News Archive:

We're pleased to announce new recording deals with William Lee Ellis and Fiona Boyes!

William Lee Ellis, the son of banjo composer Tony Ellis, godson of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, and former pop music critic for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, recently wrapped recording on his new album God's Tattoos, his third for Yellow Dog Records. The album, recorded and produced by Jim Dickinson at his Zebra Ranch, is an eclectic mix of blues, Americana, gospel, world music, and even rock, that set out as a personal journey of the spirit (the title referring to psychic and emotional scars or "tattoos" we all wear inside.) The album is set for release this summer.


Australian Fiona Boyes is relocating to the US for a while to tour and record her new album for Yellow Dog Records. After winning the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2003, Fiona visited the US to play major festivals in New York, Chicago, Portland and Atlanta. Recognized by Blues Hall of Fame legend Pinetop Perkins as "the best gal guitar player I've heard since Memphis Minnie," Fiona has gone on to play and record with some of the greats of Delta and Chicago blues, including Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin from Muddy Waters' band, and the immortal Hubert Sumlin, famed for his 28 year career as Howlin Wolf's guitarist.

Fiona recorded her Yellow Dog Records debut, titled Lucky 13, in Austin in February for a planned August release - Grammy award-winning producer Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff was at the helm with special guests, including Bob Margolin and Marcia Ball, joining in.

Yellow Dog Records gift certificates are available now in a variety of denominations. You can share the gift of music with a friend, let them make their own choices from our catalog, and best of all, there's no gift-wrapping required! Gift Certificates can be purchased, personalized and sent right from your computer. You'll also receive a copy of our upcoming new sampler CD as a thanks for sending a certificate. Visit our order page for all the details.

Never ones to be overtaken by technology, we've established a page on Myspace. We'll use it in addition to this web site to post featured calendar events and "blog"-style news updates, which you can subscribe to for instant notification. If you're on Myspace, please visit us at http://myspace.com/ydrecords and add us to your profile!

After some delays with our reorder, we again have a shelf full of new Yellow Dog T-shirts. These are 100% cotton Hanes Beefy-T shirts with small Yellow Dog Records logo embroidered over left pocket area. You can get yours from our Order page.

Through March 7th, the good folks at Borders are nationally featuring three different titles from Yellow Dog Records. Mary Flower's Bywater Dance, Terry Robb's Resting Place, and Mark Lemhouse's The Great American Yard Sale can all be found in listening posts in the Blues section of 275 Borders stores nationwide. Big City Blues Magazine praised all three albums, recently writing "Yellow Dog is making a strong run as being a roots music heavyweight label with engaging albums like this trio..."

• More information, sound samples, and press reviews for all three albums available from our Artists page

The DVD version of Hustle & Flow was released Jan 10th. One of the special features on the DVD is a segment called "Creatin' Crunk" that documents the behind-the-scenes creation of the film's score and soundtrack, which composer/producer Scott Bomar wrote and recorded with his band, The Bo-Keys. The special feature includes footage of Willie Hall, Skip Pitts, and Marvell Thomas as well as interviews with Bomar and the film's directors and producers. Isaac Hayes is also on film as he stops by one of the recording sessions.

Hustle & Flow opened to critical acclaim, won the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and earned star Terrence Howard a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for best actor.

Update 3/5/06: Congratulations to the Hustle & Flow crew - "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack, has won an Academy Award for Best Original Song!

We're thrilled to announce that Chris Cotton has been nominated by BluesWax magazine's reader poll for Artist of the Year, and his 2005 release I Watched the Devil Die has been nominated for Album of the Year!

BluesWax is the largest Blues publication in the world. It is delivered via email to more than 70,000 subscribers around the world each week. Subscription is free.

Voting for the finalist in each category is ongoing until midnight, Sunday, January 29. Please visit this link at BluesWax to vote for Chris! You may need to register first if you are not already a BluesWax subscriber.

Congratulations to Chris for this honor!