ROOTS of Country Music

Starday Records, Part 1: The Beginning

In 1952, Harold W. "Pappy" Daily founded Starday Records with Jack Starnes. After four releases, former Four Star executive Don Pierce was brought into the fold, and the three men launched Starday Recording and Publishing. Started in Beaumont,Texas, the company grew to become a thriving independent label. The name Starday came from their two last names, "Star" from Starnes and "Day" from Daily. The label specialized in country, Cajun, rockabilly and gospel music. Daily paired artists with songs and supervised their recording sessions.

These enterprising veterans of the music business put their stamp on the music of the 1950s and their entry into the "custom pressing" side of the industry opened up a wealth of opportunities to aspiring artists the majors couldn't or wouldn't sign, promote or develop.

The musically minded Daily along with the bottom line Pierce dealt with an array of singers from various genres who were willing to invest in their musical dreams. For a few hundred dollars, several hundred records could be pressed up, original songs published and a label created if needed. The letters, checks and tapes poured in from all over theUSA and the dream factory was in full production. The Starday label lasted into the late 1970's, although by that time it was reissuing artist material recorded earlier.

Harold W. "Pappy" Daily: Artists & Repertoire Executive (A&R)

Harold Daily was was born in Yoakum, Texas, on February 8, 1902. His mother remarried after Daily's father died when he was a child and the family relocated to Houston. After a stint in the Marine Corps, Daly began working for the Southern Pacific Railroad as an accountant (1922). When the Great Depression forced the Southern Pacific to lay off many of its workers, Daily sought a job with more security. He found it in the amusement-machine business. He wrote to the Bally Manufacturing Company inChicago and asked whyHouston had no distributor for Bally's Juke Boxes.

The company wrote Daily back and offered him the territory. He started South Coast Amusements in 1932 to distribute Bally Jukeboxes. At first he kept his job with the railroad and worked part-time distributing jukeboxes. In 1933, he left the railroad to work full time on his distributorship and his business flourished, that is, until World War II, when the government banned jukebox manufacturing for the duration of the war. Undaunted, Daily gathered as many records as he could and opened a store inHouston and sold phonograph records. Eventually he became a wholesaler and distributed records in theSouthwestern USA.

Jack Starnes: Booking Agent, Talent Scout

Jack Starnes was a talent booker who owned a night club inBeaumontTexasand who at one time managed Lefty Frizzell.  Although Jack was a successful talent scout, he lacked executive experience necessary to produce recordings and promote artists.  His haphazard methods caused tension among his associates. Additionally, he had little patients for working within the realm of the A&R processes. In 1955, Starnes departed the company after a dispute he had with Pierce and Daily regarding the promoting and production processes.  They made Jack a buyout offer and he accepted.

Don F. Pierce: Artists & Repertoire Executive

Don Pierce was born in Ballard, Washington, in 1915. Don graduated from the Universityof Washingtonin 1939 with a Bachelor of Economics degree. After graduation, he sold insurance until he was drafted into the US Army. When he got out of the Army he went to California. A friend offered him a chance to invest in a record label and he put several thousand dollars into Four Star Records and the company promptly went bankrupt.

In 1953, he invested in Starday Records, for a much lesser amount then his Four Star investment and eventually ascended to president of the company. Moving from Los Angelesto Nashvillein 1957 when the label partnered with Mercury Records, he gained full control of Starday a year later and began to compile and market albums on bluegrass and old-time music artists; acts that had been largely overlooked by major country labels. Don excelled in his role at Starday, scouting talent and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists.

Starday Records, Part 2: The Formative Years

 In 1953, Don Pierce bought into the label and became President of Starday. Daily continued as head of Artists & Repertoire (A&R). Shortly after this, Pierce bought the Hollywood label from John Dolphin, and consolidated the Starday offices with the Hollywood label's offices inLos AngelesCalifornia. Starnes share of Starday was purchased by Daily and Pierce in June 1955. In 1957, both Starday and Hollywood Records were moved to Madison Tennessee.

