| Hello there folks,
The following is an open letter from Carol Davis at American Gramaphone,
from about two years ago. Many of you may already have seen this, for those
of you that have not, here it is in full... Please enjoy.
AMERICAN
GRAMAPHONE
- The American Gramaphone Story -
American Gramaphone Record Company was formed in 1974 in Omaha, Nebraska.
It actually all started with the music to a bread commercial!
At the time, Chip Davis, composer and commercial music writer, and Bill Fries,
Creative Director of Bozell and Jacobs Advertising Agency, were actively
involved in the production of a series of bread commercials for "Old Home
Bread." Don Sears was the recording engineer on the project and also the
owner of the recording studio where all the "Old Home Bread" commercials were
being recorded ... Sound Recorers, in Omaha.
The Old Home commercials became such a tremendous regional success that people
were actually running to their television sets to see the continuing saga of
the Old Home Bread truck dirver, C.W. McCall, and his lib-smacking,
gum-chewing, eye-batting girlfriend, Mavis, the truck stop waitress where C.W.
would always stop for a "cup of hot C and an Old Home bun" on his bread route.
Needless to say, the advertising campaign spread to other regions of the
country and Bill Fries went on to win the coveted national "Clio" advertising
award for his unique and clever approach to selling bread.
It was decided that if the TV commercials could be such a success, the music
to those commercials could be a big radio success, so a few hundred singles of
"The Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep-On-A-Truckin' Cafe" were pressed. And they
sold out in a matter of days! So a few hundred more were pressed. (Yeah, they
did too.)
Soon radio stations picked up on the novelty of the record and airwaves across
the country became abuzz with this new music out of Omaha. Naturally, it
followed that when the record became so hot across the U.S., hundreds of
personal appearance requests poured in to see and hear C.W. McCall perform
his walkin', talkin' story-telling songs live. (Now, even though an actor out
of Dallas was hired to be the on-camera television talent for the character of
McCall, it was actually the VOICE of Bill Fries who walked and talked his way
into the hearts of bread lovers everywhere!) So the first big problem arose -
Americans had SEEN the character actor on television, but had actually HEARD
Bill Fries. So who was to actually BE C.W. McCall? - The talent, or the
voice? And this presented another whole set of problems. By now, McCall had
13 hit records on the charts so the pressure was on to get out on tour and
perform for the millions of anxious fans everywhere.
After much serious consideration, Bill Fries left his position as creative
director of the 14th largest advertising agency in the world and became
C.W. McCall, going on to tour the United States from 1975 to 1978.
C.W.'s back-up band ("The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant") turned out to be
the actual studio musicians used in the commercial tracks and since the
composers of the tracks, and all the musicians were well-schooled and
classically trained, they turned out some exceptionally creative and dynamic
progressive country tracks which can be witnessed on any of seven C.W. McCall
albums. (We recommend Aurora Borealis and Wilderness from McCall's
"WILDERNESS" album, Old Glory from "ROSES FOR MAMA," and Green River from
"BLACK BEAR ROAD" but who's dropping names?)
After just a few of the initial McCall hits, record labels across the country
became curious as to what all the excitement was about and came to Omaha to
offer McCall a deal on a "major record label with world-wide distribution."
And it came to pass that American Gramaphone leased the rights of the McCall
music to MGM Records and after a few years, McCall retired to the Colorado
Rockies. Amen.
... Johnny Carson ... American Bandstand ... Rock Concert ... The Midnight
Special ... Tyrone Malone and his 186 mph Peterbuilt Truck carrying his 10-ton
frozen whale ... 500 County Fairs ... 800 corn dogs ... and 1600 lemon
squeezes later ... and we're glad to be off the road, alive and well in Omaha.
Meanwhile ...
all during this McCall craze, American Gramaphone Records continued onward and
upward. With the CB frenzy McCall created with his million seller "Convoy"
record, along came movies and Chip Davis scored the soundtrack for the movie
"Convoy" with Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine. But
"country" was definitely not the only string twangin' in the heart of Chip
Davis and he quietly pursued another new form of music in the offstage McCall
shadows ... music he called "18th Century Classical Rock" ... music he would
entitle "Fresh Aire(tm)" meaning "fresh song." And the dynamics of this new
Fresh Aire music was something audiophile ears had not even dreamed of as yet!
After production of the first Fresh Aire album, major record labels were
sought to pick up the product. The record company presidents LOVED it, in
fact they all even bought copies to give to friends and family as presents
- check that out! - but no one would touch Fresh Aire. They simply did not
know how to market this highly unique musical style - it did not fit into the
normal formats. The major labels were simply afraid to break the norms and go
for broke on such an unusual sounding product. So Fresh Aire stayed on the
American Gramaphone record label. Then, something happened. Fresh Aire began
to sell itself!
