The growth and development of recording companies at the beginning of the twentieth century, became synonymous and fulcrum for the spread and development of popular music.

By the time that Otto Heineman introduced his Okeh label in May 1918, the vertical-cut disc had established a niche in the American market. In 1910, a few American record manufacturers attempted to challenge Victor and Columbia’s domination by employing the vertical cut method, which unlike the standard lateral cut, was not protected by patents in the United States. Many new record companies joined the fray in the years around the outbreak of World War I. A few would survive and thrive. However, Victor and Columbia did not became the foundation upon which Heineman would build Okeh.

In 1924, record companies suddenly discovered that there was an untapped market just waiting to be exploited. The blues boom led to at least two record labels being set up wholly for black performers. Black Swan in New York which recorded the first black opera singer, as well as blues competition winner Trixie Smith, and Sunshine, a tiny Los Angeles operations which issued only three 78s, two were Classic blues. There were other unsuccessful attenpts to create black labels, like C S, which concentrated on black vaudeville, W.C. Handy’s own label, and Echo. Otto Heineman and Okeh Records, which had started it all, slowly realised the need to market its black artists to the black communities, and in 1921 issued the first black blues and jazz listing. At first it was called simply the ‘Colored Catalog’, but in 1922 Okeh introduced a term which was adopted and used by the record industry for more than 20 years: race records.

Perhaps the most important race record label began as an offshoot of a furniture company. The 'Wisconsin Chair Company' of Port Washington also made phonographs and cabinets, and naturally started making records. The label was called Paramount, and the first blues release was two Lucille Hegamin sides leased from another label. Unfortunately there were too few singers around and their records were being issued on numerous labels. Well known performers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were contracted to one company, lesser known singers sang for any label that wanted them. Hazel Meyers, Lena Wilson and Rosa Henderson were heard on six labels and Edna Hicks appeared on seven in one year. A 1924 Paramount catalogue even appealed to customers for suggestions of artists to record.

The first self accompanied male blues singer to become a record star was the unlikely figure of Papa Charlie Jackson, a banjo-guitar player and minstrel show entertainer. He made his first recording for Paramount in 1924. The record label was still experimenting with their record issues in the hope of finding a market, and with Papa Charlie they struck lucky.

Between 1927 and 1930 there were 11 recording sessions Memphis, seven in New Orleans, eight in Dallas, and 17 in Atlanta alone. Memphis in particular was one of the richest seedbeds for black musical talent in the 1920s, it was the main centre for a wide area. Jugbands were very popular in Memphis, they played all sorts of music for all occasions. The jug bands were prolific, but the best were the Memphis Jug Band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers and the South Memphis Jug Band. This type of band, with its unofficial instruments such as the jug and kazoo, offered a rough and ready version of the jazz line up.

Another ensemble that relied on non-legitimate instruments was the washboard band. The jugband was based on the low grunting of the jug, whereas the washboard band derived its character from the clacking and clanging of the washboard-player. Both line-ups were similar with guitars, banjos, harmonicas and kazoos. The music was rather different as the sound of the washboard is hard to fit into slow blues, so the typical washboard band was bright and snappy. The washboard became a common percussion instrument on blues records. 

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