DR. RICHARD RANTA
Dean of the College of
Communications and Fine Arts
University of Memphis
Dean of the College of
Communications and Fine Arts
University of Memphis
DR. DAVID EVANS
Professor of Ethnomusicology
University of Memphis
Tonya Butler, Esq., LL.M.
Former Area Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Music Business
University of Memphis
HIGH WATER RECORDS
Traditional Blues, Jazz and Gospel and More
About Us
High Water's collection of masters were recorded in Memphis Tennessee and the surrounding Mississippi Delta in the 1970s-80s during a time when Memphis dominated the world music scene with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records and Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and Booker T. and the M.G.s at Stax Records.
With no place for little known, less popular, traditional blues or gospel musicians to record, indigenous music was in danger of becoming a lost art.
Fortunately, University of Memphis Ethnomusicologist Professor Dr. David Evans and College of Communication and Fine Arts Dean Richard Ranta formed an on-campus record company called High Water Records and corresponding Music River Publishing in order to preserve for generations to come, the legacy of American-made Jazz, church-grown Gospel, and down-home Delta Blues forever.
Dr. Evans and Dean Ranta continue to be the driving force behind High Water and Music River/Mississippi River Publishing. In 2004 they hired Los Angeles based former record company executive and entertainment attorney Tonya Butler, Esq., LL.M as Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of the School of Music's Music Business Program. Butler supervised the licensing of Music/Mississippi River compositions, spearheaded the administration and marketing of the master and publishing catalogs and served as faculty advisor to the student-run record label Blue TOM Records.
With no place for little known, less popular, traditional blues or gospel musicians to record, indigenous music was in danger of becoming a lost art.
Fortunately, University of Memphis Ethnomusicologist Professor Dr. David Evans and College of Communication and Fine Arts Dean Richard Ranta formed an on-campus record company called High Water Records and corresponding Music River Publishing in order to preserve for generations to come, the legacy of American-made Jazz, church-grown Gospel, and down-home Delta Blues forever.
Dr. Evans and Dean Ranta continue to be the driving force behind High Water and Music River/Mississippi River Publishing. In 2004 they hired Los Angeles based former record company executive and entertainment attorney Tonya Butler, Esq., LL.M as Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of the School of Music's Music Business Program. Butler supervised the licensing of Music/Mississippi River compositions, spearheaded the administration and marketing of the master and publishing catalogs and served as faculty advisor to the student-run record label Blue TOM Records.
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