House of Hits: The Story of Houston's Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios (Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music) Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Roger Wood Andy Bradley
the studio’s very existence, its independence, and its uncanny success.
As David G. McComb notes in The Portable Handbook of Texas, Houston had fi rst established itself in the 1800s as a rail center and market hub for cot-ton and lumber, but it was the discovery of oil in 1901 at the nearby Spindletop fi eld that “dramatically changed the Houston economy in the twentieth century.” With that discovery, and the opening of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914, the city soon established itself as the petrochemical capital of the nation, attracting thousands of immigrants each year in the process. After 1945
Houston’s postwar economy accelerated rapidly, and its population followed suit, soaring from approximately 500,000 to over 1.5 million inhabitants by the early 1960s. This tremendous infl ux of people also stimulated a blossom-ing club scene for regional strands of popular music. In turn, the vibrant live-music market encouraged the talent that became the basis for the growth of independent record companies and the studios that served their needs.
In these facilities singers, musicians, record producers, songwriters, and audio engineers from all over the area would gather in controlled environ-ments in hopes of creating a hit record. If that elusive goal was fulfi lled, it then became a source of revenue for the principals and perhaps a way of making a career. In terms of big dreams, disappointments, calculated risks, and potential rewards, independently prospecting for a hit record was a lot like wildcat drilling for oil. The Houston mentality, of a piece with that of oil-rich Texas at large, not only understood but seemed to relish such challenges.
Whether one were hoping for hit records or oil deposits, nothing was ever guaranteed. But the allure of proving one’s instincts to be trustworthy, almost as much as the desire for a lucrative payoff , proved irresistible to a certain breed of speculator.
One of the most prominent of such individuals in the local music business was Don Robey (1903–1975), a native son of the city and a self-described gambler. Between 1949 and 1973 he owned and developed at least fi ve record labels—and sometimes used Gold Star Studios to produce his sessions. As Nelson George says in The Death of Rhythm and Blues, “Don Robey built an empire worth millions in a city far removed from the main line of entertainment.” His remarkable success was the equivalent of hitting a series of huge gushers in the oil fi elds, and it surely stimulated lots of would-be imitators in the city, some of whom succeeded too.
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But other factors also fueled the sudden rise of the independents both in and beyond Houston. Following a period of commercial dormancy during World War II, the mainstream American recording industry resumed operations but substantially altered its ways, in part because the rise of broadcast television was quickly changing the nature of the game. As the established companies began to make enormous profi ts from nationwide hit singles produced in their own recording studios (and sometimes promoted to millions of potential customers via national television exposure), major-label executives soon decided that the expenses and risks of recording localized talent for regional markets were no longer justifi ed. In short, the big record labels stopped going out into the fi eld to make their recordings. Their withdrawal thus opened the door for the growth of the independent recording industry in places such as Texas, despite a dearth of studio facilities there at the time.
Another scenario was the sudden postwar presence of recently discharged veterans who possessed previously rare knowledge and skills concerning electronics. Bill Holford of ACA Studios, the chief competitor to Bill Quinn’s Gold Star Studios, was one such military-trained innovator. He and various other entrepreneurs and independent engineers
As David G. McComb notes in The Portable Handbook of Texas, Houston had fi rst established itself in the 1800s as a rail center and market hub for cot-ton and lumber, but it was the discovery of oil in 1901 at the nearby Spindletop fi eld that “dramatically changed the Houston economy in the twentieth century.” With that discovery, and the opening of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914, the city soon established itself as the petrochemical capital of the nation, attracting thousands of immigrants each year in the process. After 1945
Houston’s postwar economy accelerated rapidly, and its population followed suit, soaring from approximately 500,000 to over 1.5 million inhabitants by the early 1960s. This tremendous infl ux of people also stimulated a blossom-ing club scene for regional strands of popular music. In turn, the vibrant live-music market encouraged the talent that became the basis for the growth of independent record companies and the studios that served their needs.
In these facilities singers, musicians, record producers, songwriters, and audio engineers from all over the area would gather in controlled environ-ments in hopes of creating a hit record. If that elusive goal was fulfi lled, it then became a source of revenue for the principals and perhaps a way of making a career. In terms of big dreams, disappointments, calculated risks, and potential rewards, independently prospecting for a hit record was a lot like wildcat drilling for oil. The Houston mentality, of a piece with that of oil-rich Texas at large, not only understood but seemed to relish such challenges.
Whether one were hoping for hit records or oil deposits, nothing was ever guaranteed. But the allure of proving one’s instincts to be trustworthy, almost as much as the desire for a lucrative payoff , proved irresistible to a certain breed of speculator.
One of the most prominent of such individuals in the local music business was Don Robey (1903–1975), a native son of the city and a self-described gambler. Between 1949 and 1973 he owned and developed at least fi ve record labels—and sometimes used Gold Star Studios to produce his sessions. As Nelson George says in The Death of Rhythm and Blues, “Don Robey built an empire worth millions in a city far removed from the main line of entertainment.” His remarkable success was the equivalent of hitting a series of huge gushers in the oil fi elds, and it surely stimulated lots of would-be imitators in the city, some of whom succeeded too.
d o m e s t i c c r u d e
7
Bradley_4319_BK.indd 7
1/26/10 1:12:09 PM
But other factors also fueled the sudden rise of the independents both in and beyond Houston. Following a period of commercial dormancy during World War II, the mainstream American recording industry resumed operations but substantially altered its ways, in part because the rise of broadcast television was quickly changing the nature of the game. As the established companies began to make enormous profi ts from nationwide hit singles produced in their own recording studios (and sometimes promoted to millions of potential customers via national television exposure), major-label executives soon decided that the expenses and risks of recording localized talent for regional markets were no longer justifi ed. In short, the big record labels stopped going out into the fi eld to make their recordings. Their withdrawal thus opened the door for the growth of the independent recording industry in places such as Texas, despite a dearth of studio facilities there at the time.
Another scenario was the sudden postwar presence of recently discharged veterans who possessed previously rare knowledge and skills concerning electronics. Bill Holford of ACA Studios, the chief competitor to Bill Quinn’s Gold Star Studios, was one such military-trained innovator. He and various other entrepreneurs and independent engineers
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