About

Short Version

Ardent Music is an upstart independent record label based out of legendary Ardent Studios.  We’re an offshoot of the Ardent Records label that originally launched power-pop pioneers Big Star.  Our first two signings are Star & Micey and Jump Back Jake.

Long Version

Ardent Records, often shortened to “Ardent,” is a Memphis record label founded by John Fry in 1959. Ardent of the 1960s and 1970s featured pop music acts and was distributed by Stax Records from 1972 until 1975. It is best remembered today for Big Star, whose first two albums, released in 1972 and 1974, helped define the style known as power pop. The label was initially an attempt by the R&B-focused Stax to move into rock music, but distribution problems prevented any releases from succeeding. Big Star became widely known through 80s reissues and the long delayed first release of Big Star III, recorded in 1974.

The label was revived in the 1990s with two divisions: Alternative Mainstream and Contemporary Christian. Former Big Star guitarist Alex Chilton released recordings on the Ardent mainstream division, which also released recordings by bands such as Spot, Jolene, Two Minutes Hate, The Idlewilds, Neighborhood Texture Jam, and Techno-Squid Eats Parliament. The mainstream division of Ardent Records was closed in the mid-1990s.

In 2008, the mainstream label was revived under the imprint Ardent Music and signed local Memphis artists, Jump Back Jake and Star & Micey.