Founder of Goldband Records - Eddie
Shuler
(The following appears on a panel accompanying an exhibit about Goldband
Records, on display in the University of North Carolina, Wilson Library
at Chapel Hill, N.C.). Article submitted by Steve Green of "Southern
Folklife Collection".
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THE STORY OF GOLDBAND RECORDS
When Eddie Shuler moved from Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1942
to work around the gulf coast area oil refineries as a dragline
operator, he had little idea that music was to become the center of his
world. But since that time, Eddie and his wife, Elsie, have been
involved with music and with the constantly changing world of recording
technology. Together, they have owned and managed a recording studio and
record label (Goldband), a music publishing firm (TEK Publishing), a
television repair business (Quick Service TV Repair), and a neighborhood
music shop (Eddie's Music House). During the past half century, with
Eddie at the studio controls, the Shulers have documented traditional
and popular music forms and in many cases have helped create some of the
South's most important and distinctive new musical styles and sounds.
In all began in the early '40s when Eddie chanced to meet members of
the original Hackberry Ramblers, a group of musicians who had recorded
almost twenty years earlier and who were still evolving in style and
personnel. A brief performing stint with the Ramblers provided Eddie
with an outlet for his informal pastime of song writing. Encouraged and
inspired by this experience and by the obvious success of his songs,
Eddie formed his own band, the All-Star Reveliers, and soon moved from
performing into recording, publishing and ultimately, producing and
distributing recordings on a variety of labels, the first of which was
Goldband, began in 1945.
Although he learned later to keep a watchful eye on the record
industry charts to see what record consumers were buying, Goldband was,
in the beginning, more of a vehicle for promoting Eddie's own music . .
. music that embraced the "hillbilly" sound that was sweeping the entire
south in the postwar years.
Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours were an enormous influence on Eddie's
style as can be heard on the song "Ace Of Love" (recorded ca. 1951) on
the tape which accompanies this exhibit.
Sometime around 1948, Eddie recorded a near-blind Cajun accordion
player named Iry LeJune. Eddie admits he did not have much
understanding, initially, of what LeJune's music was all about (it was
sung in Cajun French), but he agreed to make one record as a trial.
Eddie released it on a separate label, Folk Star, and it sold so well,
he recorded several more. Eddie helped get LeJune's records (along with
his own) on Jukeboxes at dance halls and night spots around southwest
Louisiana and east Texas. When Iry LeJune was suddenly killed in an
accident, Eddie Shuler found himself in possession of a rich legacy of
Cajun classics. Iry LeJune's music has not only continued to sell well
since the 1950's, but the songs recorded by Eddie Shuler have
contributed enormously to the revival of interest in the earlier Cajun
music that is now a nationwide phenomenon. They ran a radio and TV
repair service, and at one point during the '50's, they had a fleet of
trucks on the road installing and servicing TV sets.
Since the 1950's, Lake Charles has reverberated with the sounds of
regional artist. The breadth of music that has come out of Goldband
Studios ranges through Cajun, blues, zydeco (black Creole dance music),
boogie, gospel, country, rhythm and blues . . . and when it comes to
rock-a-billy, rock 'n' roll, swamp pop, and "watermelon rock," Eddie
Shuler has been there from the start defining what those musics are all
about.
Dolly Parton, Freddie Fender, Mickey Gilley, Jo'el Sonnier, Rockin'
Sidney, Boozoo Chavis, Al Ferrier, Gene Terry, Jukebox Boy Bonner,
Guitar Junior, Katie Webster, Shorty LeBlanc, Aldus Roger, Sidney Brown
and Johnny Jano, along with countless others have found their way
forward in musical careers from beginnings at Goldband Studios in Lake
Charles.
Today, Goldband continues to thrive and to do what it has always
done, explore new sounds and encourage it's artist to pioneer new styles
of music.
If you call Goldband on the phone, Eddie is likely to answer with an
impish and outgoing "How may we help you?" Elsie quietly and steadfastly
keeps the books even if it happens to be three a.m. on a hot and humid
Louisiana night. Together, the Shulers reflect all that is good about
people working for themselves in America. They have brought to the rest
of us some great and lasting music, and this has been one of their goals
. . . to create recordings that withstand the whims of public taste and
that find acceptance and new meaning in each generation. Their
accomplishments embody the American South and go beyond it, giving voice
to the cultural diversity of the country as a whole.
In the Spring of 1995, the University of North Carolina acquired
business records, studio logs, master tapes and promotional materials
relating to Goldband Recording Corporation. Once these are fully
arranged and described, the collection will be open to researchers and
will be a rich resource for anyone interested in Southern studies,
American music, media studies, popular culture, folklore and many other
disciplines.
Steve Green, Sound and Image Librarian
Southern Historical and Folklife Collections
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