Fat Possum
| Fat Possum Records | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Founded | 1992 |
| Founder | Matthew Johnson Peter Redvers-Lee |
| Distributor(s) | RED, INgrooves |
| Genre | Blues, rock, hip hop |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | Oxford, Mississippi |
| Official website | FatPossum.com |
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Springs, Mississippi). Recently, Fat Possum has signed younger rock acts to its roster. The label has been featured in The New York Times,New Yorker,The Observer, a Sundance Channel production, a piece on NPR, and a 2004 documentary, You See Me Laughin.
Fat Possum was founded in 1991 by Living Blues editor Peter Lee—Used more often than Peter Redvers-Lee.--> was born July 2, 1960, in Estcourt, South Africa. He came to University of Mississippi for his MA studies in Journalism, and became editor of Living Blues in 1987. He planned on starting a record label and picked the name with another student, Billy 'pup' Cochrane. Johnson, who grew up in the state was a student at the University of Mississippi. By 1994 or so Lee left, and freelance recording engineer Bruce Watson assumed his managerial role. An early investor was John Hermann of Widespread Panic, who also pitched Robert Palmer's name as producer.
The label initially specialised in discovering blues players from the North Mississippi region, many of whom had never recorded before. At Fat Possum's behest some artists, particularly R. L. Burnside, released both standard blues albums and more techno albums, done in the style that would later be made famous by Moby's album Play. This led to a fair amount of controversy among blues purists, a group in which Johnson was largely uninterested. Many of the early artists for Fat Possum were picked with the aid of Palmer (previously a teacher of Johnson at the University of Mississippi), who also produced a number of records for the label.
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