Background

Crouch, frontman of the band Blanket Music

Blanket Music

Blanket Music is a jazz-influenced indie-rock band from Portland, Oregon. Led by Chad Crouch, the owner/operator of Hush Records.-History:The band formed in 1999, to perform at a wedding reception. Mixing jazz, rock, bossa nova and pop music, the band released debut album Nice in 2000...

, organized Hush Records in 1997

1997 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...

, when he self-released a solo record called Portland, Or. The following year, Crouch bought a CD burner and began recording and distributing music by Mike Johnson (Reclinerland), Jeff London, and Ben Barnett (Kind of Like Spitting

Kind of Like Spitting

Kind of Like Spitting was an American indie rock band. They formed in 1996 in Portland, Oregon. The band was led by prolific singer-songwriter Ben Barnett, who work has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith, Mark Eitzel, Billy Bragg, and Robert Pollard....

) to record stores locally. It wasn't until the 1999 releases of Kaitlyn Ni Donovan

Kaitlyn Ni Donovan

Kaitlyn ni Donovan is from Portland, Oregon and is a classically trained violinist and Composer of Experimental Music, Dream Pop, and Film scores. She is self taught on a multitude of instruments and is known for unorthodox chord changes and lyrics peppered with dense language and romantic imagery...

's Songs for Three Days and a compilation called Flag that Hush had a national distributor.

50th release

The label continues to release several records a year, recently having reached its 50th release milestone with the appropriately titled 50-track compilation Mile.

Hush artists (past and present)

• Peter Broderick
  Peter Broderick
  Peter Broderick is an American musician and composer from Carlton, Oregon. He has released solo material under his own name, been a member of Efterklang, and played with several ensembles as a session musician.-Biography:...
  
  
• The Decemberists
  The Decemberists
  The Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...
  
  
• Amy Annelle
• Blanket Music
  Blanket Music
  Blanket Music is a jazz-influenced indie-rock band from Portland, Oregon. Led by Chad Crouch, the owner/operator of Hush Records.-History:The band formed in 1999, to perform at a wedding reception. Mixing jazz, rock, bossa nova and pop music, the band released debut album Nice in 2000...
  
  
• Bobby Birdman
  Bobby Birdman
  Bobby Birdman is musician Rob Kieswetter's stage name. Kieswetter is originally from Nevada City, California, and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He has released albums on Hush Records, Not Not Fun, Fryk Beat, States Rights Records...
  
  
• Casey Dienel
  Casey Dienel
  Casey Dienel is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She released her debut album, Wind-Up Canary, in 2006 on Hush Records...
  
  
• Dat'r
  Dat'r
  Dat'r is an Electronic music band consisting of Matt Dabrowiak and Paul Alcott, from Portland, Oregon.-History:Dat'r was originally formed as a side project of the Portland-based Rock band Binary Dolls...
  
  
• The Decemberists
• Fancie
• Graves
  Graves (band)
  Graves is the band that Michale Graves and Dr. Chud formed after they left the Misfits. Graves recorded and released one album, Web of Dharma....
  
  
• Jeff London
• Kind of Like Spitting
  Kind of Like Spitting
  Kind of Like Spitting was an American indie rock band. They formed in 1996 in Portland, Oregon. The band was led by prolific singer-songwriter Ben Barnett, who work has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith, Mark Eitzel, Billy Bragg, and Robert Pollard....
  
  
• Kaitlyn Ni Donovan
  Kaitlyn Ni Donovan
  Kaitlyn ni Donovan is from Portland, Oregon and is a classically trained violinist and Composer of Experimental Music, Dream Pop, and Film scores. She is self taught on a multitude of instruments and is known for unorthodox chord changes and lyrics peppered with dense language and romantic imagery...
  
  
• Laura Gibson
  Laura Gibson
  Laura Gibson is a Portland-area folk singer and songwriter. She was raised in Coquille, Oregon.She currently records for the independent U.S. label Hush Records. In 2008, she toured the United States as the opening act for Colin Meloy. She also added vocal harmonies to his Colin Meloy Sings Sam...
  
  
• Loch Lomond
  Loch Lomond (band)
  Loch Lomond is a band based in Portland, Oregon, United States that was started as a solo recording project of Ritchie Young in 2003. With help of engineer/producer Rob Oberdorder, Young crafted the first Loch Lomond album, When We Were Mountains, which was released on In Music We Trust Records...
  
  
• Miki Howard
  Miki Howard
  Alicia Michelle "Miki" Howard is an American R&B/jazz singer and actress who had a string of Top 10 hit songs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Howard's string of hits also included Baby,Be Mine", "Come Share My Love" and "Love Under New Management"...
  
  
• Noise for Pretend
• Norfolk & Western
  Norfolk & Western (band)
  Norfolk & Western is an indie rock and folk/rock band from Portland, Oregon. An essential part of their stage set-up and sound is a turn-of-the-century Victrola Grammaphone. Norfolk and Western began as the recording project of Adam Selzer with friends, including M. Ward, playing various...
  
  
• Novi Split
• The Operacycle
• Parks and Recreation
  Parks and Recreation
  Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
  
  
• The Places
• Podington Bear
• Reclinerland
• Corrina Repp
  Corrina Repp
  Corrina Repp is a vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and maker of quiet music based in Portland, Oregon. Her albums I Take On Your Days and It's Only the Future were released on Hush Records, while The Absent and the Distant was released on Mark Kozelek's personal label Caldo Verde...
  
  
• Shelley Short
• Esperanza Spalding
  Esperanza Spalding
  Esperanza Spalding is an American multi-instrumentalist best known as a jazz bassist and singer, who draws upon many genres in her own compositions...
  
  
• Super XX Man
• The Tooth Fairy
• Velella Velella
• Run On Sentence
• Carlos Forster
• Kele Goodwin
• Chad Crouch
• Rauelsson
• Nick Jaina