Charlie Pilzer, GRAMMY® Award winning mastering engineer and producer had a dream. A dream of a CD label that lets artists maintain the rights to their own work, reserve creative control, and work together with other artists to get their music heard and distributed. Charlie’s vision of an artists’ cooperative label took flight in 1996 when he launched a new label called Azalea City Recordings.
We are a REAL cooperative, run by the artists and based in Takoma Park MD—aka Azalea City. This DC area homegrown outfit started as a small town Folk label holding occasional potluck meetings and has grown to a Nationally recognized multiple WAMMIE award winning record label, producing 5 full length sampler CDs and garnering national radio airplay.
The originally Folk-based roster has branched out to include a variety of genres, but maintains the integrity of music based on traditional inspirations. Azalea City Recordings includes an eclectic cornucopia of roots-based musicians and songwriters. Whether performing solo or in full band configurations, these musicians are an inspiration to each other and to their audiences. You’ll discover artists that have won GRAMMYS, WAMMIES (Washington Area Music Awards) and national songwriting awards; toured nationally or internationally; are critically acclaimed with their music featured on radio stations worldwide.
There’s lots of great music to discover here on our website–please browse, listen, buy the music and share our story!
Let’s recap!
Azalea City Recordings is…
• a musicians’ cooperative run by the artists
• the home of fine musicians and songwriters who draw on the deep well of tradition
• a nationally recognized Folk and Roots music label
• a hometown outfit with a strong connection to its community
• a multi WAMMIE award-winning DC area record label