Richard Rosenblatt

Tone-Cool Records had a pretty good 20-year run, with about 50 album releases. Our most successful release (and only Gold Record) was Susan Tedeschi’s “Just Won’t Burn”, though we were very lucky to launch the North Mississippi Allstars with their first few albums, and we had a fairly large hit with a record by Stevie Ray’s rhythm section “Double Trouble” with major guest stars. We continued to release mostly blues or blues-influenced music, with artists including Monster Mike Welch, Rod Piazza, Toni-Lynn Washington, Paul Rishell & Annie Raines, and many more. After a while we left Rounder Records and made a deal with Universal Distribution, then later signed a deal with Danny Goldberg’s Artemis Records. Under Artemis we released more music by Susan Tedeschi, The North Mississippi Allstars, Hubert Sumlin, Sean Costello, Taj Mahal, Rick Holmstrom and more. The early 2000s brought hard times to a lot of traditional music labels and due to the financial crunch we wound up selling out to Artemis Records’ parent company in 2004.

At that point I decided to put out the word that if anyone was looking for a slightly-used harmonica player and/or record company president, I was available. Almost immediately, I got a call from my old friend, blues guitarist Bob Margolin, who had come up in the same Boston blues scene until being hired by Muddy Waters in 1973 and has since gone on to have a rather illustrious career on his own. He said that he had just recorded a record, and he was talking with a partner about starting a record company to put it out, and they were wondering if I would like to get involved. I told them it sounded very interesting, and if they were thinking of starting a traditional record company, perhaps signing more artists to build the business, and then start hitting catastrophic financial icebergs, I knew EXACTLY how to do that! On the other hand, I suggested, perhaps we could consider a new business model where we worked in cooperation with our artists, sharing a fair split of proceeds without funding it all ourselves. THAT seemed to make sense, so we started the VIZZTONE LABEL GROUP. Our first release was Bob Margolin’s album in 2007, and since then we have released more than 150 albums and a whole lot of singles. Bob and I are still partners, and along the way we added partner Amy Brat and assistant Lisa Gray, so we are a compact but highly effective unit. We release, distribute, promote, and publicize our releases in cooperation with our musical partners, and our family of artists convene for multi-artist showcases in Memphis during the major Blues Foundation events.

Thankfully, I still get to be a musician. My original 11th Hour Band was renamed the “11 Guys Quartet” and released an album of instrumentals in 2000, and we’ve released a half dozen remotely recorded singles and very bizarre videos over the past few years. I also played in Erin Harpe’s band for a number of years, and have been performing in the New England area for close to 15 years with original J. Geils Band bassist Danny Klein in Danny Klein’s Full House.

What is your favorite experience you’ve had in your career? Perhaps a musical idol you got to meet? A festival you were able to attend? A project you were involved with promoting?

I’ve been lucky to have some very fulfilling musical experiences, working on the records, hanging with our artists at the Grammys, Blues Music Awards and Festivals, seeing their albums succeed and their stars rise, and knowing that we may have played some small part in making it happen. I am always in awe of their artistry as I think of what famed record exec Danny Goldberg called the secret to his success: “Bumping into Geniuses” and holding on as hard and long as he could! I’ve been blessed to play with musical heroes like Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush, Levon Helm, John Lee Hooker, and sitting in with Bob Margolin, Warren Haynes and a stage full of superstars for the Last Waltz tour…. But none of them has been more rewarding than working with Bob and Amy to get 20 of our artists on and offstage for the barely controlled pandemonium of one of our many artist showcases on Beale Street. Now THAT’S Blues Power!

What aspect of your job gives you the most satisfaction?

Since VizzTone is a small company, we all wear a lot of hats, and I’ve shared many roles with Bob and Amy. Over the years I’ve been a musician, recording engineer, producer, radio promoter, publicist, talent scout, accountant, and office manager. The truth is I enjoy all of it, I just wish there were enough hours in the day keep me from going crazy doing it.

