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Plantation Records was a country music record label of the 1960s and 1970's helmed by Shelby Singleton. The label is best known for the Jeannie C. Riley's hit "Harper Valley PTA" which topped both the country and pop Hot 100 charts.
The label established Riley as one of the major country female vocalists of the late 1960s and early 1970's with a string of hits for the label and also topping the Billboard country album chart with the Harper Valley PTA album. Grand Ole Opry star Ray Pillow had light success on the label with one top 40 country hit in 1969. David Allan Coe's first two albums were on the Plantation label; Penitentiary Blues and Requiem for a Harlequin, before moving on to a major recording career at Columbia Records. Linda Martell became the first African-American female vocalist to record specificially for the country market, enjoying two top 40 country hits on Plantation in 1969-70 including the first hit version of "Before The Next Teardrop Falls" which peaked at #33. Other artists on Plantation included Harlow Wilcox and Dee Mullins.
After Riley left the label in 1972, the label slipped into considerably less promenience in the industry but survived into the early 1980s. In the late 1970s the label signed a number of veteran country performers to the label including Webb Pierce, Jimmie Davis, Jimmy C. Newman, Hank Locklin, and Roy Drusky though few of these records charted. Broadway star Carol Channing also recorded two albums for the label in duet performances with Pierce, Newman, and Locklin.
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