Starday’s major discovery and the reason for its stable ascendancy was the masterful honky-tonk stylist George Jones fromSaratoga,Texas.  In 1954, a young ex-Marine named George Jones was playing in Starnes' club. Starnes decided to cut some records with Jones and brought in Daily to help produce his first session. The records were cut in Starnes' living room on a Magnecord home recorder. Jones initially sounded like his idols Roy Acuff and Lefty Frizzell, but Daily told him to develop his own style. His first release was No Money in This Deal. The record didn't sell well, but in 1955, Jones recorded his first hit titled, Why Baby Why (N. 4, 1955). From 1954 to 1958, George was the mainstay of the label recording exclusively for Starday.

Together with Don Pierce (who replaced Starnes at Starday), Daily worked extensively with George Jones to further his career. Their collaboration generated six top-ten singles, including Why, Baby Why (No. 4, 1955), What Am I Worth (No. 7, 1956), You Gotta Be My Baby (No. 7, 1956), Just One More (No. 3, 1956) and a duet with Jeannette Hicks titled, Yearning (No. 10, 1957). If Daily and Pearce had just given us George Jones, their place in history would be secure. George Jones has been one of the most significant country artist of the post-Hank Williams era and his career was nurtured on Starday.

Daily and Pearce's finger-prints were all over the country and rockabilly map of the 1950s. Their working relationship was an ideal one. Daily made all the musical decisions, while Pearce excelled at the business; working with managers, agents, bookers and DJs. This gave him easy access to many new artists for the label's custom pressing series.

The duo split in 1958 with Daily producing Chantilly Lace by the ill-fated Big Bopper on D, before moving on to be a producer at Mercury Records. Pearce carried on with Starday, hitting the Top 10 with Frankie Miller, Cowboy Copas, Johnny Bond and Red After Daily left the label, his interest in Starday was purchased by Don Pierce and Tommy Hill was responsible for much of the A&R work.

Starday recorded country music almost exclusively, and Pierce continued to grow the label starting the careers of Roger Miller, Jimmy Dean and Dottie West. Starday also had an extensive stable of bluegrass acts, including the Stanley Brothers, Bill Clifton and Carl Story. Pierce was able to revive the career of Cowboy Copas, who signed with the label in 1959.

Pierce also recorded some of the country music pioneers on the label including Pee Wee King, Moon Mullican, Smiley Burnette, Curly Fox , Texas Ruby, T. Texas Tyler and Lulu Belle & Scotty, Starday had the misfortune to see Cowboy Copas killed in a plane crash on March 5, 1963, nearCamden,Tennessee. Alabam.

By the mid 1960s, Starday had become the big name in "truck driver music," a subgenre of country music that related to big rigs and truck stops, with endless stories about the road, fast women, drinking, highway police, etc. A typical song in this vein is Red Sovine's "Phantom 309" (No.XX). 1968, Starday purchased the King Label of Cincinnati,Ohio. This powerhouse independent label had a strong country catalog as well as a strong R&B catalog with James Brown, Little Willie John, Freddie King and Hank Ballard among others. Three years later, Pierce sold Starday-King to Lin Broadcasting for about five million dollars and retired from the record business.

After selling the label Pierce went into land development. He died on April 3, 2005. Harold Pappy Daily died on December 5, 1987, inHouston.

Starday Records, Part 3: Roster of Recording Artists

In 1952, Harold W. "Pappy" Daily founded Starday Records with Jack Starnes. After four releases, former Four Star vice president Don Pierce was brought into the fold and the three men founded the Starday Recording and Publishing Company and it grew to become one of the most successful independent labels fromTexas.

The name Starday came from their two last names, "Star" from Starnes and "Day" from Daily. Daily paired artists with songs and supervised their recording sessions. Started inBeaumont,Texas, the label recorded country, Cajun music, and sacred music. The Starday label lasted into the late 1970's, although by that time it was reissuing material recorded earlier.

Starday Records, Roster of Recording Artist, Partial Listing: