Capricorn Records

First incarnation

Capricorn was the label for many Southern rock and soul bands in the 1970s including the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, Delbert McClinton, the Outlaws, the Dixie Dregs, the James Montgomery Band, Elvin Bishop, Wet Willie, Jonathan Edwards, Captain Beyond, White Witch, Grinderswitch, Cowboy, Hydra, Kitty Wells, Dobie Gray, Alex Taylor, Travis Wammack, Sea Level (band) and Stillwater. Gregg ( Stony ) Atwill was a recording and concert sound engineer with Capricorn through the 1970s.^[1]

Initially the label was distributed by WEA (first through Atlantic Records, then later Warner Bros. Records) and later by PolyGram Records. Capricorn went bankrupt in October 1979.

Second incarnation

The label was later relaunched out of Nashville, Tennessee, as a joint venture with Warner Bros. in the early-1990s. Distribution later jumped to Sony Music's independent RED Distribution network, then back to PolyGram, by way of its flagship label, Mercury Records. The first act to sign onto the resurrected label was Athens, Georgia's Widespread Panic. After signing with the new version of the label the band celebrated by buying rounds of drinks and beers for attendees at a Macon Pirates game at Luther Williams Field.

Cake and 311 were the most popular artists to come out of Capricorn during this period; a then-unknown Kenny Chesney also released his debut album on the label. Other artists ranged from Rabbitt to Big Sister, the Dixie Dregs, and to the jazz/rock fusion of Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Capricorn also released a series of box sets of vintage material in the blues and rhythm and blues genres, presenting the stories of such labels as Jewel/Paula Records and Cobra Records.

After moving back to Atlanta, the second incarnation of Capricorn eventually folded. Phil Walden sold the label's assets to Zomba subsidiary Volcano Entertainment in December 2000.^[2] By 2002, new releases on Capricorn ceased to appear, as remaining artists were dropped, transferred to Volcano (311), or moved to other labels (Cake).

Co-founder and partner Frank Fenter died on July 21, 1983, at the age of 47 and Phil Walden died on April 23, 2006, at the age of 66.^[3]