New West: Out of the Woods
New West Records is perhaps Austin’s most prominent label, even if half of it is located in Los Angeles. The company was founded in the Minneapolis living room of lawyer Cameron Strang in 1995. Four years later, Jeff Cole, founder of Austin indie Doolittle Records, resigned, leaving second in command Jay Woods to merge his operations with Strang under the New West moniker.
It was an ideal partnership, since Doolittle had in place the infrastructure that New West was lacking — namely promotion, marketing, and publicity — while Strang brought with him better distribution and legal expertise. After a period of adjustment, which included Strang relocating to L.A. and a downsizing of local staff, the label began to take off.
“It’s good to be us,” Woods says with a smile in his airy, if modest, South Austin offices. Unlike major labels, New West and other successful “superindies” have figured out how to sell albums while at least breaking even. “We doubled in growth the first two years,” reports Woods, “and while we were flat this past year, we expect to double again next year.”
They accomplished this by being frugal with marketing and judicious in artist selection.
“Major labels hope to sell 12 million copies of one record from one artist to pay for all the other mistakes they made that year,” explains Woods. “We understand we can’t do that. We don’t just throw something against the wall to see if it’ll stick, and that’s something they do all the time.”
The label’s biggest success so far has been Delbert McClinton’s 2001 release, Nothing Personal. A Grammy winner in the Contemporary Blues category, it has sold around 200,000 copies worldwide. In the wake of that success, signings of acts such as John Hiatt and the Flatlanders followed.
“Delbert definitely paved the way for us,” acknowledges Woods. “Now we have some things in the works that will keep people excited about the label and continue the growth we’ve experienced.”
The current roster includes sizzling-hot Southern rockers from Georgia the Drive-by Truckers, as well as rough-and-tumble Texas artists Slobberbone and Jon Dee Graham, and critically acclaimed singer-songwriters Tim Easton and Vic Chesnutt.
Though there are no female acts on the label, Woods says it isn’t something that happened consciously, claiming the label was close to signing Patty Griffin at one point and that there are plans afoot to bring an unnamed lady into the New West fold.
Established: 1995
Kingpins: Cameron Strang (L.A.), Jay Woods (Austin)
Notable Releases: Delbert McClinton, Nothing Personal; Flatlanders, Now Again; Drive-by Truckers, Decoration Day
New & Upcoming: Flatlanders, Wheels of Fortune
Average Print Run: 100,000 (varies widely)
This article appears in November 14 • 2003.