Dust-to-Digital
Encyclopedia
Dust-to-Digital is a record company which specialises on documenting the history of American popular music
, including historical recordings of blues
, gospel
and country music
. They have described their aim as the production of high-quality, cultural artifacts, which combine rare recordings with historic images and detailed texts describing the artists and their works. The company has won a Grammy award
and a "Living Blues" award for their releases.
. After five years of research, Ledbetter issued Goodbye, Babylon on his newly-formed Dust-to-Digital label. The six CD box set, accompanied by a 200-page book and hand-packed with raw cotton in a wooden box, was well reviewed. The young record company followed up the set with Where Will You Be Christmas Day? Since 2004, Dust-to-Digital has issued 18 titles, and more are planned for the future.
DTD-02: Where Will You Be Christmas Day?
DTD-03: Fonotone Records: Frederick, Maryland (1956-1969)
DTD-04: How Low Can You Go? : Anthology of the String Bass (1925-1941)
DTD-05A: Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music : Soundtrack CD
DTD-05V: Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music : DVD
DTD-06: I Belong to This Band: 85 Years of Sacred Harp Recordings
DTD-07: Art of Field Recording (Sampler CD)
DTD-08: Art of Field Recording: Volume I : 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum
DTD-09: Melodii Tuvi: Throat Songs and Folk Tunes from Tuva
DTD-10: Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Musics
DTD-11: Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days
DTD-12: Art of Field Recording: Volume II : 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum
DTD-13: Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950
DTD-14: Let Your Feet Do the Talkin' : DVD
DTD-15: Ain't No Grave: The Life and Legacy of Brother Claude Ely : Hardcover Biography with CD
DTD-16: Baby, How Can It Be? (Songs of Love, Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s) : 3 CD set
DTD-17: Rev. Johnny L. "Hurricane" Jones: The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta : 2 CD set
DTD-18: Ten Thousand Points of Light : DVD
DTD-21: Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You: The Fonotone Years 1958-1965 : 5 CD set
Art of Field Recording Volume I
Nominated for Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research
Victrola Favorites
Nominated for Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research
Goodbye, Babylon
Nominated for Best Historical Album
Nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
2006:
Fonotone Records 1956-1969
Nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
2008:
Art of Field Recording Volume I
Winner of Best Historical Album
Nominated for Best Liner Notes
How Low Can You Go?
Nominated for Reissue/Historical Box Set of the Year
Desperate Man Blues Soundtrack CD
Winner of Best Historical Reissue
Lance Ledbetter
Winner of Historical Producer of the Year
American popular music
American popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno,...
, including historical recordings of blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. They have described their aim as the production of high-quality, cultural artifacts, which combine rare recordings with historic images and detailed texts describing the artists and their works. The company has won a Grammy award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
and a "Living Blues" award for their releases.
History
In February 1999, Lance Ledbetter set out on a search for rare recordings of gospel musicGospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. After five years of research, Ledbetter issued Goodbye, Babylon on his newly-formed Dust-to-Digital label. The six CD box set, accompanied by a 200-page book and hand-packed with raw cotton in a wooden box, was well reviewed. The young record company followed up the set with Where Will You Be Christmas Day? Since 2004, Dust-to-Digital has issued 18 titles, and more are planned for the future.
Discography
DTD-01: Goodbye, BabylonDTD-02: Where Will You Be Christmas Day?
DTD-03: Fonotone Records: Frederick, Maryland (1956-1969)
DTD-04: How Low Can You Go? : Anthology of the String Bass (1925-1941)
DTD-05A: Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music : Soundtrack CD
DTD-05V: Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music : DVD
DTD-06: I Belong to This Band: 85 Years of Sacred Harp Recordings
DTD-07: Art of Field Recording (Sampler CD)
DTD-08: Art of Field Recording: Volume I : 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum
DTD-09: Melodii Tuvi: Throat Songs and Folk Tunes from Tuva
DTD-10: Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Musics
DTD-11: Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days
DTD-12: Art of Field Recording: Volume II : 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum
DTD-13: Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950
DTD-14: Let Your Feet Do the Talkin' : DVD
DTD-15: Ain't No Grave: The Life and Legacy of Brother Claude Ely : Hardcover Biography with CD
DTD-16: Baby, How Can It Be? (Songs of Love, Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s) : 3 CD set
DTD-17: Rev. Johnny L. "Hurricane" Jones: The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta : 2 CD set
DTD-18: Ten Thousand Points of Light : DVD
DTD-21: Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You: The Fonotone Years 1958-1965 : 5 CD set
ARSC Awards
2008:Art of Field Recording Volume I
Nominated for Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research
Victrola Favorites
Nominated for Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research
Grammy Awards
2004:Goodbye, Babylon
Nominated for Best Historical Album
Nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
2006:
Fonotone Records 1956-1969
Nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
2008:
Art of Field Recording Volume I
Winner of Best Historical Album
Nominated for Best Liner Notes
Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards
2008:How Low Can You Go?
Nominated for Reissue/Historical Box Set of the Year
Living Blues Awards
2007:Desperate Man Blues Soundtrack CD
Winner of Best Historical Reissue
Lance Ledbetter
Winner of Historical Producer of the Year