular and profitable genre. Paramount featured a deep roster of legendary performers, including Louis Armstrong, Charley Patton, Ethel Waters, Son House, Fletcher Henderson, Skip James, Alberta Hunter, Blind Blake, King Oliver, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Johnny Dodds, Papa Charlie Jackson, and Jelly Roll Morton.

Scott Blackwood's The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records is the story of happenstance. But it is also a tale about the sheer force of the Great Migration and the legacy of the music etched into the shellacked grooves of a 78 rpm record. With Paramount Records, Black America found its voice. Through creative nonfiction, Blackwood brings to life the gifted artists and record producers who used Paramount to revolutionize American music. Felled by the Great Depression, the label stopped recording in 1932, leaving a legacy of sound pressed into cheap 78s that is among the most treasured and influential in American history.

Review Quotes

"The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records is an excellent example of creative nonfiction, as Blackwood uses published oral histories and historical monographs to craft beautifully realized stories about what these journeys must have felt like for Black migrants. . . . Ultimately this book provides an intriguing exploration of the lives and (supposed) mind-sets of the artists and engineers associated with Paramount as the excitement of the 1920s came crashing down into the Depression."--Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Scott Blackwood (1965-2023) was Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Hollins University and author of the award-winning novel See How Small. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Callaloo, New England Review, New Madrid, Arcturus, Austin Chronicle, Chicago Magazine, Gettysburg Review, Boston Review, and Southwestern Review.