A recent article about the label:
Music lover brings rhythms of past to life Bishop Lynch alum follows passion, builds company, wins Grammy
JOANNA CATTANACH
Staff Writer
644 words
2 June 2007
The Dallas Morning News
NORTH
10B
English
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News. All Rights Reserved.
The pair of golden phonographs that sit on Richard Martin's living room mantel in Illinois symbolize a lifelong dedication to restoring music and history.
The phonographs are Grammy Awards that Mr. Martin and his wife and business partner, Meagan Hennessey, received at this year's ceremonies in Los Angeles.
The 1985 Bishop Lynch High School alumnus has held a passion for music all his life, but it wasn't until 1998 when he started the company Archeophone that his on-again, off-again hobby of collecting old music turned into a business.
"It was clear that we have a portion of American history that was about to be lost," said Mr. Martin, who trolled East Dallas record stores, flea markets and barns in search of 78s, wax cylinders and old records.
"We're not a nostalgic operation," said Mr. Martin, who believes he and his wife's efforts transcend nostalgia.
They write and research many of the details behind each song's history and approach the work more historically and academically than sentimentally, he said.
Terry May, director of communication at Bishop Lynch, said Mr. Martin may be the only Lynch alumnus who has won a Grammy Award.
"Richie was a very well-liked, outgoing guy," Ms. May said. His senior year he was awarded the title "Mr. Bishop Lynch High School" and served as president of the student council.
Fellow classmate and friend Jeff Miller remembers Mr. Martin's interest in music started early on: "Anything he could readily get his hands on, he's collected and grouped accordingly."
For the Grammy Award-winning collection Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891 to 1922, it meant reviving historic black harmonies, vaudeville sounds and dance rhythms that put the collection a cut above the competition for Best Historical Album.
The album also includes songs from George W. Johnson, a former slave who became the first black man to record.
Although many of the songs were derogatory, and Mr. Johnson sang until his voice wore out, Mr. Martin said Mr. Johnson forged ahead in ways most black men in the late 1890s could not: "His voice transmitted into places that he himself may not have been allowed."
Only eight of Mr. Johnson's songs remain, and the collection includes a variety of his work.
"It opened a lot of people's eyes in ways other people in the category didn't," Mr. Martin said.
The collaboration with David Giovannoni and Tim Brooks, whose book Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919, helped inspire the collection.
"We crammed it all in to about six or eight months," said Mr. Martin, who along with Mr. Brooks gathered the recordings stored on wax cylinders featured on the album.
The market for old music and speeches is a limited one, said Mr. Martin, who said his typical clients are men in their mid-50s.
"I think the time is right for this sort of thing," Mr. Martin said.
The company has released 39 albums and has maintained a steady Web presence that features sound clips from various collections.
Many of the original recordings have come from Mr. Martin's collection and through the help of friends.
"We have been very fortunate to have friends who are very top- notch and avid collectors," Mr. Martin said.
For more information and to hear audio clips from Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, visit www.archeophone.com .
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