What band/artist or style of music outside the realm of your college/community radio promotion would people be most intrigued to hear you love?

I do like a lot of music, and I find myself able to tolerate and even enjoy more styles as I get older. I missed a lot of popular music in the late 70’s and 80s, as I was totally focused on listening to blues, and a little R&B. Some people would say those were a couple pretty good decades to miss, but my wide circles of ignorance sometimes amaze me. I always knew a few John Prine songs, but it wasn’t until after he died recently that I listened to his wider body of work, and really appreciated the depth of his intelligence and humor. I should have been a bigger fan a long time ago. So maybe it’s not too late to learn something.

What job do you think you would have if you weren’t in this industry?

This is a serious question, right? I always think of the scene in This Is Spinal Tap, where the interviewer asks Nigel (I think) if he’d rather be in this crazy music business than selling ladies shoes, wouldn’t he, and his deadpan answer is “What does it pay?” I honestly have no idea what job I would have. I did get a degree in French, and I’m pretty good with typing, math and office skills, will that get me a job at Staples or Chick Filet?

Summer is still here for a bit longer!  What have you done or still have lined up that has you the most excited?

Hey, after not having picked up a tennis racket for more than 20 years I decided to take a lesson and see if I could A: hit balls and run around the court for an hour without calling an ambulance, and B: play a whole tennis game without totally embarrassing myself. The answers came back A: Yes, B: No. So it goes…

I haven’t traveled much this Summer, but we’ve been putting out some great music, so there’s plenty to do around the office, and some of my favorite artists have been coming through town. Gabe Stillman put on an awesome show with Anson Funderburgh (Ronnie Earl and I sat in), and Danielle Nicole came through town as part of a benefit for the family of her brother Kris. Danny Klein’s band has had some awesome gigs, and playing a night of J Geils Band music is always good for my mental health. There’ll be some traveling in the Fall – a few days at Redeye Worldwide, our distributor in North Carolina, then Thanksgiving in California with our 1-year old grandson and more of the family. And before long, back to Memphis…

You just won 10 million dollars. What are you going to do with it?

Hmm… maybe buy a small apartment in San Francisco near where our son lives with his family, and get a very comfy private jet to ferry my wife and I back and forth to and from Boston. Paris would be nice too. Okay, if there’s anything left I’ll be charitable.

Entertainment Time: What is/are your current favorite TV obsession(s)?  What’s a great movie (new or old) you’ve watched recently? What is your current favorite album?

Well I guess I tend towards TV series – Watched The Sopranos a couple times, LOVE Deadwood (which I think Shakespeare would have written if he lived in that era), and okay I admit it, I was hooked on Game Of Thrones. (Guilty Pleasures!) When I get too depressed by watching the news, I will sometimes switch to Gunsmoke – great harmonica playing by Tommy Morgan on many of the soundtracks. For blues albums, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy’s “Hoodoo Man Blues” is the Bible, but Little Walter’s “Hate To See You Go” is probably my favorite classic.

Do you have a favorite restaurant in town for take-out or to take out-of-town guests to?

I don’t exactly have a current favorite restaurant, I think I’ve gotten pickier in my old age, so I now have some complaint about most of them. But recently VizzTone artist Chickenbone Slim came through the area, and he happened to be staying in my old Cambridge neighborhood, right around the corner from my very favorite restaurant at the time, a greasy spoon called the Brookline Lunch. We hit a booth, the heavenly gates opened, and it absolutely did not disappoint. Sometimes life is good.

You’re stranded on a desert island.  What five well known people (dead or alive) would you like to have there with you?

Okay, let’s see…

• Hubert Sumlin: Brilliant musician, whimsical elf, one of the kindest spirits I ever met.
• Jim Dickinson: The heart of Memphis music, wickedly sharp sense of humor, a genuine problem solver.
• Gary Kasparov: We’ll need a good political mind, and maybe he’ll be my chess coach.
• Duke Ellington: The island will need a little dignity.
• Bonnie Raitt: She might want to be there, and how could I say no?