Ninth Street Opus is an independent record label in Berkeley, California. Founded in 2008 by producer Wayne Skeen, Opus is a genre-agnostic label, with recordings that focus on artists with strong live musical performances. Their catalog’s recordings have dipped into folk, country, rock, jazz and alternative rock music genres. Opus offers management, tour support, Internet and traditional marketing and promotion, long term career and fan building and publishing.

Artists

The artist roster has seen steady growth since the label's start (see complete discography). The first band to sign on to Ninth Street Opus in 2008 was Blame Sally. Their first album with the label, Night of 1000 Stars, was released in May 2009. Shortly thereafter, Opus released Carrie Rodriguez’ Love and Circumstance which remained in the top three on Billboard's Americana Charts for over six weeks. In the winter of 2010, Opus released Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion's album Bright Examples, produced by Andy Cabic and Thom Mohanan of Vetiver and includes artists such as Gary Louris and Mark Olson of The Jayhawks.

Along with long term “label artists”, Opus also works on projects on an individual basis. These projects have included recordings with young artists looking for a professional album to tour with, side projects of signed artists and longer termed series projects with various artists.

Studio

Opus Studios, also located in the Ocean View district of West Berkeley, has a 48 channel mixer and a plethora of instruments including a grand piano, vintage mics, a Hammond B3 and harmonium available for recording artists to use. The studio includes a glass vocal booth, control room and large tracking room so full bands can record together live.

Chief engineer/studio manager is Dave Luke.

Along with founder, Wayne Skeen, in-house producers include San Francisco duo, The Rondo Brothers. The Rondo Brothers, Jim Greer and Brandon Arnovick, formally joined the Opus team after producing the first recordings of Rondo Sessions with The Kin.

Artist roster

Opus Project Series

Discography

Year Title Artist 2009 Night of 1000 Stars Blame Sally 2009 Corner of the World Luce 2009 Paper City The Real Nasty 2009 There is No Reason Here (There is only a persistent feeling that we ought to look closely and love deeply Annie Bacon & her OSHEN 2009 The Pam and Jeri Show The Pam and Jeri Show 2010 The Year We’ll Have Luce 2010 Love and Circumstance Carrie Rodriguez 2010 Felsen Loves You Felsen 2010 Live at Stern Grove Festival Blame Sally 2010 From the Echo 2010 Bright Examples (EP) Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion 2010 The Kin Rondo Sessions EP (US) The Kin 2010 The Kin Rondo Sessions EP (UK) The Kin 2010 The Kin Rondo Sessions EP (Japan) The Kin 2010 Strangers and Friends The Real Nasty 2011 We Still Love Our Country Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle 2011 Bright Examples- (full length LP) Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion 2011 Richardson EP Diego's Umbrella 2011 Forrest Day 2011 Speeding Ticket and a Valentine Blame Sally 2011 Dirty Dollars The Real Nasty 2012 U.S. Elevator EP 2012 The Only Way to Kill You EP 2012 Vast as Sky 2012 Moons & Junes 2012 Brand New Step Angelo Moore 2012 Proper Cowboy Diego's Umbrella 2012 Handsome Sea 2013 Give Me All You Got Carrie Rodriguez

External links