David Freeman (music historian)

David Freeman
Born(1939-05-22)May 22, 1939
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 25, 2023(2023-12-25) (aged 84)
Occupations
  • Record label owner
  • music historian

David Freeman (May 22, 1939 – December 25, 2023) was an American collector, historian, and authority on old-time and bluegrass music. Freeman started the County Records label in 1963 in his native New York to focus on Southern string band music, and began the companion mail-order record retail company County Sales in 1965.[1] He moved both businesses to Floyd, Virginia, in 1974. In 1977, Freeman started the Record Depot wholesale distribution company in Roanoke, Virginia, specializing in bluegrass and old-time music. In 1978 he helped his graphic artist Barry Poss start a bluegrass music record label, Sugar Hill Records, in Durham, North Carolina.[2] In 1980, Freeman bought Charlottesville-based Rebel Records, a pioneering bluegrass label, from Charles Freeland, one of the label's founders.[3] Freeman was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 2002.[4] Freeman died on December 25, 2023, at the age of 84.[5]

  1. ^ Wolfe, Charles (2004). "Dave Freeman and County Records". In Thomas Goldsmith (ed.). The Bluegrass Reader. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. pp. 157–164. ISBN 0-252-02914-3.
  2. ^ Hoffman, Frank; Ferstler, Howard, eds. (2005). "Country Records (sic)". Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound (2nd ed.). CRC Press. pp. 245–246. ISBN 0-415-93835-X.
  3. ^ Wyatt, Marshall (August 11, 1999). ""Every County Has Its Own Personality", An Interview With David Freeman". The Old-Time Herald. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
  4. ^ Biography Archived 2010-08-14 at the Wayback Machine on website of the International Bluegrass Music Museum (accessed February 22, 2007).
  5. ^ "Dave Freeman passes". Bluegrass Today. December 27, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2023.