- It was in April, 1956 that Norm and Nadine Merrbach released BS 1501, "Blue Star Hoedown" and "New Broom", a two sided hoedown on 78 RPM vinyl. That was the first of what would be over 1000 records released on Blue Star Records, the largest and longest running square & round dance music company in the world, celebrating 50 years in production as of September 2006.
Blue Star has enjoyed a variety of music such as the strong fiddle and bass sound provided by Earl Caruthers (a Texas Playboy with Bob Wills) under the name, "Earl and his Hoedowners"; the symphonic sound never before heard in square dancing provided by musicians under Dick Shannon, himself a symphony leader from Houston, playing under the title of "Shannonaires" and "Rhythmnaires"; home grown sounds by popular regional bands like the Fontana Ramblers, who played regularly at Fontana Dam in the Carolinas, Lee Mace's Ozark Opry Band from Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, and playing as the Bayou Ramblers, a Houston band named Stellar Unit. Stellar Unit is the band on "I Found A New Baby", Blue Star's biggest selling record in the past two decades.
Many big-name callers made their debut on Blue Star Records, such as Marshall Flippo in 1958 with "The Auctioneer", Bob Fisk in 1962 with "True Love", Jerry Helt in 1966 with "Cowboy's Sweetheart", Ken Bower in 1967 with "Happy" (Ken returned to Blue Star in 2003 with "Summertime"), Johnnie Wykoff in 1973 with "I Believe In Music", Wade Driver in 1974 with "Glory On My Mind", and Mike Sikorsky also in 1974 with "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold" (Mike returned in 2004 with "Swanee").
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