Saddle Creek Records is an independent record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. The label was founded by Robb Nansel and Mike Mogis in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). The label is named after Saddle Creek Road, a street that cuts through the east side of midtown Omaha. Saddle Creek became an incorporated entity as a class project for the two on entrepreneurship. Justin Oberst, brother of Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, stepped in to fill the shoes of Mogis around 1998, with Mogis moving more into recording and production.

Saddle Creek Records continues to be the flagship label of a style of music that is beginning to be called the Omaha Sound, characterized by a slight country twang. This is increasingly inaccurate, though, with the rise of more electronic sounds such as those favored by The Faint and Broken Spindles. The eclectic sounds of Saddle Creek's disparate member bands is somewhat explained by their history; a number of the original members of the label attended grade school together (Oberst himself was 13 years old at the time of the first Lumberjack release, Conor Oberst's "Water"). A "brother label," of sorts, to Saddle Creek is Team Love, started by Conor Oberst in 2004.

In 2005, Spend An Evening with Saddle Creek, a documentary detailing the first ten years of the record label's history, was released. The DVD features extensive interviews with the Saddle Creek bands, archival footage, and rare live performances.

Bands

• Azure Ray
• Beep Beep
• Bright Eyes
• Broken Spindles
• Criteria
• Cursive
• Desaparecidos
• Eric Bachmann
• The Faint
• The Good Life
• Ladyfinger
• Maria Taylor
• Mayday
• Now It's Overhead
• Orenda Fink
• Son, Ambulance
• Sorry About Dresden
• Two Gallants

Past Bands

• Commander Venus
• Gabardine
• Lullaby for the Working Class
• Park Ave.
• Polecat
• Rilo Kiley
• Slowdown Virginia
• Smashmouth
• We'd Rather Be Flying

Compilations

• Saddle Creek Records, A Sampler (1998)
• Saddle Creek 50 (2002)
• Lagniappe: A Saddle Creek Benefit for Hurricane Katrina (2005)

See also

• List of record labels
• Team Love Records

External links

• Saddle Creek Records official website
• Saddle Creek Records on MySpace
• 1% Productions
• Somedaynever

Interviews

• Lazy-i Interview: August 2001 with Robb Nansel
• Lazy-i Interview: March 2005 with Robb Nansel and Jason Kulbel

Saddle Creek Records | 1993 establishments | American record labels | Companies based in Nebraska | Independent record labels | Nebraska culture | Omaha, Nebraska | Indie rock

Saddle Creek