Rooster Blues is an American independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 founded in 1980. The label is dedicated to blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 music from the Mississippi Delta

Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...

. Rooster Blues was co-founded by Jim O'Neal

Jim O'Neal

Jim O'Neal is an American blues expert, writer, record producer and record company executive. He co-founded America's first blues magazine, Living Blues, in Chicago in 1970. Since that time the magazine has set standards for blues history, culture, and journalism worldwide...

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, and initially released 14 albums by South Side

South Side (Chicago)

The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...

 blues musicians. In 1986, O'Neal moved the label to Clarksdale, Mississippi

Clarksdale, Mississippi

Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 20,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Coahoma County....

 and began focusing on the area's Delta blues performers. Over the next 12 years, Rooster Blues released albums by artists like Magic Slim

Magic Slim

Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam...

, Eddy Clearwater

Eddy Clearwater

Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater is the stage name of Edward Harrington ,) an American Chicago blues musician. Blues Revue said Eddy plays “joyous rave-ups…he testifies with stunning soul fervor and powerful guitar. One of the blues’ finest songwriters.” -Early life:He was born in Macon, Mississippi,...

, John Littlejohn

John Littlejohn

John Wesley Funchess known professionally as John Littlejohn, was an American electric blues slide guitarist. He was active on the Chicago blues circuit from the 1950s to the 1980s.-Biography:...

, Lonnie Pitchford

Lonnie Pitchford

Lonnie Pitchford was an American blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi. He was notable in that he was one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi who had learned and was continuing the Delta blues and country blues traditions of the older...

, Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, James "Son" Thomas, Larry Davis

Larry Davis (blues musician)

Larry Davis was an American electric Texas blues and soul blues musician. He is best known for co-composing the song "Texas Flood", later recorded to greater commercial success by Stevie Ray Vaughan.-Biography:...

, Valerie Wellington

Valerie Wellington

Valerie Wellington was an African American, Chicago blues and electric blues singer and actress. Her 1984 album, Million Dollar $ecret saw her work with Sunnyland Slim, Billy Branch, and Magic Slim. In her early years, Wellington also worked with Lee "Shot" Williams...

, Carey Bell

Carey Bell

Carey Bell was an American blues musician, who played the harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass for other blues musicians during the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s before embarking on a solo career...

, Willie Cobbs

Willie Cobbs

Willie Cobbs is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known for his song, "You Don't Love Me"....

, Super Chikan

Super Chikan

James "Super Chikan" Johnson is an American blues musician, based in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is the nephew of fellow blues musician Big Jack Johnson....

, and Lonnie Shields.

In 1998 the label suspended operations, and in 1999 it was sold to Bottled MaJic Music. In 2000 Rooster Blues resumed operations and celebrated its 20th anniversary by releasing Willie King

Willie King

Willie King was an award-winning blues guitarist and singer, known for shunning fame and playing at a local bar in Mississippi.-Biography:...

's Freedom Creek, as well as reissuing some classic recordings like Grand Slam

Grand Slam (Magic Slim)

Grand Slam Grand Slam Grand Slam (Rooster Blues (2618) is a studio album by Magic Slim and his band, the Teardrops, reissued in 1983 by Rooster Blues. This studio album is unusual in its spontaneity and energy. Magic Slim performs both early soul and blues songs with his fine vocals and vigorous...

by Magic Slim

Magic Slim

Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam...

.