Carnival Recording

CARNIVAL RECORDING CO.

Producer and publisher Frank Liddell formed Carnival Recording Company after hearing Craig Dillingham performing in a Nashville club. He was simply impressed with the singer/songwriter’s honest songs and pure voice. It was also around this same time that the debut record of Mando Saenz, a Houston-based artist slowly wound its way to Liddell's desk. So he formed Carnival Recording, with Dillingham and Saenz as the flagship artists.

It’s the legendary label, Atlantic Records that CRC looks to as its blueprint. “I’ve seen a lot of new record companies start up over the last 15 years,” he says, “all with the same basic plan: Get a lot of money, hire a staff, get a building, set up radio promotion, distribution and marketing plans, and then start looking for artists. Most of these labels are gone, so we have to go back to the humble beginnings of Atlantic Records to find our inspiration for starting a record company. You had a few guys who loved jazz music, so they started a label for the sole purpose of making records that they would listen to themselves. They had very little financing, their first offices were in a condemned motel and they were literally selling records out of the trunk of their car. They went on to build one of the most diversified artist rosters that popular music has ever known, and 60 years later, Atlantic is still going strong. They just loved music and making records.”

“When I grew up, popular music was not governed by the same principles that are governing it today,” says Liddell. “There were great songs, great musicians, great singers—writing about their generation, their time, their beliefs, their core feelings. It was music made from one person to another—not at anybody. It was not preconceived or pre-marketed. I don’t think music buyers have changed.”

“I like music that is reflective of the people who are making it,” explains Liddell. “I believe that artists should speak for themselves. I like to leave the music alone, let it develop on its own. I want these artists to grow into who they are. And I know it will resonate with other people.

We’re trying to build a model at Carnival where we sign artists we love and sell as many records as we possibly can,” says Liddell, who adds that he’s doing that in the same way he built his publishing company, Carnival Music—with music. “In the late ‘90s, Bruce Robison was floating around town with a handful of wonderful songs that didn’t fit any mold. Though people liked his work, he couldn’t convince anyone to believe in him enough to sign him. Travis Hill and I started Carnival Music not with a marketing plan, but with one writer whose music we both thought was amazing. We have enjoyed a lot of success with Bruce. Over the years, we will build systems that will help us bring more music to America and hopefully the world. This will take a lot of time and patience, but I believe that time is on our side.”

Like Atlantic, Carnival wants to build a diversified label based on musical intuitions instead of trends, starting with signing the Eli Young Band and Dan Colehour to join Dillingham and Saenz on the roster. “Our plan is to respect our artists’ talents and treat them like people and not product,” he says. “I can’t help but believe that, sooner or later, the public is going to want its own music—music that is made by them and for them, not at them. Our plan is long-term, but again, time is on our side.”

Carnival Recording Company releases:
Craig Dillingham - Almost Yesterday (Released August 2004)
Mando Saenz - Watertown (Released January 2005)
Eli Young Band - Level (Released April 2005)
Dan Colehour - Dan Colehour EP (Released May 2005)
Eli Young Band - Live At The Jolly Fox (Released November 2006)
Dan Colehour - Straight To The Highway (Released September 2007)
Mando Saenz - Bucket (Released February 2008)