Not to be confused with King Records, King Bluegrass was an offshoot of Lemco Records in Lexington, Kentucky. A couple of the early LPs were issued on both Lemco and King Bluegrass labels. King Bluegrass was located at 4766 Glendale Milford Road in Cincinnati, although a lot of their recording was done at the Lemco Studios in Lexington. The label was operated and apparently owned by Robert Trout. It began issuing LPs in 1973, and got off to a rather auspicious start with LPs by Ralph Stanley, Red Allen and the Allen Brothers, J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys, and Don Reno and Bill Harrell. Tony Rice did a landmark first album on King Bluegrass, titled simply Guitar. Larry Sparks cut three albums for the label, which included two of his best-known songs, “A Face In the Crowd” and “Smokey Mountain Memories.” The Boys From Indiana recorded four LPs for King Bluegrass, the first one being the acclaimed Atlanta Is Burning. The label issued 45 LPs and 16 singles before disappearing around 1977.
King Bluegrass Records