Omnivore Recordings to Acquire Catalog of Baltimore Label Chariot Records
Two of the label’s co-owners discuss Omnivore’s 15-year history of putting out reissues of music by legacy acts — some never before released.
Black News 
As Omnivore Recordings celebrates its 15th anniversary, the reissue label has announced it recently acquired the catalog of Baltimore label Chariot Records, which produced regional hits including singles by Bob Brady and the Con Chords back in the mid-‘60s and ‘70s.
Terms of the acquisition were undisclosed, but it marks the third label catalog acquisition Omnivore has made since its inception. ADA-distributed Omnivore previously acquired Ru-Jac Records, a mid-1960s-originated R&B label, and Nighthawk Records, a 1980s-originated roots reggae label. Both labels had ceased operating as ongoing entities.
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Aside from these acquisitions, Omnivore, founded and staffed by four music industry veterans — Cheryl Pawelski, Brad Rosenberger, Dutch Cramblitt and Greg Allen, all holding the title of owner/partner — fields a catalog composed mainly of licensed masters of well-known legacy recording artists including America, The Bangles, The Beach Boys, Kool & The Gang, Peggy Lee, Little Richard, Nina Simone and Woody Guthrie, according to the company’s website.
“People like to pigeonhole us as a reissue company, and we do reissue things, no doubt about it…our primary lane is dealing with historic music,” concedes Rosenberger. “But I would say probably 50% of our releases never even existed before.” By that, he means that those releases are either music recorded but never released back in the day, or music issued in new configurations or as compilations.
For instance, the first release from the Chariot Records acquisition was a compilation of Bob Brady and the Con Chord singles entitled Love In: The Chariot Records Recordings, which was issued just in time for this year’s Record Store Day in April.
The Chariot Records deal was brought to Omnivore by music supervisor Alan Mason and a principal of Chariot, Brent Gordon, who himself subsequently had a long career in the music industry at various companies, including WEA, after Chariot ceased operations back in the day.
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In another compilation example, Omnivore packaged four Ru-Jac titles — Something Got A Hold on Me: 1963-1964, Get Right: 1964-1966, Finally Together: 1966-1967 and Changes: 1967-1980 — into a CD box set entitled The Should Of Baltimore: The Ru-Jac Records Story 1963-1980. It also issued compilations of two titles from the label’s bigger artists: Mr. Clean: Winfield Parker At Ru-Jac, and True Enough: Gene and Eddie with Sir Joe at Ru-Jac.
For Nighthawk Records, Pawelski says Omnivore put together the compilation Send I A Lion: A Nighthawk Reggae Joint, which pulled together songs by the Gladiators, Junior Biles, the Wailing Souls and the Mighty Diamonds, among others.
In 15 years, Rosenberger says, the label has put out more than 600 releases. According to a Billboard count of the artists listed on the label’s website, its release roster comprises some 250 artists. “Yes, we have been busy,” says partner Pawelski. Currently, the label fields some 300 to 400 active titles, as new titles are added and other titles’ licensing periods end.
Omnivore will occasionally put out new music from legacy acts, as it did with Jellyfish/Imperial Drag and Beck collaborator Roger Joseph Manning’s Radio Daze & Gaming and his forthcoming Hopium; Game Day and Merry-Go-Round from Peter Holsapple of the dB’s; and solo artist Emitt Rhodes’ Rainbow Ends. The latter release, put out in 2016, was the late Rhodes’ first full-length release of new material in 43 years.
“We’ve done a lot of releases by key people that we have relationships with, whether it’s Big Star releases, we’ve done a number of Beach Boys-related releases and we’ve put out more Jellyfish records than they did when they were still a band,” Rosenberger says.
The label has also been issuing music resulting from relationships Rosenberger formed while at Warner Chappell during his time working on a CBGB documentary, whose original soundtrack was subsequently released on Omnivore in 2013.
Rosenberger took advantage of the knowledge gained from that endeavor to release music from CBGB/Max’s Kansas City bands who weren’t included on the compilation, such as the Mumps and The Miamis.
Omnivore is still trading on that knowledge. Earlier this year, the label released Completely Necessary (Anthology 1978-1982), a compilation of former Sire recordings from The Necessaries, an alternative rock mainstay from the New York City punk/new wave scene. The Necessaries members included Ed Tomney, an Emmy-nominated musician/composer of music for movies, TV and commercials; former Modern Lovers and sometimes Gods and Monsters member Ernie Brooks; the late Jesse Chamberlain, a former member of Red Crayola and the son of renowned American sculptor John Chamberlain; and the late Arthur Russell, an avant-garde musician/composer of experimental and dance music. In keeping with the premise of issuing music not previously available, the album consisted of 37 tracks, 29 of which had never been released before.
Omnivore’s partners say they’re still on the prowl for catalog acquisitions — specifically for smaller targets in line with its available capital resources, but also under-exploited repertoire that would benefit from the partners’ expertise in mining and marketing such music to achieve upside economic potential.
As Pawelski puts it, “We’re certainly looking ahead to find more smaller labels to [acquire] and become the custodian of, in the way that we’ve done in the past.”
Rosenberger and Pawelski note that there are a lot of new financial entities buying up catalogs, which creates competition for acquisitions. But Pawelski says financial buyers may want to partner with Omnivore “because we have a certain expertise that might be valuable to them… in terms of audio and art restoration, and synch licensing because between [the four label principals]. Our careers cover the gamut, and I think we can be useful to them.”
Rosenberger notes that the label has also been nominated for three Grammys for its reissues, including two won by Pawelski for best historical album: It’s Such A Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers and the Hank Williams compilation The Garden Spot Programs. Outside Omnivore, Pawelski has won two additional best historical album Grammys, for Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Super Deluxe Edition), released on Nonesuch, and Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, released by Stax/Craft Recordings.
