The R&B Indies
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The second edition; the adventure continues.
The R&B indies is a massive labelography of over 11,300 imprints that feature Blues, Gospel, R & B, Zydeco, Soul and Funk. Spanning over four decades of African American music and covering the full output of those renegade companies, ranging from the utterly obscure hole-in-the-wall operations with one or two releases to such powerhouses as Atlantic, King, Chess, Mercury and Motown. The project has taken over thirty years of research to gather the information and thirteen years of production (so far) to produce these four huge volumes. With the help of numerous researchers and collectors from around the world The R&B Indies continues to delve into uncharted territory not previously documented by the standard session-based discographies. Without doubt this is the most broad-based work covering African American music on the planet.. Each listing includes catalog, pressing and master numbers plus the details of ownership, location, affiliated labels and a dating guide. Each listings is illustrated by the various logos used.

Yes, but what's an indie?

In the late forties, due to both a backhanded result of nepotism and the opportunity of non exploited African-American markets, the rhythm and blues independent label was born. Following in the footsteps of the few brave pioneers, the floodgates opened and out poured an unbelievably prolific example of free enterprise. For a few hundred dollars and way fewer promises, a record could be recorded, mastered, pressed and on the streets within days. The next four decades would spawn legions of firms aimed squarely at the Black neighborhoods. While some would achieve little more than immediate territorial success, a few became major players on national and even international markets. The R&B Indies encompasses the early post-war jump combos, the blues craze of the forties and fifties, the teaming vocal groups that led to the many subcategories of Soul and Funk music in the sixties and seventies and eighties, chronologically listed side-by-side to present a full and clear picture of all that has been marketed under the very broad banner of R&B.
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The R&B Indies is the winner of the 2001 ARSC Award for historical recorded sound research