Sunday, April 26, 2020

The bizarre story of Delta Records of Nashville, TN (1967-78)




Stock fraud, a shooting, and a lot of oddball country records. That's the story of Delta Records, a small Nashville, Tennessee, label that released a number of unusual and obscure country singles in the 1970s, almost all of which featured unknown singers. 

When looking at the Delta discography, even serious country fans won't recognize many, if any, of the artists' names other than Clyde Moody, who had a couple Top 10 country hits for King Records in 1948-50, and Big Jeff (Bess), who has been anthologized by Bear Family Records. Big Jeff's wife, Tootsie, also recorded for Delta, and her Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in Nashville is a landmark in country music history. Those were Delta's big names.

Despite an almost total lack of success, the label kept cranking out releases throughout the 1970s. But because Delta didn't advertise, was almost never mentioned in any music trade magazines, and had no hits, it's hard to pinpoint even the years in which most of its records were released.

How did the label keep churning out singles year after year in a commercial vacuum? It was able to do it because Delta wasn't a typical record label. It didn't rely on record sales for survival—it essentially operated as a vanity label and a platform for stock fraud. Artists had to pay Delta to record and release their records, and many of them bought unsecured stock in the label at a price of $1 a share in the hope of receiving some promotional TLC. Complaints by these artists, many of whom who said Delta didn't honor its promises to release and promote records, eventually brought the label down.


In the beginning...


Delta was formed by Ken Galloway in Nashville, Tennessee, in the late 1960s, possibly to release his own records. A brief item in Record World in 1967 said that Ken's recording of "Knockin' on the Door" on Delta Records was—according to Ken, at least—"beginning to pick up renewed action." Around the same time, in addition to running Delta and attempting to establish himself as a country singer, Galloway was managing, producing, and writing songs for the 5 Williamson Bros., who recorded for North Carolina's Gold Star label. In 1970, he was listed in Record World's directory of personal managers.  


A 1970 ad for
two Delta singles.
For reasons that will soon become obvious, not many artists recorded more than one single for Delta, which throughout its history had a generic white label that said DELTA in block letters. Ken's sons Bobby and Jimmy also recorded and wrote songs for the label.

After several years of steadily releasing records that went unnoticed by the mainstream country audience, Delta came under the scrutiny of the Tennessee State Insurance Department in 1976 in an investigation of alleged music-industry "ripoffs."

Delta was targeted for selling unregistered securities, stocks that aren't registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a front-page story in 1977, Nashville newspaper The Tennessean reported that Delta had been selling unregistered securities since incorporating the previous year, many of them "to hopeful recording artists."

In addition to going after Delta for selling unregistered securities, the State Insurance Department charged Delta with misrepresenting the value of the stock, failing to inform investors of pending legal action against the label, and leading artists to believe that their purchase of Delta stock would result in more robust promotion of their records.

Galloway was unrepentant and blamed the artists. "They come here to record," he told The Tennessean, "then they go home and realize that the money is gone and they come up with every excuse in the world to try to get it back."

The lawsuits


The aggrieved artists included the aforementioned Tootsie Bess of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, who recorded one of the final Delta records listed in the discography below and took Galloway to court over the rights to the composition. Galloway failed to appear in court and Tootsie won a $4,500 judgment.

Also named was Rita Gay McMurray, who recorded a single for the Music Mountain label with Galloway's help, and Violet Cole, who wrote two songs that were recorded by Bill Haney, also under Galloway's guidance, for what seems to have been the only release on Bayou Records, a subsidiary of Delta. 

Cole's story was especially tragic. A 60-year-old operator of a nursing home in Daniels, West Virginia, she came to Nashville in the hope of placing some songs she'd written with a publishing company or recording artists. She was referred to Galloway, who told her that she had "the wildest imagination of any songwriter that ever came to Tennessee." He cajoled her into paying for more session time than she intended, telling her that she would soon recoup all the money she spent. Galloway and his sons had a publishing company, Openwide Publishing, that buttered up Cole by giving her certificates for "best songs published in 1973" and "most songs recorded with hit potential in 1973." She racked up over $13,000 in studio and promotion fees, a debt that forced her to close her nursing home and sell five of her eight acres of land.

