My guest this week is Bill Nowlin, co-founder of Rounder Records.

Bill joins me to talk about Rounder's extraordinary 50 year legacy as one of the most important, influential and best loved independent labels in American roots music.

We chat about how Rounder started, after Bill was randomly assigned Ken Irwin as his college roommate, and how, along with Marian Leighton Levy, they grew Rounder from a small enterprise releasing a couple of records a year into a successful label, responsible for the career of one of the most awarded artists in the history of the Grammys.

Bill shares how they discovered Alison Krauss, via a demo tape she wasn't even the lead vocalist on, and subsequently signed her when she was just a teenager. We talk about how Alison's success, along with that of other artists like George Thorogood, helped Rounder establish themselves and how Rounder managed to position themselves at the forefront of industry developments, including releasing the first ever bluegrass CD.

We also chat about some of the iconic records Rounder put out over the years, from artists like JD Crowe, Norman Blake, Tony Rice, Tony Trischka and Alison Krauss, and how the founders eventually decided to sell Rounder. That led to a new label, Down the Road Records which, in a lovely full circle moment, put out Alison Krauss and Union Station's return to bluegrass 'Arcadia' in 2025.

This was a fascinating conversation about a fascinating legacy.

If you want to hear more about Rounder's history, I can highly recommend Bill's book Vinyl Ventures: My Fifty Years at Rounder Records and David Menconi's Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music

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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

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Bill Nowlin - 50 Years of Rounder Records, the 'Hobby That Got Out of Control'