Biography
Contact:
Mark Freeman
434-973-5151 x 102
questions@rebelrecords.com
Radio Contact:
Ellen Nagase
434-973-5151 x 101
radio@rebelrecords.com
REBEL RECORDS... A BRIEF HISTORY
Rebel Records is the leading independent record label dedicated to promoting and preserving Traditional Bluegrass music. Known for innovation and excellence since 1960, Rebel has introduced many of the most important artists of the genre, from the Country Gentlemen and Seldom Scene to the Steep Canyon Rangers, Blue Highway, Lonesome River Band and IIIrd Tyme Out. In addition to its leading presence in Contemporary Bluegrass, the label has also been a home for legendary traditional artists like Ralph Stanley, Del McCoury and Dave Evans.
The Rebel story began in 1960 when a trio of bluegrass aficionados from the suburbs of Washington, DC, hatched a plan to launch a record label. In short order, Charles R. “Dick” Freeland emerged as the primary force that would shepherd it through the next two decades. Rebel had several successes in the middle 1960s that helped to put it on the map including the release of a 4-LP set entitled
The 70 Song Bluegrass Collection and an early album by the Country Gentlemen called
Bringing Mary Home. The title song from the album was issued as a single and sold over 50,000 copies.
The 1970s was a boom time for bluegrass. Weekend-long festivals were exploding the market and bringing many new converts to the music. In contrast to the previous decade, Rebel issued nearly one hundred albums from 1970 to 1979. Having developed a keen sense for the marketplace, and being in the right place at the right time, Rebel scooped up three of the top names in bluegrass: Ralph Stanley, the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene. Other performers included gospel groups such as the Marshall and Shuffler families; fiddlers Curly Ray Cline and Buck Ryan; regional favorites such as Roy McMillan, A.L. Wood and the Shenandoah Cut-Ups; and names that would go on to enjoy future headliner status such as Del McCoury, Tony Rice, Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs.
By 1979, despite the success of the label, Dick Freeland was ready to opt out. He found a willing buyer in Roanoke, Virginia-based Dave Freeman, the owner of County Records and the County Sales mail order outlet. Freeman immediately set about upgrading the image of the label with state-of-the-art graphics, quality pressings of the record albums, and adding new talent – such as Larry Sparks, the Lost & Found, Bill Harrell, Dave Evans, the Easter Brothers, the Virginia Squires, Del McCoury, Larry Rice, Rhonda Vincent and the Lonesome River Band – to an already impressive roster.
During the 1990s, in addition to putting out the new albums of its artists, Rebel released three notable boxed sets:
35 Years of the Best in Bluegrass,
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, 1971-1973 and
The Country Gentlemen, 1962-1971. Another of Rebel’s crowning achievements of the 1990s was the star-studded two-CD set
Clinch Mountain Country which paired Ralph Stanley with a host of contemporary country and bluegrass artists. With a line-up of guests that included Bob Dylan, George Jones, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill, Vern Gosdin, Jim Lauderdale, Kathy Mattea and a host of others, the collection won IBMA Awards for Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year. As of 2020, the label has won a total of 23 IBMA Awards.
Awards and accolades aside, the bread and butter for the label continues to be the ever developing roster of talent that appears on Rebel: Blue Highway, IIIrd Tyme Out, The Traditional Grass, Claire Lynch, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Paul Williams, Steep Canyon Rangers, Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers, Junior Sisk and, most recently, Band of Ruhks, High Fidelity, Big Country Bluegrass and The Price Sisters are just a few of the acts that have helped solidify the company’s reputation as bluegrass music’s premier record label.
With over fifty years in the business of selling bluegrass and old-time music, Dave Freeman has ceded the day-to-day operations of Rebel to his son Mark, who had been working alongside his father since 1997. No stranger to bluegrass, Mark literally grew up in the offices of Rebel Records and absorbed much of his knowledge of the music business through actual hands-on experience, starting in his young teen years. Today, his acumen guides Rebel Records as it ventures into its second half century as The Best in Bluegrass.
Click on any album title to download music from our (still growing) catalog!
A.L. Wood
Sing A Bluegrass Song
Appalachian Express
Walking The Blues
Auldridge-Bennett-Gaudreau
This Old Town
Band Of Ruhks
Authentic
Barry Scott & Second Wind
In God's Time
Baucom, Bibey, Graham and Haley
Baucom, Bibey, Graham and Haley
Benny & Vallie Cain
Benny & Vallie Cain & The Country Clan
Big Country Bluegrass
Mountains, Mamas and Memories
The Boys In Hats And Ties
Bill Emerson
Home Of The Red Fox
Bill Grant & Delia Bell
Rollin'
Bluegrass 45
Bluegrass 45
Caravan
In The Morning
Blue Highway
It's A Long, Long Road
Midnight Storm
Boys From Indiana
Good Time Blues
Butch Baldassari
Old Town
Charlie Moore
The Original Rebel Soldier
Charlie Sizemore
The Story Is...
Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Lonely Comes Easy
No One But You
Cliff Waldron
The Best Of
Traveling Light
Cody Kilby
Just Me
Country Gentlemen
25 Years
Award Winning
Calling My Children Home
The Young Fisherwoman
Dave Evans
Bad Moon Shining
Hang Out A Light For Me
The Best Of The Vetco Years
David Davis and The Warrior River Boys
David Davis and The Warrior River Boys
Dehlia Low
Ravens & Crows
Del McCoury
Classic Bluegrass
Del McCoury
Livin' On The Mountain
Take Me To The Mountains
Don Rigsby & Midnight Call
Doctor's Orders: A Tribute to Ralph Stanley
The Voice Of God
Easter Brothers
They're Holding Up The Ladder
Eddie Adcock & Don Reno
Sensational Twin Banjos
Emerson & Waldron
Bluegrass Country
The Best Of
Forbes Family
A Forbes Family Treasury Vol. 1
Front Porch String Band
Hills Of Alabam
Gillis Brothers
Heart and Soul
High Fidelity
Banjo Player's Blues
Hills And Home
Music In My Soul
The Mighty Name of Jesus (Single)
J.D. Crowe
Blackjack
Bluegrass Holiday
The Model Church
James Alan Shelton
Song For Greta
James Price
Fiddlin' The Old Time Way
Jeremy Stephens
Could I Knock on Your Door (Single)
How I Hear It
Scarlet Banjo
Jim Eanes
In His Arms
Jimmy Arnold
Riding With Ol' Mosby
Southern Soul
Jimmy Gaudreau & Moondi Klein
2:10 Train
Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Hymns From The Hills
The Story We Tell
John Duffey
The Rebel Years 1962 - 1977
John Starling & Carolina Star
Slidin' Home
Josh Graves
Josh Graves
Junior Sisk and Joe Mullins
Hall of Fame Bluegrass
Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice
Blue Side Of The Blue Ridge
Karl Shiflett and Big Country Show
The Karl Shiflett and Big Country Show
Keith Whitley & Ricky Skaggs
Second Generation
Kenny & Amanda Smith Band
Always Never Enough
Kenny Baker & Josh Graves
The Puritan Sessions
King Wilkie
Broke
Kody Norris Show
All Suited Up
I Call Her Sunshine (Single)
Love Bug (Single)
Mountain City Christmas (Single)
Mountain Rosalie (Single)
Ole Carolina (Single)
Rhinestone Revival
Larry Rice
If You Only Knew: The Best of Larry Rice
Larry Sparks
Christmas In The Hills
Classic Bluegrass
House of Gold (Single)
It's Just Me
John Deere Tractor
Mama's Apron Strings (Single)
Ministry In Song
New Moon Over My Shoulder
Sweetheart (Single)
Lilly Brothers & Don Stover
Early Recordings
Lonesome River Band
Carrying The Tradition
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
Longview
Lessons In Stone
Lost & Found
Classic Bluegrass
Mac Wiseman
Bluegrass Hits And Heartsongs
Mark Newton
Follow Me Back To The Fold
Marshall Family
The Legendary Marshall Family Vol. 1
McPeak Brothers
Yesteryears: The Best of the McPeak Brothers
Melvin Goins And Friends
I Wouldn't Miss It
Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge
My Daddy's Grass
Songs From The Blue Ridge
Paul Williams & The Victory Trio
The Real Christmas Story
Old Ways & Old Paths
Peter Rowan
Calling You From My Mountain
Carter Stanley's Eyes
Price Sisters
A Heart Never Knows
Ralph Stanley
Clinch Mountain Country Part 1
Clinch Mountain Country Part 2
Clinch Mountain Country Part 3
Clinch Mountain Sweethearts
Cry From The Cross
Lonesome And Blue
Memory Of Your Smile
Mountain Preacher's Child
My All And All
My Life & Legacy
Old Home Place
Old-Time Pickin'
Short Life Of Trouble
Something Old, Something New
Ralph Stanley - Ralph II
Side By Side
Ralph Stanley II
Stanley Blues
Red Allen
Keep On Going
Lonesome And Blue
Reno & Smiley
Songs From Yesterday
Together Again
Rhonda Vincent
Timeless And True Love
Richard Greene
Wolves A' Howlin'
Rock County
Rock County
Ronnie Bowman
Cold Virginia Night
Roy McMillan
High Country
Seldom Scene
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Baptizing
Best Of
Live At The Cellar Door
Old Train
The New Seldom Scene Album
Shawn Lane
All For Today
Stanley Brothers
Long Journey Home
On Radio
Starlett & Big John
Living In The South
Living in the South (Single)
Straight 58 (Single)
Steep Canyon Rangers
Lovin' Pretty Women
IIIrd Tyme Out
IIIrd Tyme Out
Grandpa's Mandolin
Tony Rice
California Autumn
Guitar
Traditional Grass
The Blues Are Still The Blues
Wildwood Valley Boys
When I Get Back To Georgia
Wilma Lee Cooper
A Daisy A Day
REBEL RECORDS COMPILATIONS:
Christmas In The Mountains: Bluegrass Songs For The Season
Dark As A Dungeon: Songs of the Mines
Raised By The Railroad Line
Stelling Banjo Anthology
True Bluegrass Fiddle
True Bluegrass Guitar
True Bluegrass Mandolin
With Body And Soul: A Bluegrass Tribute to Bill Monroe