Because of the pure penetration of sound and the exceptionally wide dynamic
range of Fresh Aire music, hi-fi and stereo dealers across the United States
began to use Fresh Aire to demo their equipment. They found it could really
sell their speakers and turntables - thus begins the distribution network for
the first Fresh Aire album.
And today Fresh Aire continues to dominate the record market as one of the top
selling audiophile recording series of our time. Not only has FRESH AIRE I
risen in rank, but now there is FRESH AIRE II, FRESH AIRE III, FRESH AIRE IV,
FRESH AIRE V with the London Symphony, Fresh Aire INTERLUDES, SUNKEN CATHEDRAL
(a solo classical piano album by Fresh Aire keyboardist Jackson Berkey),
DAYDREAMS and RAINBOWS (two impressionistic guitar albums by Ron Cooley, who
played on those original McCall tracks), the AMERICAN GRAMAPHONE SAMPLER album,
BALLADE, Jackson Berkey's second piano album featuring works by Debussy,
Rachmaninoff and Satie ... an album with exotic, Mediterranean flavor, and
VOLUME ONE, our limited edition, serialized COLLECTOR'S SERIES, packaged in
velvet-suede and pewter, containing 140 gram Teldec vinyl pressings of
Fresh Aire I-IV and also featuring a full-color 36 page inner book
highlighting the history of the album series ... a rich box-set Fresh Aire
fans and collector's will treasure for years to come.
But wait! We're not through yet. Other albums soon-to-be-released are:
OLDE ENGLISH MADRIGALS AND FOLK SONGS recorded at Ely Cathedral in England
with John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers; The MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER CHRISTMAS
ALBUM; a classical guitar and lute album by string player Eric Hansen of the
Mannheim Steamroller; a third impressionistic album by Ron Cooley; a violin
album; and many, many more surprises. But the newest and most exciting
addition to our current catalogue is the introduction of the revolutionary
COMPACT DISC!
AND SO IT GOES, with the success of the Fresh Aire album series, requests are
pouring in again for personal concert appearances to see and hear the Fresh
Aire music performed live, thus, FRESH AIRE, "THE CONCERT OF MULTI IMAGES" was
created. It involves virtually every art form from computerized visuals to
dance, animation, lighting, and special effect and we bill it "A contemporary,
electronic, music-visual fantasy through 18th century eyes." We've been
touring nationally with the Fresh Aire show, as a production of SOUND TRAK,
INC., also based in Omaha.
With the touring company activity, more softwares have been developed and
aside from albums, DOLBY CASSETTES of all the American Gramaphone albums,
Fresh Aire / Mannheim Steamroller T-SHIRTS, POSTERS, PIANO SCORES, HATS and
VISORS are now available through American Gramaphone Record Company. On top
of all this, We've just moved American Gramaphone and Sound Trak into a brand
new 12,000 square foot facility in the wooded hills of North Omaha,
consolidating and strengthening the "Steamroller" momentum.
It's a funny sort of story, the way American Gramaphone Records has developed
but it's a good story. In fact, it's almost a fairy tale how a small company
from America's heartlands has taken wing and risen to become world renowned
for its exceptionally superior sounding product.
If you want to know more or are interested in how to obtain any of our
products, write!
We'll even write back.
Because that's just the way we do things back here in Omaha.
Carol Davis
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All American Gramaphone albums are pressed on 100% premium
virgin vinyl. In many cases, vinyl batches are purchased
exclusively for a particular album or series. American
Gramaphone master stamper life is very limited and
constantly monitored for even the most inaudible flaw. At
this point, they are destroyed and new masters are etched at
American Gramaphone Record Company in Omaha, Nebraska.
Disks are packaged in only the finest imported rice paper
sleeves for highest porosity and increased vinyl life.
Jackets are printed on the most dense, protective board
stock and are wrapped in 100 guage loose wrap to prevent
warpage. Qualities such as these are found in only the most
premium audiophile recordings. (In other words, please take
good care of these albums.) American Gramaphone product is
currently available in audiophile, hi-fi and stereo, and
better recording stores throughout the United States, Canada
and Abroad. For a listing of retail outlets in your region,
please contact American Gramaphone Records for the
distributer nearest you. Now available: COMPACT DISCS,
Dolby Cassettes of all American Gramaphone recordings; Fresh
Aire / Mannheim Steamroller T-shirts in all sizes; Fresh
Aire Piano Scores and Fresh Aire Posters. Write American
Gramaphone Records for additional information. Thank you
for your attention. This was a lot to read.
9130 Mormon Bridge Road Omaha, Nebraska 68152 (402) 457-4341
well, hope you liked it ...
Until Later...
...Ron...
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