The Santo label

Santo Records was a record label based in Memphis, Tennessee. It was one of the many record companies that popped up after Sun hit with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and other rockabilly singers. Although Santo was not as big in the business as Sun, Hi or Goldwax, it had a couple of minor hits and existed for much of the 1960s even into the next decade.

It was started in the early 1960s by singer Wayne McGinnis. McGinnis was originially from Mississippi County, Arkansas, and moved to Memphis around 1953. There he performed in a band with guitarist Billy Joe Miller, playing a mixture between jazz and country. He later joined Slim Wallace's Dixie Ramblers, a band that also had at one time or another such members as Billy Lee Riley, Jack Clement, Bob Deckelman, or Ramon Maupin.

When Wallace set up his label Fernwood Records in 1956, McGinnis was amongst those who recorded a couple of songs in Wallace's garage studio, which remained unissued, however. He then unsuccessfully auditioned at Sun Records before finally signing with Lester Bihari's Meteor record label, also based in Memphis. There he formed the Swing Teens with Billy Joe Miller on lead guitar and Curley Wilson on bass, recording "Rock, Roll and Rhythm" b/w "Lonesome Rhythm Blues." The record was unsuccessful at the time but became a rockabilly classic decades later.

"Moderate Sales Potential", review in Billboard July 3, 1961

McGinnis continued to play with the Swing Teens for a while, before he moved into record production and promotion. In 1961, he and his uncle Don Crews, who lived on a farm in Arkansas, decided to set up Santo Records. The label, officially called "Santo Records, Inc. Corporation" had its offices at 924 Falls Building in Memphis. The first record on Santo came out in the summer of 1961 by the Holidays with Darrell Tatum on guitar, who also recorded solo for Santo as well as for Fernwood later on. Tatum was a relative of McGinnis' wife.

From the many recordings done for Santo, there were remarkable many local Memphis artists of note. Anita Wood, who was at some point Elvis Presley's girl friend, Harold Dorman, who had a hit with "Mountain of Love" on Billy Lee Riley's Rita Records, also recorded for the label as well. Thomas Wayne's recordings on Santo were likely taken over from Fernwood. Likely the same applied to Bobby Lee Trammell, whose "Arkansas Twist" on Alley Records had been distributed through Santo in 1962, where possibly masters produced by Alley (namely owner and producer Joe Lee) and not by Santo. Sylvia Mobley, a country singer who had several records out on small Memphis and Arkansas based labels in the 1960s and 1970s, recorded early on in Santo's history.

In 1962, McGinnis was approached by Seymour Rosenberg, a Memphis music lawyer, who had established a small recording studio on 827 Thomas Street, at the corner of Chelsea Avenue, with his musical partner Chips Moman. The latter, however, had not been content with the way things went at the studio and soon had sold his share of the business to Rosenberg. Now left alone with the studio, Rosenberg sensed he could not take it off and offered it to McGinnis. Both McGinnis and Crews went into partnership again to buy the studio for about $1,000. However, not much happened with during the next month and McGinnis sold his share of it to his uncle. Chips Moman rejoined, they renamed "American Sound Studio" and developed it into one of the nation's top recording studios.

However - back to Santo. McGinnis had also founded subsidiary label called San Wayne Records, which only had a few releases out in 1962 and 1963. Crews and McGinnis acquired several masters from Slim Wallace, owner of Fernwood Records and recording studio during this time, including tapes by Thomas Wayne and those of Ace Cannon, whose "Sugar Blues" became a minor hit for Santo, reaching #92 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1962.

Billboard April 7, 1962

Santo's numerical system began in 1961 with a 500 series, which was discontinued the following year and replaced by a 9000 numerical system, which remained until around 1965. The first release in the new system was slated for Larry Wayne, whose recordings were produced by Vee-Jay Records and released on Santo under an agreement between both firms.

Wayne McGinnis also had other business interests, including his crop dusting company since 1957, and probably interests in a Memphis recording studio. He eventually concentrated on his work as a business man, retiring from performing. In 1964 or 1965, Santo went dormant for a couple of years. The last known release on Santo during its first incarnation was by David Wilson in 1964 or 1965.

