When CMH Records was founded by German immigrant Martin Haerle in 1975, he and his partner, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, focused on contemporary bluegrass and traditional country music. Haerle had become a fan of the music while he lived in Germany, and after moving the US, eventually ended up as a Vice President at the iconic Starday Records during the ’60s.
Together Haerle and Smith released classic records from The Osborne Brothers, Lester Flatt, Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse, Earl Story, and The Bluegrass Cardinals, are were a dominant force in bluegrass during their hey day. When Martin passed away in 1990, his son David took over the reins, and the primary CMH releases were the popular Pickin’ On series of album that featured bluegrass cover of pop and rock trendsetters.
The Pickin’ On projects continue to be popular for CMH, but in great news for lovers of ’70s and ’80s bluegrass, the company has announced the launch of a series of digital reissues for download purchase. Many of these recordings have been made available on CD, but many others have been out of print for years. They are scouring the archives and plan to have a number of new reissue titles each month, created from the original masters, and preserved forever in the modern digital format.
For March, they have re-released three vintage albums: A Touch of Bryant from Felice & Boudleaux Bryant, Dim Lights, Thick Smoke from Joe Maphis with Rose Lee & Dale, and Sing Away the Pain from Josh Graves. They are offered for download sale from the CMH web site, and from popular sites like iTunes, Amazon, or Spotify.
At this rate, CMH will be have put a wealth of classic bluegrass back on the market in no time.
All of these reissues will be available to radio programmers through AirPlay Direct.