She eventually took Galloway to court and won a $63,000 judgment, which included Galloway's fees plus $50,000 in punitive damages. The court's ruling referred to Cole as "a victim of [Galloway's] confidence scheme" and said that Galloway was "guilty of gross, willful and wanton fraud, to the point of outrage." Galloway, for his part, again failed to appear in court and maintained his innocence in the press.

This judgment led to the dissolution of Delta. On February 16, 1978, The Tennessean reported that Delta had closed its doors the previous week. One of the label's final and most ambitious releases was Patty Sexton's Elvis on My Mind Sung by Patty Sextona full-length album of tributes to Elvis Presley recorded after his death and produced by Galloway.

Galloway was philosophical about the scandals, portraying himself as both the real victim and just an ordinary wheeler-dealer:
"The real ripoff comes when people leave Nashville and go somewhere else to some little studio where the people don't know nothing. ... There's not a damn company on Music Row that you can't find skeletons in the closet. But is it worth ruining the whole of Music Row to expose one or two people that might do something they ought not to?"


An odd coda


That wasn't the end of the Delta story. Delta was ordered to repay the artists with interest, but no payments were forthcoming. This was predictable, because as The Tennessean noted, "Attorneys who have sued Galloway in the past have complained that it is impossible to collect judgements against him since he has signed most of the stock in the company over to his three sons."

Even though Galloway had insisted that the label's assets were worth more than $3 million, a court-appointed attorney who took over the assets of Galloway and Delta in an attempt to compensate the victims told The Tennessean, "There was nothing there of any immediate commercial value, and Galloway had no personal assets sufficient to make any kind of substantial payment to stockholders." The only asset of Galloway's that could be located was a 1972 automobile. When a reporter asked Galloway for specifics about Delta's alleged $3 million in assets, Galloway said, "You just don't understand the music business. I'm going to start charging $50 an hour to explain it to you."

The only thing missing from this story was gunplay, at least until 1979. Galloway turned up in the newspapers again that year when he shot a 24-year-old bouncer at a motel lounge where his son, Bobby, was playing guitar with a band. Bobby and the bouncer got into an argument that culminated in the elder Galloway shooting the bouncer in the chest. The bouncer didn't die and refused to press charges, saying that the shooting was "an accident," so Galloway again avoided facing any legal consequences.



Delta Records discography

Delta catalog number
Artist
Song titles
????
Ken Galloway
“Knockin’ on the Door” / ?
1007
Ken Galloway
“A Fallen King” / “Branded Man”
1009
Rene’ Merritt
“Wink Em, Blink Em, and Nod” / “Hurt After Hurt”
1010
Darryl Massey
“Walk With Me (Little One)” / “She’s Got Me Crying Again”
1011
Edna Dee
“Move Over Music City” / “Paradise 404”
1022
Dick Root Jr.
“Surprise” / “Lie’s [sic] on My Lips”
1023
Vivian Dawn
"This Man" / "Passion and It's [sic] Truth"
1025
Dick Root Jr.
“Los Angeles Leavin'” / “I Can't Let Go”
1026
Bobby Lindsey
“Sugar Booger Baby” / “Blues That Ain't Never Been Used”
1027
Bobby Galloway
“Easy Baby” / “Got a Chigger on My Digger”
1031
Bobby Galloway
“That's Troublin' My Mind” / “If You've Never Been Kissed”
1032
Bernie Stevens
“I Was Born for You” / “L-O-V-E Love”
1035
Jeannie Dee
“It’s Gonna Be Hard” / “As Time Goes By”
1037
Jeannie Dee
“Pedro Hi-Jacked Santa Claus” / “Billy’s Christmas”
1038
Hal Phillips
“Too Many Irons in the Fire” / “That Side of Life”
1039
Tommy Gaebler
“What Kind of World (Am I Living In)” / “I Want To”
1040
Big Jeff
 “You” /“I’m Out to Get Even”
1042
Janette Monday
“My Sacrifice Ain’t Nice” / “If My Mama Was With Me”
1043
Jimmy Galloway
“I Can’t Seem to Get Her Off My Mind” / “Hello Mister Lonesome”
1045
Clyde Moody
“She’s No Angel” / “If You Need Me, I’ll Be Around”
1046
Gaylon Wayne
“Will You Be Sorry (For Loving Me Tonight)” / “I’m Gonna Love the Devil Out of You”
1049
Wendy Lou
“Don't Blame Me (If You Can't Hold Your Man)” / “I’ll Sure Come a Long Way Down”
1050
Big Jeff
“We Wonder if Mr. Nixon Knew” / “Assassination of J.F.K.”
1053
Jimmy Harville
“She's My Wife” / “Unfaithful Wife”
1055
Fatima
“The Legend of the Ghost Town” / “Squaw Girl”
1056
Lynnie Poppell
“Retouch My Heart” / “Sweet Love”
1057
Billy Somers
“Pass With Care” / “I’ve Got to Be Free”
1058
Bobby Galloway
“My Woman Wait’s [sic] at Home in New Orleans” / “Canyon’s [sic] of My Mind”
1060
The Owens Sisters
“Suburbs of Passion” / “I'm Learning”
1063
Chuck Penny
“If a Man Could Live on Love” / “A Little Bit of Money Makes a Whole Lot of Change”
1066
Clyde Moody
“I Can Tell When I'm Not Wanted” / “What Can I Do”
1072
John Adcock
“They’ll Be No Need for Tomorrow (If There’s No Yesterday in My Heart” / “Sweet Good Lookin’ Woman”
1080
Clyde Moody
“Just As Long As I Have You (I’m Satisfied)” / “The Kind of Man I Am”
1082
Mickey Fortune
“Ode to the Politician’s Society Choir of Monotony (Same Old Song)” / “Windy”
1083
Kirt McGee
“This Is the End Forever” / “Someday We’ll Make It”
1087
Haven Clark (Truck Stop Granny)
“Wacky Sally” / “Memories Will Make You Pay”
1088
Mickey Fortune
“Humpin’ to Please” / “Taste of Heaven”
1094
Linda Lee
“The Love I Found” / “Mama Said”
1095
Del Warren
“Mr. M.I. Jackson” / “Thanks to Granddad”
1096
Mike Kirby
“It Ain’t as Long” / “Greener Pastures”
1097
Gail Kight
“Call on Me” / “Love Was All I Needed”
1100
Betti Hart
“Thank You for Coming” / “Da Do Man”
1102
Donny Tapp
“Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge” / “The Funniest Feeling”
1107
Don Chapel
“In the Palm of Your Hand” / “Higher on the Hill”
1109
Al Dean
“It's Only My Imagination” / “Green Green Grass of Home”
1112
Monte Davidson
“Walkin’ Shoes” / “Bury Me Halfway Between”
1113
Sandra Rossfield
“Winter” / “Iron Horse”
1118
Jim Hsieh*
“I Need a Ride” / “Tied to a Dream”
1130
Sue Blaine
“Clean Up Your Act” / “On Again Off Again”
1131
Dorothy “Everybody’s Mother”
“220 Mama” / “Music of the People”
1133
Tootsie
“Tootsie’s Wall of Fame” / “The Wettest Shoulder in Town”
1138
T.K. O'Neal
“That Damn Truck” / “I May Lose You Tomorrow”
1145
Patsy Clay
“Mama Likes to Swing” / “Remember You Promised”
1151
Patsy Sexton
“Christmas Without Elvis” / “Christmas Card for Elvis”
D 1002
Patsy Sexton
Elvis on My Mind Sung by Patty Sexton LP

*Jim Hsieh's "I Need a Ride" (Delta 1118) is included on the 2010 anthology Ears of Stone: 1960s Folk Country & Pop from the Nashville Indies, even though it was recorded in the 1970s.

21 comments:

  1. I worked at Open Door publishing about 1973. Wrote leadsheets. I was aware the artist would pay for the recording, but I understood it as vanity publishing. I moved to Memphis and would drop by to pick up some work occasionally - the address changed to Music Circle E (or W?) - then late May 1978 there was a closed-for-bankruptcy sign on the door.

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  2. Ken Galloway said he had come to Nashville with Red Foley, but he had been in an auto accident. He had an injured leg and wore a boot with built-up sole. Recorded at major studios - I remember a session at Bradley's Barn which was fairly new. People came in and play me their songs and I would write it down for copyright purposes. "OpenDoor" because the front door was always open. He was old school, but I respected him.

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  3. Anyone ever heard of" Nashville Delta Records." Circa 1996

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  4. I recently obtained a recording by Leslie Sanders on Bayou Records. The catalog number is 110

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  5. 1011 is Edna Dee: Move Over Music City (E. Dee) / Paradise 404 (E. Dee), Wide Open Pub. A/B sides unclear so listed here based on deadwax #s.

    1113 is Sandra Rossfeld: Winter (Sandra C Rossfeld) / Iron Horse (Sandra C Rossfeld), Wide Open Pub Co

    1118 is Jim Hseih: I Need a Ride (C. Rutherford) / Tied to a Dream (J. Sarsfield), Wide Open Pub Co & Bar Three Pub Co side A, Open Wide Pub Co & Sarsfield Songs Side B (Note the inversion of Wide Open on side B)

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    Replies
    1. Awesome, thanks! I'll update the discography asap.

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  6. Ken Introduced me to Lou Bradley A few days after a chance encounter with Ken in a Music Row bar called The Bank, (coz it once was).... I ordered a beer and asked if I could do a couple songs in the break. The bartender said "go get your guitar son., I dont want you to go back to New York unhappy!" So I did and , and a few minutes later Ken Galloway was talking with my gal, Louisa. Two days later we recorded three songs in Columbia "Little B" studio with Lou Bradley engineer and Stonewall Jackson's band backing up my original ballad and two step. Two songs Different Kind of Lonely and A Dreamin Always of You - got air time and was pick hit of the week Oct 1979 in Sandusky, Midland and Raleigh, maybe a few other places...but I never could find Ken at his Uinversal Artist Records or Bobby's Lazy River Publishing. Coda; the third track Yesterday's Love, co written with Hollywood actor Patrick Dollaghan lived on...,somehow, I had the original ampex 2" reels from the sessions and I went back in a studio in Rockford Illinois, finished the harmonies 20 years later and released my Moondog Anthology CD (Spotify). Ken Galloway was a character and this has been a hell of a story to have in my life. Sorry for anybody he screwed over. My gig with Ken was the year after Delta shut down. Ken couldn't stop himself spinning a yarn. Like my song says, Thank you for the company, thank you for the ride," I'll tip one to old fast talkin Ken Galloway tonite. Seeing this site and reading what else was going on in Ken and Bobby's world at the same time I was having my "vanity' experience is pretty wild. I feel like I got my money's worth. Anybody want to talk about it... find me: originsofmusic@gmail.com or check out www.davidstocker.net

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  7. I found this blog after I added a missing entry to the Delta Records Discogs entry:

    https://www.discogs.com/The-Owens-Sisters-Suburbs-Of-Passion-Im-Learning/release/18360250

    I encourage anyone to add yours if it isn't listed yet.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment—I added the record to the discography above. "Suburbs of Passion" is an unusual song title. How's the song?

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  8. Another one for the discography: catalog number 1025, Dick Root Jr., Los Angeles Leavin’ / I Can’t Let Go

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  9. A few more additions:
    #1053: Jimmy Harvill, "She's My Wife"/"Unfaithful Wife"
    Also 1046 can be dated to 1972 by matrix numbers, and 1100 to 1974 by a newspaper story. (See 45cat for all these)

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  10. Another one I just added to Discogs, #1049

    https://www.discogs.com/release/21522775-Wendy-Lou-Dont-Blame-Me-If-You-Cant-Hold-Your-Man-Ill-Sure-Come-A-Long-Way-Down

    I can't find any information on the artist Wendy Lou, which of course fits with what you said about the label producing unknown singers. I came across it in a stack of old 45s inherited from my mother when she passed.

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    1. Thanks for mentioning it here. I'll add it to the discography!

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  11. I recently came across another release not mentioned in your discography... 1146 ...Jay Hamilton, Call Me (A side), Stilwell Near The Line (B side). I can't find any mention of this record on Discogs, which is really unusual!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment. I'll get around to updating the discography one of these days....

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  12. I won a talent contest and the Galloway boys was in the band. I won a trip to Nashville and was taken to Delta Records. I recorded Lord why must so much loneliness be mine and when a boy meets a girl. It took over a year to get my records and wouldn't have got them at all if it wasn't for a teacher of mine who sent a letter say he would expose them. I was about 15 at the time.

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