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Melotone Records is a
United States based
record label. In late 1930,
Warner/Brunswick Records introduced the Melotone label in the U.S. and
Canada as a budget subsidiary issuing 78
rpm disc records. It then became part of the
American Record Corporation collection of labels in
1932. The label was disestablished in
1938.
During the Depression, Melotone Records was a common cheap priced label. Melotone issued popular dance tunes of the era (usually a group of studio musicians issued under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ralph Bennett and his Seven Aces (all eleven of 'em), Bob Causer and his Cornellians, Owen Fallon and his Orchestra, Sleepy Hall and his Collegians, Vic Irwin and his Orchestra, Chick Bullock and his Levee Loungers, Vincent Rose and his Orchestra, Paul Small and his Orchestra, etc.), together with a variety of
jazz,
country music,
blues,
Mexican music,
Cajun music, and
Hawaiian music. Artists whose recordings were issued on Melotone include
Eddie Cantor,
Annette Hanshaw,
Gene Autry,
Tex Ritter,
Leadbelly, and
Blind Boy Fuller. Audio fidelity was average for the era even though the shellac material wasn't quite as high quality as the more expensive labels (although a mint copy played with a good diamond stylus produces good-for-the-era sound).
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