Red Pajamas Records
Encyclopedia
Red Pajamas Records is an independent American record label
. It was founded in 1982 by Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman
with help from his manager Al Bunetta. Between 1983 and his death in 1984, Goodman released two albums on Red Pajamas: Artistic Hair and Affordable Art. Two more, Santa Ana Winds and the Grammy Award-winning Unfinished Business, were released posthumously in 1984 and 1987. Red Pajamas Records continues to operate under the management of Oh Boy Records
, which is owned by Goodman's friend John Prine
. Red Pajamas continues to release archival live performances by Goodman as well as compilations and reissues of his earlier material. The label has also released three recordings of tribute performances by Goodman's friends.
label, then on Asylum
. During this time he wrote and recorded such enduring songs as "City of New Orleans
", a 1972 Top 20 hit for Arlo Guthrie
and a 1984 #1 Hot Country Single for Willie Nelson
; and "You Never Even Call Me By My Name", which was made famous by David Allan Coe
in 1974. Following the release of the album Hot Spot in 1980, his contract with Asylum ended and Goodman moved to Seal Beach, California. Goodman had been suffering from leukemia for more than ten years, and around this time he came out of remission. Performing was difficult and he wanted to record again, but not with a major label. He decided to create his own label, and Red Pajamas Records was born with the assistance of Goodman's long-time manager Al Bunetta.
.
at New York radio station WNEW-FM in the 1970s. The next five releases were reissues of the Asylum albums from 1975 to 1980. In 2000, another live album of a concert from the 1980s was released (Live Wire) and critics called it a treasure. In 2003, Red Pajamas released a video containing two of Goodman's performances on the TV program Austin City Limits
from 1977 and 1982. The video included interviews with Goodman and others. A 2006 audio release featured Goodman in a 1978 concert at Chicago's Earl of Old Town
, and included musicians Corky Siegel
on harmonica, Hugh McDonald
on bass, Jethro Burns
on mandolin, and composer David Amram
on pennywhistle and percussion. As of 2008, the latest release is an Extended Play CD titled The Baseball Singles containing 4 Goodman songs with baseball-themed lyrics, including "Go, Cubs, Go
."
, Fred Holstein
, Bonnie Koloc
and others. Next was My Old Man
, compiled ten years later by Goodman's daughter Rosanna. The album includes interpretations of Goodman's compositions by her friends Chris Brown, Kate Fenner
and others, and includes Rosanna's own delivery of the title tune, which was written by her father Steve about her grandfather Bud. The third tribute is the 2007 DVD Larger Than Life, a fundraiser for the Old Town School of Folk Music
featuring Arlo Guthrie, Lyle Lovett
, Jackson Browne
, Emmylou Harris
and John Prine.
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. It was founded in 1982 by Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...
with help from his manager Al Bunetta. Between 1983 and his death in 1984, Goodman released two albums on Red Pajamas: Artistic Hair and Affordable Art. Two more, Santa Ana Winds and the Grammy Award-winning Unfinished Business, were released posthumously in 1984 and 1987. Red Pajamas Records continues to operate under the management of Oh Boy Records
Oh Boy Records
Oh Boy Records is an independent American record label founded in 1984 by singer John Prine, his manager Al Bunetta and their friend Dan Einstein. The label has released more than 40 audio and video recordings by singer-songwriters Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Slick Ballinger, Shawn Camp, Dan Reeder...
, which is owned by Goodman's friend John Prine
John Prine
John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
. Red Pajamas continues to release archival live performances by Goodman as well as compilations and reissues of his earlier material. The label has also released three recordings of tribute performances by Goodman's friends.
Origin
Between 1971 and 1980, singer-songwriter Steve Goodman recorded first on the BuddahBuddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
label, then on Asylum
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
. During this time he wrote and recorded such enduring songs as "City of New Orleans
City of New Orleans (song)
"City of New Orleans" is a folk song written by Steve Goodman , describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans via the Illinois Central Railroad in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. Goodman got the idea while traveling on the eponymous train for a visit to his wife's family...
", a 1972 Top 20 hit for Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
and a 1984 #1 Hot Country Single for Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
; and "You Never Even Call Me By My Name", which was made famous by David Allan Coe
David Allan Coe
David Allan Coe is an American outlaw country music singer who achieved popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed over 280 original songs throughout his career...
in 1974. Following the release of the album Hot Spot in 1980, his contract with Asylum ended and Goodman moved to Seal Beach, California. Goodman had been suffering from leukemia for more than ten years, and around this time he came out of remission. Performing was difficult and he wanted to record again, but not with a major label. He decided to create his own label, and Red Pajamas Records was born with the assistance of Goodman's long-time manager Al Bunetta.
Early releases
For Goodman's first release on Red Pajamas, Bunetta and Dan Einstein edited a series of bootleg live performance tapes. As Goodman's manager, Bunetta had been confiscating these tapes for years from concertgoers who didn't have permission to record Goodman's shows. The resulting album Artistic Hair was released in 1983. The title refers to the cover photo, which shows Goodman's chemotherapy-induced hair loss. At first, Red Pajamas Records was a mail-order business, with Goodman and his wife Nancy receiving orders for Artistic Hair and shipping copies themselves at a rate of 5 or 6 per day. When Goodman's condition improved he went back into the studio and recorded three more albums. Affordable Art, with both live and studio cuts, was released in 1983, but then Goodman died in September 1984. Santa Ana Winds was released posthumously late in 1984. The appropriately titled Unfinished Business was released in 1987, and in 1988 it won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk AlbumGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album...
.
Later releases
The next two Red Pajamas releases of Goodman's music were compilations drawn from the earlier Asylum material, followed by a two-disc retrospective with both live and studio cuts (No Big Surprise.) In 1996 The Easter Tapes was released, a live album edited from a series of performances taped by DJ Vin ScelsaVin Scelsa
Vincent Anthony Scelsa, better known as "Vin," was born on December 12, 1947 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He is the host of a freeform radio show known as Idiot's Delight....
at New York radio station WNEW-FM in the 1970s. The next five releases were reissues of the Asylum albums from 1975 to 1980. In 2000, another live album of a concert from the 1980s was released (Live Wire) and critics called it a treasure. In 2003, Red Pajamas released a video containing two of Goodman's performances on the TV program Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
from 1977 and 1982. The video included interviews with Goodman and others. A 2006 audio release featured Goodman in a 1978 concert at Chicago's Earl of Old Town
Old Town, Chicago
Old Town is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, bounded by the Ogden Ave. right-of-way on the northwest, Larrabee Street on the west, Clybourn Avenue on the southwest and Division Street on the south and Clark Street on the east and northeast. It spans across eastern parts of the community areas...
, and included musicians Corky Siegel
Siegel-Schwall Band
The Siegel–Schwall Band is an American electric blues band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1964 by Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall , and still tours occasionally.-History:...
on harmonica, Hugh McDonald
Hugh McDonald (musician)
Hugh "Huge" McDonald is a well known session musician and bassist. Before joining Bon Jovi he was the bass player for the David Bromberg Band, touring extensively worldwide and playing on many Bromberg albums...
on bass, Jethro Burns
Kenneth C. Burns
Kenneth C. Burns was an American country musician, comedian, and mandolin player. He was better known by his stage name Jethro from his years with Henry D. Haynes as part of the comedic musical duo Homer and Jethro beginning in 1936.-Biography:Burns was born Conasauga, Tennessee on March 10, 1920...
on mandolin, and composer David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
on pennywhistle and percussion. As of 2008, the latest release is an Extended Play CD titled The Baseball Singles containing 4 Goodman songs with baseball-themed lyrics, including "Go, Cubs, Go
Go, Cubs, Go
"Go Cubs Go", "Go, Cubs, Go" or "Go, Cubs, Go!" is a song written by Steve Goodman in 1984. At various times the Goodman version of the song has been the official Chicago Cubs team song and the official Cubs victory song. The Goodman version of the song is now referred to as the official Chicago...
."
Tributes
Red Pajamas has produced three tributes featuring friends of Goodman, two on audio and one on video. The first was 1986's Tribute To Steve Goodman, with Prine, Bonnie RaittBonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Fred Holstein
Fred Holstein
Fred Holstein was a folk music singer in Chicago, IL. Holstein was a prominent figure in the Chicago folk music scene in the 1970s. He owned a sequence of clubs in the Old Town and Lincoln Park neighborhoods...
, Bonnie Koloc
Bonnie Koloc
Bonnie Koloc is an American folk music singer-songwriter, actress, and artist who was considered one of the three main Illinois-based folk singers in the 1970s, along with Steve Goodman and John Prine forming the "trinity of the Chicago folk scene."...
and others. Next was My Old Man
My Old Man (album)
My Old Man is a 2006 album compiled by Rosanna Goodman in tribute to her father, folk singer-songwriter Steve Goodman. The twelve tracks are all covers of songs originally written by Steve Goodman.-Track listing:# Ana Egge, "Old Fashioned"...
, compiled ten years later by Goodman's daughter Rosanna. The album includes interpretations of Goodman's compositions by her friends Chris Brown, Kate Fenner
Kate Fenner
Kate Fenner is a Canadian musician, currently based in New York City. She was one of the primary singers and songwriters for the Canadian alternative rock band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir in the 1980s and 1990s. When that band broke up, Fenner continued performing as a duo with her Bourbon bandmate...
and others, and includes Rosanna's own delivery of the title tune, which was written by her father Steve about her grandfather Bud. The third tribute is the 2007 DVD Larger Than Life, a fundraiser for the Old Town School of Folk Music
Old Town School of Folk Music
The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists...
featuring Arlo Guthrie, Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
and John Prine.
