SXSWorld
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Ten Years Later, Lost Highway Still Defying Conventional Wisdom by John Morthland showcase at the Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Th eater, there still aren't. So it's easy to wonder what the label president, who is also chairman of the Universal Music Group Nashville (meaning he over- sees Mercury and MCA Nashville in addition to Lost Highway), was thinking. Th e question draws a laugh from Lewis. "Everybody said a boutique label would never work inside a major," he says, "but I wanted a label that had its own identity, a brand, that hard-core music fans could iden- tify with. If we developed a brand, anything released on Lost Highway would get a second look from fans and critics. I'd been in mainstream country for 10 years and I wanted something leaning towards my per- sonal affi nities— singer-songwriters, artists that weren't radio-driven. I wanted artists who'd already made records, artists who already had a touring base, a sales base and critical acclaim." Conventional wisdom says that nobody cares which company T here weren't a whole lot of similar labels out there when Luke Lewis launched Lost Highway Records in 2001. And today, as the label celebrates its 10th anniversary with a Saturday night Grammys. "We don't release that many records, and we work 'em for a couple years at a time," Lewis confi rms. "And we've never had a year where the label didn't make money. In the environment of these last few years, that kind of success is very gratifying." ■ Lost Highway's 10th Anniversary showcase, co-presented with BMI, is sched- uled for Friday, March 18 the new ACL Live at The Moody Theater (310 W. 2nd St. - aka Willie Nelson Blvd.). releases a record, but Lewis was a former collector who snapped up any- thing on labels with a strong identity, like Stax or Island. Lost Highway's earliest releases set the pace: its fi rst album was the O Brother, Where Art Th ou? soundtrack, a surprise Grammy Record of the Year that cur- rently has sold around seven million units. Th e fi rst artists signed were Lucinda Williams, Ryan Bingham and Robert Earl Keene. (All three will be playing the Moody Th eater showcase, along with Hayes Carll, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears and a surprise act or two.) And just like that, Lost Highway was established as an Americana label with a Texas-Tennessee accent. Th e roster has broadened enough since then to include music from Americana patriarchs Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, and even artists who don't really fi t the designation at all, such as Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Tom Jones and Morrissey. But its musical backbone remains the likes of the Jayhawks, Mary Gauthier, Golden Smog, Shelby Lynne and Lyle Lovett. Th at's the kind of roster that attracted Hayes Carll to the company. His most recent album had been released on Highway 87, his own label, and was successful enough that he was prepared to go that route again when he fi nished 2008's Trouble In Mind. But Lost Highway topped his short list of established labels worth considering. "I was a fan or admirer of almost everyone on their roster," he recalls. "I'd had other off ers, but nobody could give me a clear idea of what they were gonna do with my record, how they'd work with me to market it. So if I hadn't gone with Lost Highway I'd almost certainly have gone again with my own company and taken responsibility for whatever good or bad happened in my career." impressed by its small-label marketing prowess. "Th is is the fi rst label I've stayed with," she points out. "It's the fi rst time in my career I've felt like I had all my ducks in a row. A lot of people that were at the label at the beginning are still there, they're all real music fans, and the machine is working for me." Lost Highway releases generally get the intensive marketing typical of boutique labels but are reinforced by major-label muscle and Universal distribution. Its catalog has grown to 80 albums (but still only a handful of singles) that have sold some 18 million units while winning 15 After a decade with Lost Highway, Lucinda Williams remains 36 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH M USIC 201 1 Hayes Carll Beginning in 1974, Austin City Limits taped more than 500 episodes in KLRU-TV's Studio 6A, on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Those intimate studios were never designed for live music and live audiences, but the brand spanking new Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater is a whole 'nother story. Part of a $200 million downtown development co-owned by companies belonging to Willie Nelson and former NBA great Earvin "Magic" Johnson, the $40-million Moody is one of the only venues in Texas created expressly for music. From the coffeemakers to the audio-video-lighting systems, everything is state of the art. Amenities include 12 bars, 14 restrooms and an outdoor patio. During the 45-or- so free ACL tapings annually, only the ground fl oor will be open and will seat 800 fans. For the 75 to 100 paying concerts held there yearly, the wraparound balcony and mezzanine will add room for a total audience of 2,750—but the most distant seat will still be just 75 feet from the stage. JAMES MINCHIN III