Dean Blackwood
-"Music still matters to some people."


By Amy Kincheloe

Blackwood, legal counsel for Dell Computer Corp. in Austin and owner and co-founder of Revenant Records, is one of those people.

For him, it began as a child growing up in Arlington with an obsession for Stevie Wonder tunes and playing '78s on an old Victrola at his grandparents house. 

"I've always had a different relationship with music than others," Blackwoodsaid. "My father was a musician, but I had a more intense relationship to listening to music than he did."

Blackwood's appreciation for music continued through undergrad at Cornell, and then a law degree from Harvard Law School. In 1994, he even started Perfect -- a 78 record label. This led him to guitarist and fellow music obsessive John Fahey. 

Blackwood, a fan of Fahey's, asked him to record a 78 for Perfect. Later, even after Blackwood discontinued the label, he continued working with Fahey by booking his gigs. 

In 1996, Fahey's father died and left him around $50,000. Fahey gave the money to Blackwood to start another record label to put out music that they were the most passionate about -- "raw music." Revenant Records was born. 

Since the label's inception, it has produced 14 projects, including overlooked works by bluegrass masters the Stanley Brothers, rockabilly cat Charlie Feathers, pre-war compilations, experimental rockers Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, and Mississippi Delta bluesman Charlie Patton. 

"Our (record release) pace is very tetonic," Blackwood said. "Right now, we only release one really big box set a year. Those releases take so much time and effort and they have a splashier impact than a single CD." 

One such box set is "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton," which was released in 2001. The set is a seven CD primer with extensive liner notes on Mississippi Delta blues with Charley Patton as the central, generative figure. (Unfortunately, Fahey never saw the release of this box set, he died in early 2001.) Critics from Spin to The New Yorker fawned over the release. Blackwood, with the help of his sole employee, wife Laurie, submitted the box set to the Recording Academy in hopes of being nominated for a Grammy -- the set was nominated for three. 

On Feb. 23, 2003, "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton" won all three Grammys for best historical album, best album notes, and best boxed set or special limited edition package. "I wasn't surprised that we were nominated," Blackwood said, "but I was very surprised we won. It was very unexpected, but we'll take it." 

But even with the Grammy wins, Blackwood doesn't feel the need to quit the in-house counsel position he's had with Dell Computer Corporation since 1997. 

" I don't see doing the label full-time," Blackwood said. "If I had mouths to feed that depended on the label, it would change the way we did things." 

Blackwood continued: "People at Dell sometimes ask, 'Why are you still here?' But my job at Dell is easily the best law gig I've ever had. I've got the best of both worlds." 

DEAN BLACKWOOD
Age: 33

Family: wife Laurie, and two daughters, Emma and Iris

Favorite artist: Ornette Coleman

Favorite album: "Alien Soundtracks" by Chrome

Favorite album that Revenant Records has released: "Red Cross" by John Fahey

Favorite place to find albums: Somebody's neglected basement

Website: www.revenantrecords.com