The inspiration for a new record label can arise from the "grubbiest" of conversations, Sundazed Music head honcho Bob Irwin tells the Scene.
"[Former Kentucky Headhunters guitarist] Greg Martin and I were joking back and forth about 'Groovy Grubworm,' an old instrumental record that we both love," Irwin recalls. "Greg said he was going to start playing it in his shows, and I said he should record it. That was the genesis of the whole thing. I was wondering what to do with the recording, and that's when it occurred to me to start a label just for instrumentals."
The result of that moment of inspiration is Sundazed RFD, the newest subsidiary of Coxsackie, N.Y., mega-ginchy reissue label Sundazed Music. Sundazed RFD's first releases are three instrumental 45s, featuring the finest twang and clang of renowned Nashville-area musicians.
Along with "Groovy Grubworm," the RFD's inaugural twang trifecta includes "Shark Country" by the SloBeats (Nashville musical stalwarts Kenny Vaughan, Dave Roe and Maxwell Schauf) and "The Lonely Bull" by The East Nashville Teens (Los Straitjackets founding members Eddie Angel and Jimmy Lester, along with Irwin and fellow members of the Coxsackie instrumental combo the Pluto Walkers).
A strictly instrumental label releasing only 45s may sound like a crazy idea in today's music marketplace, but Irwin has made a career by confounding conventional marketing "wisdom." A native of Coxsackie, a small town south of Albany, the musician, record producer and audio engineer launched Sundazed Music in 1989 with a focus on vintage rock and pop mostly forgotten by the major labels.
"We started with both CDs and LPs right at the time when the major labels were killing off vinyl," Irwin recalls. "We were striving to do reissues the right way, at a time when a lot of what was coming out, Rhino Records excluded, was very slapdash and not put together well." Even though CDs proved to be the best sellers in the early '90s, Irwin never abandoned vinyl.
"We were always pressing records," he says. "In 1995, the absolute dog days of trying to sell vinyl, we started Beatrocket, a vinyl-only subsidiary that focused on the deeper end of '60s garage and psychedelica. What surprised all of us was that it took off, and everyone wanted to write about this crazy label that was vinyl only." The good press soon led to Sundazed reissuing the catalogs of Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Stooges, Love, MC5, Otis Redding and many more on high-quality pressings, often in original mono versions. It was an investment that proved quite lucrative when the vinyl revival arrived in full force.
Although Sundazed Music is still headquartered in Coxsackie, Irwin and his wife bought a home in Leiper's Fork, Tenn., in 2009.
"We thought it would be a secondary residence," he says, "but as soon as we got here it became our primary. We had been coming down to Nashville for two decades, and I had developed some very good relationships. I started playing guitar with some really great players in the Nashville area, and I really wanted to release instrumental records by some of my friends."
With that desire in mind, Irwin found his moment of inspiration with Greg Martin. After capturing Martin's version of Harlow Wilcox and the Oakies' 1969 ode to a long, cool larvae, "Groovy Grubworm," Irwin turned to other friends for Sundazed RFD's opening blast of country-fried instrumental rock 'n' roll.
"The way I envision the label is very guitar-centric and instrumentally driven," Irwin says. "That said, any rules we make are meant to be broken. We have so many things in the hopper. I'm already working on our next round of releases for later this year, but there will be no set schedule. You have to catch musicians when they're not touring, and I don't want something that is driven by fun to become work." That sense of fun has already been noted by advance reviews and open-minded indie radio stations.
"Nothing is cooler than a great 45 on colored wax with a great picture sleeve," Irwin says, "and it's great being able to deliver snappy-looking 45s to hip radio stations. They've been already getting good airplay." When Irwin talks about his new venture, it becomes clear that Sundazed RFD is not just a labor of love but a thank-you note to Nashville's community of great pickers as well.
"I feel very fortunate to be sitting in the middle of this area with so many friends who are incredible players and nice people," Irwin says. "It's the frosting on top of the Sundazed cake, which was already very tasty."
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