Discography
| Year | Artist | Title | Number | Comments |
| 1983 | Goodman | Artistic Hair | RPJ-001 | Live |
| Goodman | Affordable Art | RPJ-002 | ||
| 1984 | Goodman | Santa Ana Winds | RPJ-003 | First posthumous release |
| 1986 | Various | Tribute to Steve Goodman | RPJ-004 | Live at Arie Crown Theatre |
| 1987 | Goodman | Unfinished Business | RPJ-005 | Second posthumous release, Grammy award |
| 1988 | Goodman | The Best of the Asylum Years, Volume One | RPJ-006 | Compilation |
| Goodman | The Best of the Asylum Years, Volume Two | RPJ-007 | Compilation | |
| 1994 | Goodman | No Big Surprise - The Steve Goodman Anthology | RPJ-008 | 2 CD compilation (1 studio/1 live) |
| 1996 | Goodman | The Easter Tapes | RPJ-009 | 18 live tracks from WNEW-FM 1970's broadcasts, liner notes by Vin Scelsa Vin Scelsa Vincent Anthony Scelsa, better known as "Vin," was born on December 12, 1947 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He is the host of a freeform radio show known as Idiot's Delight.... |
| 1998 | Goodman | Jessie's Jig and Other Favorites | RPJ-010 | Reissue of 1975 Asylum 7E1037, digitally remastered |
| Goodman | Words We Can Dance To | RPJ-011 | Reissue of 1976 Asylum 7E1061, digitally remastered | |
| 1999 | Goodman | Say It In Private | RPJ-012 | Reissue of 1977 Asylum 7E1118, digitally remastered |
| Goodman | High and Outside | RPJ-013 | Reissue of 1979 Asylum 6E174, digitally remastered | |
| Goodman | Hot Spot | RPJ-014 | Reissue of 1980 Asylum 6E297, digitally remastered | |
| 2000 | Goodman | Live Wire | RPJ-015 | Live at Bayou Theater, early 1980s |
| 2003 | Goodman | Steve Goodman: Live From Austin City Limits | RPJ-500 | VHS/DVD, from 1977 & 1982 shows, with guests John Prine John Prine John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:... and Jethro Burns Kenneth C. Burns Kenneth C. Burns was an American country musician, comedian, and mandolin player. He was better known by his stage name Jethro from his years with Henry D. Haynes as part of the comedic musical duo Homer and Jethro beginning in 1936.-Biography:Burns was born Conasauga, Tennessee on March 10, 1920... |
| 2006 | Various | My Old Man: A Tribute to Steve Goodman My Old Man (album) My Old Man is a 2006 album compiled by Rosanna Goodman in tribute to her father, folk singer-songwriter Steve Goodman. The twelve tracks are all covers of songs originally written by Steve Goodman.-Track listing:# Ana Egge, "Old Fashioned"... |
RPJ-016 | Compiled by daughter Rosanna |
| Goodman | Live at the Earl of Old Town | RPJ-017 | Live, August 1978 | |
| 2007 | Various | Larger Than Life: A Celebration of Steve Goodman | RPJ-501 | DVD of fundraiser tribute |
| 2008 | Goodman | The Baseball Singles | RPJ-018 | Compilation EP with "Go, Cubs, Go Go, Cubs, Go "Go Cubs Go", "Go, Cubs, Go" or "Go, Cubs, Go!" is a song written by Steve Goodman in 1984. At various times the Goodman version of the song has been the official Chicago Cubs team song and the official Cubs victory song. The Goodman version of the song is now referred to as the official Chicago... ", "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request", "When The Cubs Go Marching In", "Take Me Out to the Ball Game Take Me Out to the Ball Game "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of... " |
See also
- Oh Boy RecordsOh Boy RecordsOh Boy Records is an independent American record label founded in 1984 by singer John Prine, his manager Al Bunetta and their friend Dan Einstein. The label has released more than 40 audio and video recordings by singer-songwriters Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Slick Ballinger, Shawn Camp, Dan Reeder...
- Go, Cubs, GoGo, Cubs, Go"Go Cubs Go", "Go, Cubs, Go" or "Go, Cubs, Go!" is a song written by Steve Goodman in 1984. At various times the Goodman version of the song has been the official Chicago Cubs team song and the official Cubs victory song. The Goodman version of the song is now referred to as the official Chicago...
- Steve GoodmanSteve GoodmanSteve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...
- List of record labels
- John PrineJohn PrineJohn Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...