| Dust-to-Digital | |
| Founder: | Lance Ledbetter, April Ledbetter |
| Genre: | Blues, Country, Folk, Gospel, Jazz, and World Music |
| Country: | U.S. |
| Location: | Atlanta, Georgia |
Dust-to-Digital started as a record company that specialized in documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel, and country music. They've since expanded their catalogue to include a breadth of international music, and their full discography has over 70 releases from all over the world. Their method combines rare recordings with historic images, photographs, and detailed texts describing artists and their works.[1] The company has won multiple Grammy Awards.[2] [3]
In February 1999, while working at WRAS, an Atlanta college radio station, and becoming frustrated at the unavailability of gospel music recordings from the 78 RPM era, Lance Ledbetter set out on a search for rare recordings of gospel music. Aiding in his search was his then girlfriend, April, who has continued to work with Lance ever since. The culmination of five years of research, Goodbye, Babylon was released in 2003 on Ledbetter's newly formed label, Dust-to-Digital. The six-CD box set, containing gospel music from 1902 to 1960,[4] accompanied by a 200-page book, was well received.[5] [6] [7] Known for their deluxe packaging and in-depth research, Dust-to-Digital quickly established itself as the gold-standard for archival releases.
Since 2004, Dust-to-Digital has issued more than 70 titles. Their 2007 release Art of Field Recording Volume 1: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum, a collection of recordings by folklorist and artist Art Rosenbaum, won a Grammy for Best Historical Album. In 2012, Lance and April launched their nonprofit Music Memory, an organization dedicated to the preservation of recorded music of all types & genres.
In May 2017, Dust-to-Digital began posting Instagram videos of music performances of all kinds, from rare historical television footage to people making music out of everyday objects. The label's account has since garnered over a million followers, and Dust-to-Digital has become known as a hub for footage of engaging musical performances on social media.
Their box-set Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris won two Grammy Awards in 2019 for Best Historical Album and Best Liner Notes. Based on the award-winning set, the Voices of Mississippi Live Tour began in 2022, and the program features live musical performances by blues and gospel musicians integrated with film, audio recordings, and rare photographs.
| List of Dust-to-Digital Releases | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Release | Artist | Format | Notes | |
| 2003 | Goodbye, Babylon | Various Artists | CD box set with book | Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album and the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package | |
| 2004 | Where Will You Be Christmas Day? | CD | Compiled by Lance Ledbetter and Dick Spottswood | ||
| 2005 | Fonotone Records Frederick, Maryland (1956-1969) | CD box set with book | Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package; Compiled by Joe Bussard and Lance Ledbetter | ||
| 2006 | How Low Can You Go?: Anthology of the String Bass (1925-1941) | CD box set with book | Nominated for Jazz Journalists Association Award for Reissue/Historical Box Set of the Year; Compiled by Lance Ledbetter and Dick Spottswood | ||
| Desperate Man Blues | CD | Soundtrack to film of the same name; won Living Blues Award for Best Historical Reissue | |||
| Edward Gillan (director) | DVD | Documentary on Joe Bussard | |||
| I Belong to this Band: 85 Years of Sacred Harp Recordings | Various Artists | CD | Compiled by Matt Hinton and Lance Ledbetter | ||
| 2007 | Art of Field Recording Sampler | CD | Won Grammy Award for Best Historical Album; nominated for Grammy Award for Best Liner Notes; and nominated for Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research; Compiled by Lance Ledbetter and Art Rosenbaum | ||
| 2007 | Art of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years Of Traditional American Music Documented By Art Rosenbaum | CD box set with book | |||
| Melodii Tuva: Throat Songs and Folk Tunes from Tuva | CD | Liner notes by Dr. Pekka Gronow | |||
| Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Musics | Compiled by Ian Nagoski | ||||
| 2008 | Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days | Two CDs with book | Compiled by Rob Millis and Jeffrey Taylor | ||
| 2009 | Art of Field Recording Volume II: Fifty Years Of Traditional American Music Documented By Art Rosenbaum | CD box set with book | Field recordings by Art Rosenbaum | ||
| Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography, 1890-1950 | CD with book | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album[8] and Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Best Research in Recorded Country Music; Compiled by Jim Linderman and Lance Ledbetter | |||
| Au clair de la lune | Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville | Vinyl record | |||
| 2010 | Jesus Christ from A to Z | Rev. Johnny L. Jones | Vinyl record | ||
| The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta | Two CD set | ||||
| Excavated Shellac: Strings (Guitar, Oud, Lar, Violin and More from the 78rpm Era) | Various Artists | Vinyl/CD | Compiled by Jonathan Ward | ||
| Baby How Can it Be?: Songs of Love, Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s | CD set | Compiled by John Heneghan and featuring liner notes by Nick Tosches | |||
| Let Your Feet Do the Talkin' | Stewart Copeland (director) | DVD | Documentary on Thomas Maupin and clogging | ||
| Ten Thousand Points of Light: 20th Anniversary Edition | George King (director) | Documentary on an Atlanta family's Christmas light display | |||
| 2011 | Ain't No Grave: The Life and Legacy of Brother Claude Ely | Brother Claude Ely | Book | Written by Macel Ely II. Includes a CD featuring a sermon by Claude Ely; nominated for Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Best Historical Research in Blues, Gospel, Hip-Hop or R&B | |
