Ramseur Records Information

Ramseur also made recordings of Stephenson playing with some of the old-time musicians using a portable machine and took photos at those sessions. "All it cost me was like $150," he recalls of that recording. Shortly after Stephenson's North Carolina visit, another group caught Ramseur's attention. "My best career move was taking my mom's advice and checking out the Avett Brothers," he says, recalling his mother's 2001 suggestion to hear that group play. "They sing off key and they play out of tune, but they've got something special. I can't describe the Avett Brothers and that's how I knew they were something special." After hearing the Avett Brothers, Ramseur approached them about letting him put out a record for them. That first record, "Carolina Jubilee," "got bad reviews," Ramseur recalls, but that did not discourage him or The Brothers. Ramseur continued booking them for different events, including the annual Merlefest, building a regional fan base and selling "Carolina Jubilee" CDs at those events. Times were tough, with the Brothers working for free or for very little money at their live performances, and Ramseur resorting at one time to a job as a furniture mover "just to make ends meet." While the Avett Brothers wrote songs and performed, Ramseur managed them, picking up a booking agent, Paul Lohr, for scheduling their live performances, and a distributor, 30 Tigers, to get the Avett Brothers' CDs in stores. A second Avett Brothers album, "Mignonette," was released by Ramseur Records and a radio promoter was hired to "get it played all over the country," Ramseur said, recalling that he was also serving as The Brothers' publicist. "Paste Magazine" gave this record "a great review" and Ramseur expanded the Brothers' touring base beyond North Carolina to include Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina. "They were still playing shows for as little as $50 or opening shows for free," Ramseur remembers. "We'd get one hotel room and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were usually the meal. Touring can be a pretty tough thing - they played at a lot of clubs I would never take my mother to, but we were winning fans over, one fan at a time." When the Avett Brothers' "Four Thieves Gone" was released in early 2005, Ramseur hired a publicist to help promote it, but quickly learned a $1,000 lesson about the need to pick the right publicist. The release of "Emotionalism" by the Avett Brothers and the payoff from years of live performances, earned them an appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien. "It was a good learning experience and the first time we'd been on mainstream TV," he notes. "When we put out "Emotionalism," our main goal was to get on the Billboard Charts' Top 200," Ramseur explains. "It sold 7,200 records that first week after it was released and it was 132 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart (the industry magazine that tracks album sales). I still think we might have been the smallest label to get on the Billboard charts and we probably put the least amount of money in it." The Avett Brothers' short CD, "Second Gleam" with only six songs on it, made it to slot number 82 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart the first week it was released earlier this year and sold over 20,000 copies. Now, live performances by The Brothers regularly sell out from coast to coast. This places them among the top 100 live acts in the nation in terms of paid attendance even before the release of their major label debut. "They played Cary, N.C., this past July and had over 7,000 paid - that is unheard of for an independent band," Ramseur says, with pride in his voice. "They give a real rollercoaster of emotions when they play live. They don't have a set list and that way it never gets old for the band. They want to keep it fresh for the audience and fresh for the band." When the Avett Brothers signed with Rick Rubin's American Recordings, it was after much soul-searching, Ramseur says. "It felt right with Rick. Rubin, now co-president of Columbia Records, is the renowned music producer who has helped define or redefine the careers of such artists as Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Justine Timberlake, Neil Diamond, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Metallica, the Dixie Chicks, and Green Day. While Ramseur will continue to manage the Avett Brothers, it's still with a handshake and without a contract. "I don't want a piece of paper obligating them to work with me," he says. Then Ramseur talks about the other musicians he believes in and manages, those who write and perform songs that are "piss and vinegar mixed with heartfelt," like Samantha Crain of Oklahoma and the Chocolate Drops of North Carolina. And he begins, "What I would like to see happen to Samantha is the same thing that happened to the Avett Brothers..." and listening, you know that as long as he believes, he has the will and the stamina and the love for quirky music to help make another success happen in the music business all over again. "Every new song, every new album is a clean slate," he says. "Songs are the bread and butter of what you do and if you've got anyone with songs, they have a long career." While this was the first time Catawba's music business majors had a chance to hear from Ramseur, it certainly won't be the last. Fish says, "Dolph and I are already talking about team-teaching a class together and about his company taking on some of our students as interns. We can learn much from such a remarkable individual."