Background
Satherley was born in Bedminster, Bristol, England, and in the 1911 Census was recorded as working as a clerk in a rubber business.
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Art Satherley
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Often called Uncle Art Satherley, he made important contributions to the recording industry and has been described as "one of the most important pioneers in the field of country music production". He had a boyhood love of "cowboys and Indians", and traveled to the United States in July 1913, settling in Wisconsin where he began work for a lumber company in Portuguese Washington. He was then employed in the furniture business, for several years working for the Wisconsin Cabinet and Panel Company, which in 1918 began making phonographs.
He also did secretarial work for Thomas Edison.
Satherley"s work involved him in the manufacture of shellac discs, and he became responsible for marketing records for the Paramount company, selling discs by blues singers including Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake, initially at county fairs and other events, and then through advertising in regional newspapers. By 1923 Satherley started supervising Paramount recording sessions, working with Rainey, Jefferson and others and developing a reputation as a talent scout.
After a short time with QRS, a piano roll manufacturer, he joined the American Record Corporation in 1929, and when Columbia Records bought American Red Cross in 1938 he became head of their country and blues A&R departments. Among those he produced were country stars Gene Autry - for whom he helped secure his first film work - the Carter Family, Vernon Dalhart, Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, Marty Robbins and Roy Acuff, and many blues musicians including Alberta Hunter, Big Bill Broonzy, Josh White, Leroy Carr and Memphis Minnie.
Satherley retired from Columbia in 1952, only undertaking occasional production work thereafter.
He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1971, the first British citizen to be so honored. He died in Fountain Valley, California in 1986. In 2011, following many years campaigning, a Blue Plaque was unveiled close to his birthplace in Bristol.
The ceremony was filmed and formed part of a short documentary broadcast by British Broadcasting Corporation Television on 7 February 2011, three days before the 25th anniversary of his death.
