Tradition Records

Tradition Records was an American record label that existed from 1955 to 1961.

The label was founded (and funded) by Guggenheim heiress Diane Hamilton in 1956. Its first president and director was Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, who was soon to join his brothers and Tommy Makem, as part of the new Irish folk group, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. The label may possibly have originally begun as a non-commercial exercise, but once popular artists and groups like The Clancy Brothers, Odetta, and Jean Ritchie recorded on the Tradition Label, it began to generate profits. When The Clancy Brothers signed with Columbia Records in 1961, the label ceased to be viable, and the catalogue was sold to "Everest Records". Some Tradition recordings were issued without any notes in haphazard permutations. Later Rykodisc bought the rights, and issued several recordings under the "Tradition" logo. Some of these were actually from the Everest catalogue. The history is cloudy, but Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner, Coleman Hawkins and Jimmy Witherspoon almost certainly never recorded for Tradition, though recent issues would suggest they did.

For many years John Jacob Niles received little acclaim, but following the broadcast of the Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home, there was a surge in the demand for his albums. His two albums on "Tradition" were accordingly reissued.