On the other hand, Nathan was no fool. TheCincinnati businessman founded King Records in 1943 as part of a wave of indielabels established all over the U.S. and turned his little operation into thelaunch pad for country acts such as Merle Travis, bluegrass performer RedSmiley and bluesman Freddie King, along with R&B stars like Hank Ballardand, yes, James Brown.
Jon Hartley Fox’s book King of theQueen City: TheStory of King Records (University of Illinois Press) chronicles a labelthat was on the cutting edge of American music in the 1940s and ‘50s. Nathanwas the proverbial mid-century cigar-smoking hustler, a character Phil Silvers wouldhave played in movies. Like his contemporaries, the better remembered Phil andLeonard Chess, he was a Jewish entrepreneur unafraid to venture across thetracks of America’s racial and class division. He identified with themarginalized, poor whites as well as poor blacks.
Perhaps ironically, the tastes of poor peoplemade Nathan a rich man and lifted many of his recording acts into the ranks ofstardom. Although seldom mentioned in the company of the Chess, Atlantic or Sunlabels, King Records was almost as important in pointing the direction ofAmerican music. Although Fox is occasionally guilty of compensating byoverstatement for King’s lack of acknowledgement, he ably writes what had beena largely blank chapter in the story of indie-label American music in the ‘40sand ‘50s. King of the Queen City isimportant reading for anyone interested in the development of Americanvernacular music; Nathan’s story is an example of a hustler with idiosyncraticideas challenging the status quo andat least in small wayschanging the world.
