Jackson Browne

Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to... protest apartheid in South Africa. The group produced the song "Sun City" and the album Sun City that year. Van Zandt, who had parted with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at the height of their success to go out on his own, traveled to South Africa to research his next record. He was interested in South Africa because he had read that the apartheid system was actually modeled after America's system of Indian reservations, an issue that was his major passion. While in South Africa, he was distressed by a place called Sun City, an interracial gambling resort located in a bantustan, a nominally independent area supposedly ruled by black Africans, in the middle of an impoverished rural homeland. Van Zandt became interested in writing a song about Sun City to make parallels with the plight of native Americans. Danny Schechter, a journalist who was then working with ABC News' 20/20, suggested turning the song into a different kind of "We Are the World", or as Schechter explains, "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine.
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Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell,... The Eagles and Bob Dylan for two albums. It was taken over by Warner Communications in 1972, and merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylum Records. After various incarnations, today it is geared primarily towards hip-hop, along with rock and Alternative Metal. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and is currently distributed through Warner Bros. Records. Asylum was founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency, and operated a folk/rock label. They founded their own management company, and when Geffen was unable to get a recording contract for Jackson Browne, one of his clients at the time, Geffen and Roberts founded Asylum specifically to sign Browne. Asylum's early releases were distributed by Atlantic Records.
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Inside Recordings is a Los Angeles, California based independent record label founded by singer-songwriter Jackson Browne in 1999. Browne has stated that the mission of the label is to "create a haven for music that might not find a home in the mainstream." In 2005, Inside Recordings signed a... nationwide direct distribution deal with independent music distributor Alternative Distribution Alliance. The label's inaugural release under the agreement was Browne's own Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1, which was released in the U.S. on October 11, 2005. It was nominated for a Grammy Award soon afterward, just as Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2 was released. Artists with works previously released on the label include the Joel Rafael Band and Native American activist and spoken word artist John Trudell. In 2008, Browne released his first studio recording in five years; Time the Conqueror on Inside Recordings.
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Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy... and southeastern American folk music. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjoes, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles such as violins, and harmonicas. The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. In 2009 Country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute. Immigrants to the Maritime Provinces and Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years.
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Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th... century but is often applied to music that is older than that. Certain types of folk music are also called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. The most common name for this new form of music is also "folk music", but is often called "contemporary folk music" or "folk revival music" to make the distinction. This type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others.
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