Ramseur Records

Basic Information:

Ramseur Records is an independent folk and roots music record label based in Concord, N.C. The label was founded in July 2000 by Dolph Ramseur and has become one of the most respected indie folk labels on the national scene.

Ramseur Records Artists:

The Avett Brothers, the everybodyfields, Bombadil, Darling, Martin Stephenson, New Jersey Transient, Oh What a Nightmare, Sammy Walker, Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers, Paleface, Frontier Ruckus

Recommended CDs from Ramseur Records:

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism (Ramseur, 2007)

Bombadil - A Buzz, A Buzz (Ramseur, 2008)

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers - Songs in the Night (Ramseur, 2009)

North Carolina Music Scene:

Situated about halfway up the East Coast, North Carolina has long been a convenient location for musicians who can quickly and easily access the music markets of Nashville, Atlanta, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston. The mountains and hills of the Carolinas have long been humming with traditional music. The past decade, however, has seen a rapid emergence of prominent, popular roots artists coming out of the area, and many of them have released their work on Ramseur Records.

About Dolph Ramseur:

Dolph Ramseur has always been a music enthusiast, but he started his professional career as a professional tennis player with a business degree from Ferris State University. He eventually took a job with his father-in-law's venture capital firm when he was 28 and started thinking about entering the music industry.

History of Ramseur Records:

Ramseur purchased an album by English singer-songwriter Martin Stephenson and invited him to North Carolina to tour the local market, During that experience, Ramseur realized he had a passion and a knack for the music industry. He started his little label in July 2000 as a part-time job and released the label's first recording by North Carolina singer-songwriter David Childers two years later. He met the Avett Brothers that same year (2002) and released their debut the following year. Soon after, Ramseur's father-in-law passed away. He took out a loan and dove into the music industry full time.

Since releasing the Avett Brothers' debut, Ramseur has signed nearly a dozen other artists and has garnered a reputation for recognizing raw talent in artists who aren't afraid to test boundaries. Paleface told About.com Folk Music: "Dolph is a music lover. He likes to find acts that he thinks are doing something unto themselves. He finds them and likes them, and then he signs them. Like Bombadil. He had no reason to sign them other than that he liked the band, and now they've come a long way."

Ramseur himself has noted that "roots labels...were always plagued by bands putting out releases that were just regurgitating things from the past instead of making real artistic statements. I wanted my label to have artists that were really making true art." Indeed, this is precisely what his label Ramseur Records has become known for.