TAKOMA                          1974    P.O. Box 5369
******                                  Santa Monica, CA 90405
                                        USA

                                        www.concordmusicgroup.com



Without a doubt the name immediately associated with Takoma Records is John Fahey,
co-founder of the label and the man who created the audience for solo steel-string
guitar playing according to Leo Kottke, whose 6 and 12 String Guitar album is the
biggest seller on the label. But it was Fahey's wayward genius and unique sense of
timing and dynamics that defined a whole style of guitar playing. The Takoma story
began in 1959 in the Washington, DC suburb of Takoma Park when Fahey borrowed $300
and pressed 100 copies of his now-legendary Blind Joe Death, an LP of original
blues-based steel string guitar solos. By 1963 Fahey and his co-founder ED Denson
had moved from these humble beginnings to California and by the mid 60s the now
successful label's eclectic mix of blues and ragtime guitar playing, mixed with
Indian and contemporary European classics had caught the vivid imagination of the
hip, turned on generation. The radical and the traditional always intertwined at
Takoma, sometimes in the same artist, such as Robbie Basho. The diverse roster
included electronics pioneer Bernie Krause, beat poet Charles Bukowski, dobro
player Mike Auldridge and Capt Beefheart's favourite record 'One String Blues' by
Eddie 'One String' Jones and Eddie Hazelton. Takoma is true Americana, radicalising
tradition and re-inventing the steel string guitar and producing a huge influence
on modern roots based music.
https://acerecords.co.uk/takoma-label

US record label co-founded by John Fahey and Ed Denson in 1959.

The Takoma story began in 1959 in the Washington, DC suburb of Takoma Park,
Maryland when Fahey borrowed $300 and pressed 100 copies of his now-legendary
Blind Joe Death. By 1963 Fahey and Denson had moved to California. The label's
diverse roster included blues guitarist Bukka White (who the partners had
rediscovered in Mississsippi), electronics pioneer Bernie Krause, beat poet
Charles Bukowski, bluegrass musician Mike Auldridge, guitarist Leo Kottke, and
'One String Blues' by Eddie "One String" Jones and Edward Hazelton (which was
known as Captain Beefheart's favorite record).

Denson, who went on to become the manager of Country Joe And The Fish, sold his
stake in the label to Fahey and later founded another label Kicking Mule Records
with Stefan Grossman

In 1979 Chrysalis purchased the label, selling it in 1983. In 1995 Fantasy
purchased the Takoma catalog from Essex Entertainment, Inc. Became part of Concord
Music Group in the mid-2000s after Fantasy merged with Concord Records, Inc.
https://www.discogs.com/label/24549-Takoma