A Great Migration Story, 1917–1932
Scott Blackwood

Founded in 1917, Paramount Records incongruously was one of several homegrown
record labels of a Wisconsin chair-making company. The company pinned no out-
sized hopes on Paramount. Its founders knew nothing of the music business, and they
had arrived at the scheme of producing records only to drive sales of the expensive
phonograph cabinets they had recently begun manufacturing.
Lacking the resources and the interest to compete for top talent, Paramount’s ear-
liest recordings gained little foothold with the listening public. On the threshold of
bankruptcy, the label embarked on a new business plan: selling the music of Black
artists to Black audiences. It was a wildly successful move, with Paramount eventu-
ally garnering many of the biggest-selling titles in the “race records” era. Inadver-
tently, the label accomplished what others could not, making blues, jazz, and folk
music performed by Black artists a popular and profitable genre. Paramount featured
a deep roster of legendary performers, including Louis Armstrong, Charley Patton,
Ethel Waters, Son House, Fletcher Henderson, Skip James, Alberta Hunter, Blind
Blake, King Oliver, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Johnny Dodds, Papa Charlie
Jackson, and Jelly Roll Morton.
Scott Blackwood’s The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records is the story of happen-
stance. But it is also a tale about the sheer force of the Great Migration and the legacy
of the music etched into the shellacked grooves of a 78 rpm record. With Paramount
Records, Black America found its voice. Through creative nonfiction, Blackwood
brings to life the gifted artists and record producers who used Paramount to revolu-
tionize American music. Felled by the Great Depression, the label stopped record-
ing in 1932, leaving a legacy of sound pressed into cheap 78s that is among the most
treasured and influential in American history.