New Tucson record label focuses on Americana soul

Tucson country-blues singer/songwriter Austin Counts has launched his own record label and he’s wasted no time getting it off the ground.

Counts, who also owns and runs 4th Avenue Delicatessen, is hosting a CD/cassette tape release show Saturday, Oct. 8, at Flycatcher to celebrate “Tucson Country Blues, Vol. 1,” the first album on his fledgling Lonesome Desert Records label. He will share the stage with fellow Tucson country blues artists Chris Hall, Tom Walbank, Freddy Parish and Hank Topless, who all appear on the compilation disc.

Counts said Lonesome Desert Records will focus on Southern Arizona artists who play what he dubbed Americana soul music. Counts includes blues, country and bluegrass music under that umbrella, and the artists on Saturday’s lineup and on the label’s debut fit nicely.

• Hank Topless laces his progressive country blues with some old-soul and outlaw country. He’s been a fixture in Tucson’s alt-country scene for years.
• Chris Hall comes at his whiskey-soaked country blues with regional influences that include dust and the desert. He’s been pursuing his music since at least 2011, according to his blog (mynameitischrishall.blogspot.com)
• Tom Walbank may have been born in England, but Tucson did a lot to raise him — musically at least. The veteran bluesman has been recording and writing with Counts for more than a year.
• Freddy Parish will be the guy playing the clawhammer banjo and acoustic country guitar and singing his own classic and old-time country influenced songs.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Counts said he started the label as a way to promote Tucson’s country blues singers, who he said often fly under the radar. The idea is to elevate them to larger audiences locally and beyond Arizona’s borders.

“At the very least I look at this as we’ve got some really great talent in Tucson … that should be coming to the forefront,” Counts said.

Admission to Saturday’s 21-and-older show is $5 at the door and it includes a CD or cassette of the album. If you download a digital copy on iTunes, Amazon Music or Google Play, you can get into the show for free. Doors of Flycatcher, 340 E. Sixth St., open at 7 and the show starts at 8.