HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983. The label's first release that year was Bad Influence by bluesman Robert Cray. In 1984, the label released Frankie Lee's debut album, The Ladies and the Babies.
Between 1995 and 2000, the label issued three albums by James Armstrong (Sleeping with a Stranger, Dark Night, and Got It Goin' On).
In September 2006 the label released a five CD boxed set titled American Music: The HighTone Records Story. This release compiled many of the labels's most influential recordings. In 2008 the company closed its doors and sold the extensive catalog to Shout! Factory, which continues to release reissues and compilations.
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“Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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—John Berger (b. 1926)