In 1915, the Gennett family, owners of Starr Piano Company, created a small record division to supplement their income. Soon Gennett Studios (in Richmond, Indiana) was recording young jazz pioneers in the Midwest and folk musicians from the Appalachian hills, when major record labels in the East couldn't be bothered Gennett featured "old-time" greats such as Gene Autry, Chubby Parker, and Bradley Kincaid, and early blues figures Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Roosevelt Sykes. During a period of rigid segregation, Gennett freely recorded black musicians. Artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and Bix Beiderbecke made the pilgrimage to the primitive studio beside the railroad tracks, sometimes suspending a recording session to wait for a noisy train to pass. And it was here that Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust debuted - as a dance stomp.

Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy gives the first detailed account of the people and events behind this unique company. Personalized by anecdotes from musicians, employees and family members, it traces the colourful history of this innovative business until its demise during the Great Depression.

RICK KENNEDY is a media-relations manager with General Electric Company and a former journalist with the Richmond Palladium-Item and the Cincinnati Post. With Randy McNutt, he has co-authored Little Labels - Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music.

"Carefully researched and well written, this study strikes an entertaining balance between the business of recording and the art of early jazz and popular music." - PAUL BAKER, Library Journal

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