Tractor Launches Label

Steve Ripley, founder and lead vocalist of the Tractors, is partnering with Audium Records and Koch Entertainment to launch Boy Rocking Records. Based in Tulsa, Okla., the label will bow Oct. 8 with Ripley's first solo album, Ripley, followed by a new Tractors Christmas album.

"This was my destiny," Ripley says. "One of the things waiting at the end of the path was to have a record company."

Ripley says he's always viewed singer/songwriter Leon Russell—who launched Shelter Records—as a role model. "Uncle Leon is a Tulsa guy," Ripley says. "He had a lot of success in the '70s with Shelter Records. That was always a model that was in the back of my head."

Ripley formed the Tractors in 1988, and the band signed with Arista Nashville in the early '90s, storming the country charts in 1994 with the single "Baby Likes to Rock It," which peaked at No. 11. After leaving Arista, the Tractors signed to Audium, which released the band's Fast Girl CD last year.

Ripley says one factor that spurred his interest in launching a label is consolidation among the majors. "There are now just four or five record companies. It's a great time to start an independent label. The big, slow-moving beasts that record companies have become are so large they can't react in a quick fashion to markets or to artists."

Ripley says he was impressed by Audium president Nick Hunter's knowledge of the business, and the admiration is mutual. "I like Ripley, and when we sat down and talked, his goal has always been to have his own label," Hunter says. "I think he's a genius and with all the things he's going to bring to the label, this makes a lot of sense."

Ripley eventually wants to sign and produce other acts on Boy Rocking. Hunter says Ripley's Tulsa roots will give the label a unique flavor: "Instead of coming from Austin, where most everyone else is bringing something new, we're coming from Tulsa, which is different."

According to Ripley, the name "Boy Rocking" was inspired by a picture in a coloring book his daughter Angelene (now 20) did as a child. He liked the caption "Boy Rocking" and says the way she colored outside the lines exemplifies the Tractors' approach to making music that is different and outside the box.

The label will be manufactured, marketed, promoted, and distributed by Audium Records in conjunction with its parent company, Koch Entertainment. This is the second partnership Audium has formed with an artist-owned label. The company also has a joint venture with Blue Hat Records, a label owned by Charlie Daniels and his manager, David Corlew. Hunter says Audium is also in negotiations with another veteran artist who will be launching a label in conjunction with Audium.