ABSTRACT
Patrick Clancy (1923-1998), with the assistance of his brothers Tom and Liam, and the economic support of Diane Hamilton, a member of the Guggenheim family and active in the Country Dance and Song Society, initiated Tradition Records in 1956 in New York City. Kenneth Goldstein was instrumental in recording and producing many of the early albums. They quickly recorded and released Isla Cameron, Through Bushes and Briars, Odetta Sings Ballads & Blues (1956) and Odetta at the Gate of Horn (1957), Paul Clayton, Whaling and Sailing Songs (1956), the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Rising of the Moon and Come Fill Your Glass With Us (both 1959), and others by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Oscar Brand, Carolyn Hester, Seamus Ennis, A.L. Lloyd, Ed McCurdy, Mary O’Hara, and Lightnin’ Hopkins. During 1960-1961, Charlie Rothschild took over the business side of Tradition, while Patrick Clancy continued to oversee production. Having issued over 45 albums, Clancy sold the company to Bernard Solomon at Everest Records in 1966. Everest/Tradition continued to release the older albums, and in addition issued a steady stream of jazz reissues, including Louis Armstrong, Teddy Wilson, Pete Fountain, James P. Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, Jelly Roll Morton, and various compilation albums, such as Best of the Blues Tradition, Music for the Jet Set, Banjo Jamboree, and the like. Everest, now Legacy International, licensed the masters to Rykodisc in the mid-1990s, which released much of the label on CDs, while Legacy International also continued to issue various Tradition albums into 2002.
