Tompkins Square Records is an independent record label producing new and archival releases of gospel, blues, jazz, and country music.[2]
In 2005, Josh Rosenthal launched Tompkins Square Records in New York City after working 15 years in a variety of positions at Sony Music. Tompkins Square moved to San Francisco in 2011.[3] Rosenthal runs the label on his own with help from an art director and publishing company.[4]
Tompkins Square's first album was Imaginational Anthem, an anthology of music by fingerstyle guitarists including Jack Rose, Sandy Bull, John Fahey, Max Ochs, and Kaki King. The series has grown to seven volumes.[5][6]
Tompkins Square issued a previously unreleased concert recording by Tim Buckley, Live at the Folklore Center, NYC — March 6, 1967.[3][7]
Tompkins Square has released several comprehensive gospel music compilations, including 2009's Fire In My Bones: Raw & Rare & Other-Worldly African American Gospel (1944–2007) and This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel On 45RPM (1957–1982).[8]
Rosenthal brought Charlie Louvin in to record a series of albums, introducing Louvin to a new generation of listeners.[4]
Tompkins Square released Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs of Karen Dalton, an album of songs written by Dalton and performed by artists such as Lucinda Williams, Sharon Van Etten, Tara Jane O'Neil, and Diane Cluck.[9]
Tompkins Square released several 78 rpm discs for Record Store Day. Artists involved included Luther Dickinson, Tyler Ramsey, and Ralph Stanley.[10]
In 2015, Rosenthal wrote and published the book The Record Store of the Mind, a memoir about being a record collector and owning a record company.[2][11][12]