Billboard December 5, 1970

In the late 1960s, McGinnis' interest in music was renewed when he bought Slim Wallace's Fernwood Records. The Fernwood label's headquarters on North Main Street had been destroyed in 1968 (though the label was more or less inactive by then) due to the flooding Mississippi River. Most of the equipment and master tapes were destroyed, what had remained intact went into the possession of McGinnis.

Around the same time, Johnny Vincent joined Santo and the label was reactivated. Vincent had made himself a name as a producer with his own Ace label in Jackson, Mississippi, but by the late 1960s, his successful days had been over. He probably found it lucrative to work with McGinnis, who had moved Santo to the King Cotton Hotel by then.

McGinnis also went into partnership with Allen Orange, formerly of Sound Stage 7, to distribute Orange's House of Orange label. He also held interests in the San American recording studio in Little Rock, Arkansas, which also operated his own label of the same name. Both the House of Orange and the San American labels as well as the studio operated as divisions under the umbrella of Santo Records. In 1970 and 1971, several records were released on all three labels, especially on the House of Orange imprint, and with pormotion work by Vincent, there were a couple of good-selling discs. The most successful release at this stage was probably Geater Davis' "Sweet Woman's Love" on the House of Orange label from 1970.

However, by early 1972, it seems Santo and hits divisions had gone back to inactivity. McGinnis sold the Fernwood and Santo master tapes to Dave Travis, who had acquired the rights to several other Memphis recording companies as well, including the Stomper Time label. Travis released a 34-track CD of Santo recordings. Wayne McGinnis died in 2013.

Discography

500: Holidays (feat. Darrell Tatum's guitar) - Dark Valley / Desperate (1961)
501: Darrell Tatum - Battle Hymn of the Republic / Dixie (1961)
502: Sylvia Mobley - All By Myself / If I Had You Again (1962)
503: Ace Cannon - Sugar Blues / 38 Special (1962)
504: Eddie Carroll - I'm Sorry / Wait Eternally (1962)
505: Forrest Green - Let's Keep Our Secrets / Walking With My Memories (1962)
506: Ace Cannon - Rest / Big Shot (1962)

9001: Larry Wayne - Tag-a-Long / Dialing Your Number (By Mistake) (1962)
9002:
9003:
9004:
9005: Harold Dorman - There on Yonder Hill / In an Instant (1962)
9006: Red West Combo - My Babe / Bossa Nova Bomsa (1963)
9007: Red Williams - With the Wind / Pennywinkle Mountain (1963)
9008: Anita Wood - Two Young Fools in Love / Memories of You (1963)
9009-9049: [probably there were no records released with these numbers]
9050: Red Williams - I Can't Believe (This Has Happened to Me) / Love's Not Worth It (1963)
9051: Harold Dorman - Ain't Gonna Change / What Comes Next (1963)
9052: Bobby Lee Trammell - Hi-O Silver / Don't You Know (I Love You) (1964)
9053: Thomas Wayne - Stop the River / 8th Wonder of the World (1964)
9054: Anita Wood - Dream Baby / This Has Happened Before (1964)
9055:
9056: Charlene Mitchell - Two Brothers / I'll Remember You
9057: T. Wayne - Tragedy / You're Gonna Be Waiting
9058: David Wilson and the Characters - Jamie / With All My Heart

750: Eddie Lanehart - Georgia Sun / Bad Weed (1970)

See also

• Wayne McGinnis on Meteor

Recommended reading

• Hot Rockin' Music from Memphis: The Santo Record Company Story (Bear Family)

Sources

• Special thanks to Marty McGinnis, ohn Shaw and Dave Travis for their input and research on the label.

• Entries for Santo, Sanwayne, San American, and House of Orange on 45cat

• Adam Komorowski: "Classic Rockabilly" (liner notes), Proper Records
• Roben Jones: "Memphis Boys - The Story of American Studios" (University Press of Mississippi), 2010, pages 16-17