King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records

281 Pages·2009·2.89 MB·English

by  Jon Hartley Fox

H a r t l e y F o x
J o n
Foreword by Dave Alvin
KING OF THE QUEEN CITY
Music in American Life
• • •
A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.
King
of the
Queen City
THE STORY OF KING RECORDS
Jon Hartley Fox
Foreword by Dave Alvin
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© 2009 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Each photo that is courtesy of © Gusto Records, Inc.,
Nashville, TN, is under the exclusive copyright of
King Records, Inc. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fox, Jon Hartley.
King of the Queen City : the story of King Records /
Jon Hartley Fox ; foreword by Dave Alvin.
p. cm. — (Music in American life)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-252-03468-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. King Record Company—History.
2. Sound recording industry—Ohio—
Cincinnati—History. I. Title.
ml3792.k56f69 2009
338.7'61781640973—dc22 2009015035
This is dedicated to my parents,
Lyle and Ellen Fox,
who taught me to love reading,
history, and music,
and to my wife and partner,
Kathryn Barwick,
without whose encouragement
and support this book
would not exist.

Truth is stranger than fiction,
but it is because fiction is obliged
to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.
• Mark Twain •
“Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar”
in Following the Equator, 1897

CONTENTS
Foreword by Dave Alvin xi
Preface xv
One Syd Starts a Record Company 1
Two The Hillbilly Boogie 12
Three The King Gets a Queen 22
Four Henry Glover 26
Five Good Rockin’ Tonight 32
Six Where the Hell’s the Melody? 42
Seven Business as Usual Was Pretty Unusual 50
Eight Masters of the Groove 63
Nine I’ll Sail My Ship Alone 74
Ten Record Man 86
Eleven The Sixty-Minute Men 94
Twelve You Give Me Fever 108
Thirteen Every Time I Feel the Spirit 117