| Luk Thung Classic & Obscure 78s from the Thai Countryside | Various Artists | CD | Compiled by David Murray | ||
| Never a Pal Like Mother: Vintage Songs & Photographs of the One Who's Always True | Book with two CDs | Book features an introduction by Rosanne Cash and an essay by Sarah Bryan | |||
| I Listen to the Wind that Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs, 1880-1955 | Book with two CDs | Compiled by Steve Roden | |||
| Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You The Fonotone Years 1958–1965 | John Fahey | CD box set | Compiled by Glenn Jones | ||
| Opika Pende: Africa at 78 rpm | Various Artists | CD box set with book | Compiled by Jonathan Ward; Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album, 2003 | ||
| I Have My Liberty!: Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana | CD | Produced by Calpin Hoffman-Williamson | |||
| Qat, Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s from Yemen | Compiled by Chris Menist | ||||
| 2012 | Pictures of Sound: One Thousand Years of Educed Audio, 980-1980 | Book and CD | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album and won Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research | ||
| Drop on Down in Florida: Field Recordings of African-American Traditional Music, 1977-1980 | Various Artists | Two CDs and book | Compiled by Dwight DeVane and Blaine Waide | ||
| Just Before Music | Lonnie Holley | CD/Vinyl | |||
| 2013 | Greek Rhapsody: Instrumental Music from Greece, 1905-1956 | Various artists | Two CDs and book | Compiled by Tony Klein | |
| Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Black Religious Music | CD/Vinyl | Liner notes by David Evans | |||
| Kassidat: Raw 45s from Morocco | |||||
| Longing for the Past: The 78 rpm Era in Southeast Asia | CD box set with book | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album; compiled by David Murray | |||
| Keeping a Record of It | Lonnie Holley | CD/vinyl | |||
| Michigan-I-O: Alan Lomax and the 1938 Library of Congress Folk-Song Expedition | Various Artists | Book | Liner notes written by Todd Harvey | ||
| 2014 | Lead Kindly Light | Various artists | Two CDs and book | Compiled by Sarah Bryan and Peter Honig | |
| Parchman Farm Photographs and Field Recordings, 1947-1959 | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album; Compiled by Lance Ledbetter and Nathan Salsburg with essays by Alan Lomax, Anna Lomax Wood and Bruce Jackson | ||||
| Arkansas at 78 rpm: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers | CD | Compiled by Tony Russell and Maxine Payne | |||
| Making Pictures Three for a Dime | Book | Featuring vintage photo booth photography; compiled by Phillip March Jones | |||
| 2015 | No More Good Time in the World for Me | J.B. Smith | CD | Field recordings by Bruce Jackson, recorded at the Ramsey Unit in 1965-66; liner notes by Nathan Salsburg | |
| Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line | Ola Belle Reed | Two CDs and book | Compiled by Henry Glassie and Clifford Murphy | ||
| The Birth of Rock and Roll: Photographs from the Collection of Jim Linderman | Jim Linderman and Joe Bonomo | Book | |||
| Rawhead & Bloodybones | Brian Harnetty | Two CDs | |||
| Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll | Various Artists | CD/Vinyl | Soundtrack for the documentary of the same name | ||
| Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946 | CD box set with book and DVD | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Liner Notes; compiled by James P. Leary | |||
| Joe Bussard presents: The Year of Jubilo - 78 rpm Recordings of Songs from the Civil War | CD | Compiled by Joe Bussard | |||
| Excavated Shellac: Reeds (Reed Performances from Tanzania, Kurdistan, Turkey, India, China and More from the 78 rpm Era) | CD/vinyl | Compiled by Jonathan Ward | |||
| 2016 | Bruce Conner: I'm Always Thinking of You | Bruce Conner | Greeting card | Reproduction of 1957 greeting card | |
| Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll | Various Artists | Double LP | Expanded vinyl edition of film soundtrack | ||
| Blind Alfred Reed: Appalachian Visionary | Blind Alfred Reed | CD and book | Liner notes by Ted Olson | ||
| Music of Morocco from the Library of Congress: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959 | Various Artists | CD box set with book | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album; Introduction by Lee Ranaldo and liner notes by Philip Schuyler | ||
| Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams | Washington Phillips | CD and book | Liner notes by Michael Corcoran | ||
| 2017 | Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll: Promo 45 | Various Artists | Vinyl Record | Record Store Day Release | |
| 2018 | Various Artists | CD box set with book and DVD | Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Historical Album; Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Liner Notes; Liner notes by Scott Barretta, David Evans, William Ferris and Tom Rankin | ||
| Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music | Various Artists | Two CDs and book | Liner notes by Alex Perullo and Hugh Tracey | ||
| The Early Films of William Ferris 1968-1975 | Various films | DVD | Seven documentary films by William Ferris with a total running time of 115 minutes | ||
| Various Artists | Vinyl | Single LP vinyl edition of box set | |||
| 2020 | Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music | Various Artists | Digital and box-set, 100 tracks with 186-page pdf | Compiled by Jonathan Ward. Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. | |
| 2022 | Hard Times Never Kill | Gonora Sounds | Digital only | Produced by David Aglow | |
| From the Lion Mountain: Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia | Various Artists | Digital only | Produced by David Evans | ||
| 2023 | Bolinus Brandaris | Various Artists | CD and hardcover book | Produced by David Aglow | |