Daddy Stovepipe. Sundown Blues. 1924.
On May 10th 1924, blues guitarist,
singer and harmonica player Daddy Stovepipe
went to Richmond, Indiana to record for the Gennett label.
He put down three tracks including
"Sundown Blues"
which is regarded as one of the most primitive blues on record.
The Gennett recording studio in Richmond Indiana opened in 1921.
The studio was located on the grounds of Gennett's piano factory.
Little more than a one-story dilapidated shed,
artists flocked to the rustic studio to make their recordings.
Gennett was also the most progressive recording studio in the country in the 1920s.
The studio was the first to produce interracial recordings.
In the 1950s, the factory shut down for good.
The buildings stood vacant for decades, until all but one had been torn down and the complex converted into city park land.
One building still stands and is used for local events, but not much else remains of the storied recording past of Starr-Gennett
except for "The Gennett Records Walk of Fame".