Dust-to-Digital

Dust-to-Digital
Founded	1999 (1999)
Founder	Lance Ledbetter, April Ledbetter
Genre	Blues, country, folk, gospel, jazz, and world music
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Official website	www.dust-digital.com

Dust-to-Digital started as a record company that specialized in documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel, and country music. They've since expanded their catalogue to include a breadth of international music, and their full discography has over 70 releases from all over the world. Their method combines rare recordings with historic images, photographs, and detailed texts describing artists and their works.^[1] The company has won multiple Grammy Awards.^[2][3]

In February 1999, while working at WRAS, an Atlanta college radio station, and becoming frustrated at the unavailability of gospel music recordings from the 78 RPM era, Lance Ledbetter set out on a search for rare recordings of gospel music. Aiding in his search was his then girlfriend, April, who has continued to work with Lance ever since. The culmination of five years of research, Goodbye, Babylon was released in 2003 on Ledbetter's newly formed label, Dust-to-Digital. The six-CD box set, containing gospel music from 1902 to 1960,^[4] accompanied by a 200-page book, was well received.^[5][6][7] Known for their deluxe packaging and in-depth research, Dust-to-Digital quickly established itself as the gold-standard for archival releases.

Since 2004, Dust-to-Digital has issued more than 70 titles. Their 2007 release Art of Field Recording Volume 1: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum, a collection of recordings by folklorist and artist Art Rosenbaum, won a Grammy for Best Historical Album. In 2012, Lance and April launched their nonprofit Music Memory, an organization dedicated to the preservation of recorded music of all types & genres.

In May 2017, Dust-to-Digital began posting Instagram videos of music performances of all kinds, from rare historical television footage to people making music out of everyday objects. The label's account has since garnered over a million followers, and Dust-to-Digital has become known as a hub for footage of engaging musical performances on social media.

Their box-set Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris won two Grammy Awards in 2019 for Best Historical Album and Best Liner Notes. Based on the award-winning set, the Voices of Mississippi Live Tour began in 2022, and the program features live musical performances by blues and gospel musicians integrated with film, audio recordings, and rare photographs.

• Bilger, Burkhard (April 28, 2008). "The Last Verse". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
• Petrusich, Amanda (December 10, 2007). "Various Artists: The Art of Field Recording, Vol. 1 review". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
• Radford, Chad (January 6, 2010). "Decade in Review: Goodbye Babylon Revisited revisited". Creative Loafing. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
• Steele, Alicia. "Dust-to-Digital". This is Atlanta with Alicia Steele. PBA30. Retrieved February 9, 2016.