This double CD celebrates the entrepreneurial legacy of Floyd Ramsey, who left an incredible mark on pop music through his recording studios, record labels and publishing companies.
Growing up from humble beginnings in Phoenix, Arizona, Ramsey’s father, Clay, built and operated Ramsey’s Radio Repair on the corner of 7th Street and Weldon in the late 1940s. By the early ‘50s, the father-son duo constructed a small studio on the same property to record square dance records for their label, Old Timer Records. As the business grew, so did Ramsey’s Recording Studio, which was enlarged and upgraded in the mid ‘50s. Floyd and his wife, Mary, worked full-time recording singers, bands and radio commercials. In 1957, Floyd Ramsey changed the studio’s name to Audio Recorders of Arizona.
Local disc jockey, songwriter and producer, Lee Hazlewood, changed everything when he brought Sanford Clark and Al Casey into the studio to record “The Fool” for the upstart label, MCI, in 1956. It was the small studio’s first hit and sold over 750,000 records after Dot Records bought the master. Hazlewood returned in 1958, and along with recording engineer, Jack Miller, and Floyd Ramsey’s ingenious reverb chamber (an empty water tank!), the trio created a new sound: “The Twang Heard ‘Round The World,” which was featured on Duane Eddy’s million-selling single, “Rebel ‘Rouser,” released by Jamie Records. Many hits were laid to tape by Miller and the small group of musicians that Hazlewood and Floyd Ramsey assembled for their sessions, all recorded in that little studio with the big water tank reverb. By the end of the decade, everyone was booking time to get that “Phoenix Sound.”
While hit records brought the fame, Audio Recorders also stayed busy cutting master discs for the nearby Sydney J. Wakefield pressing plant, which manufactured records for various labels nationwide. In 1963, with money from investor Niblack Thorne, a large modern studio was built across the street at 3830 N 7th Street. The new Audio Recorders featured state of the art equipment, with Studio “A” large enough to record the Phoenix Symphony, and the smaller studio, Studio “B,” plus several rooms used for mixing, mastering and tape duplication.
From the 1950s-1970s, Floyd Ramsey founded several record labels. These included Old Timer Record Company, which he founded with his father in 1950, followed by Liberty Bell and Allegre in 1952, Ramco Records and ARA Records in the 1960s, and BlueRam in the 1970s. Ramsey also established Renda Music Publishing and went on to purchase both the masters and publishing from several of his studio clients, including MCI Records/Desert Palms Publishing and REV Records. These labels boast artists including Al Casey, Wayne Newton, Lee Hazlewood, Skip & Flip, Waylon Jennings, Dyke & the Blazers, Eddie & Ernie and Donna Fargo.
Floyd M. Ramsey was born in Phoenix, Arizona on March 22, 1926, and passed away April 16th, 2008 at his home in Phoenix. Ramsey served in the Army Air Corps from 1943-1945 as a radio repairman.
– Liner notes by John P. Dixon