Underground not underexposed

Abstract

Bloodshot Records, an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, released its first album, For a Life of Sin: A Compilation of Insurgent Chicago Country in 1994. Described by co- founder Nan Warshaw as “a snapshot of a scene at the time,” the album features local bands and artists performing various styles of country music influenced by punk rock. Bloodshot’s early albums contributed to the sound and aesthetic of alt.country, and the record label became associated with this emerging genre nationally, while maintaining strong ties to the Chicago live music scene. In its twentieth year, the record label boasts over two hundred releases featuring genres from country music to klezmer, or what it describes as “the music that lurks between genres.” Nevertheless, Bloodshot has remained strongly associated with its early albums of “insurgent country,” and has worked to distance itself from a limited generic scope. In this dissertation, I consider the function of independent record labels within local musical scenes, and the connections between local musicians, infrastructure, musical production, consumption, and reception, and sonic identity using Bloodshot Records as a case study. I examine the label’s history, historical context, music and musicians, business and musical practices, and its associated community to understand its origins in and relationship to the local Chicago music scene. I elucidate the record label’s role in and contributions to alt.country’s history and development, while also considering its identity beyond the constraints of the genre. Alt.country emerged in the 1990s out of direct connections to local and regional music scenes, following the aesthetic values and production and consumption practices of punk and indie rock. Throughout the dissertation, I argue that Bloodshot Records was strategically positioned to contribute to alt.country nationally, while claiming and reinforcing a specific Chicago identity associated with the city’s punk and indie rock scene through its musical and business practices.