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About Dragon Street Records
Dragon Street Records is one of the
longest-running, privately held independent record labels in the north Texas
area. The company was launched in 1989 by David Dennard and Patrick Keel, and
is named after the street where the original firm was located. David is a
long-time professional musician who first appeared as a member of The Novas
(1966-1968), followed later by stints with Eric Johnson, Christopher Cross, Jay
Ferguson, and Gary Myrick. Patrick Keel got his start as the lead singer in
Dallas' The Insane and the Uncertain, but soon switched to drums and made stops
in The Bubble Puppy, Cristopher Cross, and Gary Myrick's Mannequins. Patrick
reinvented himself yet again and emerged as the producer/composer of the
keyboard-oriented entity The Pool, as well as producing groups such as The
Standing Waves, The Big Boys, The Trees, and Shallow Reign. David and Patrick
decided to form DSR in an effort to make the best use of their combined talents
and experiences in the record business over 25 years.
Dragon Street's
main goal was originally to develop regional rock bands into nationally viable
recording artists, as well as to promote the growing Texas music scene in
general. DSR scored an immediate regional hit in 1990 with the release of The
Bat Masterson's self-titled debut CD, followed quickly by the signing of area
bands such as The Spin, The Moon Festival, The Shagnastys, and Stranglmartin.
However, it wasn't until 1993's release of Tripping Daisy's first album "Bill"
that DSR really hit a home run, selling upwards of 16,000 copies of the CD and
bringing the band to national prominence, eventually signing them to Island
Records. Tripping Daisy's success was followed by successes with CDs from The
Nixons ("Six"), and Hagfish ("Buick Men").
By 1995, Alternative Rock
radio had become totally dominated by the major labels, and the release of punk
band Pump'n Ethyl's "Thank God I'm Living In The U.S.A." CD was DSR's last
rock-oriented album. At that point, David Dennard refocused the label into a
roots-oriented niche, and Patrick Keel left to pursue full-time independent
producing opportunities, as well as music education. David worked with the
newly-emerging Alternative Country and Rockabilly genres, promoting or
producing such artists as Ronnie Dawson, Killbilly, Sixty-Six, The Dixie
Chicks, and Gene Summers.
Through his research on Ronnie Dawson's
fascinating career, David became interested in the legendary Big "D" Jamboree,
which took place in Dallas from 1948 until 1966 at the Dallas Sportatorium. His
research on the Big "D" lead to his discovery in 1997 of a large cache of tapes
and transcriptions of the show, and studio sessions by some of the artists
managed by Big "D" Publishing Company. David obtained the rights to release the
material through Big "D" Music and the Legends of the Big "D" Jamboree series
began that year with the release of Gene Vincent's "The Lost Dallas Sessions",
followed by Johnny Dollar's "Mr. Action Packed", Groovey Joe Poovey's "Greatest
Grooves", "The Big 'D' Jamboree Live! Volumes 1 & 2" (Various Artists),
"The Gals of the Big 'D' Jamboree" (Various Artists), and "The Guys of the Big
'D' Jamboree" (Various Artists).
Dragon Street strives to locate and
restore the best of Texas' musical legacy and to make long-lost artists and
their performances available once again to the record collecting public, with
more important releases scheduled for the near future. |
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