Mission to Paradise
Various Inquiries and Answers
ADDITIONAL INFO
About Pob
“Take your pleasure, sip your leisure, in the garden waterward …”
Paradise of Bachelors is a critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated record label, recording company, archive, and sometime soundsystem, located in the North Carolina Piedmont and in the subluminal aether. We are dedicated to documenting the various vibes of the American vernacular, by curating and releasing under-recognized vernacular music and art, historical and contemporary alike, with an emphasis on the American South—very broadly defined—and its global sound diaspora. Drawing from PoB principals Brendan Greaves and Christopher Smith’s varied backgrounds as folklorists and writers, curators and collectors, musicians and documentarians, we endeavor with all our projects to commit ourselves to in-depth, detailed contextual research and the presentation thereof, to careful and compelling curation and design, and to respectful and mutually beneficial collaborations with artists and other partners. Each of our artifacts, whether archival or current, physical or digital, tells a compelling story through sound, image, and text. Our mission is fascination.
We have collaborated with, among others, the following artists: Terry Allen, Nathan Bowles, Jennifer Castle, Michael Chapman, Mike Cooper, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, James Elkington, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Gun Outfit, Steve Gunn, Hiss Golden Messenger, Itasca, Lavender Country, Mega Bog, Mind Over Mirrors, Nap Eyes, Mike Polizze, Nathan Salsburg, Ann Sexton, Red River Dialect, and The Weather Station.
(By the way, we’re named after the 1855 Herman Melville story “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids,” quoted herein—everyone asks.)
“Sweet are the oases in Sahara; charming the isle-groves of August prairies; delectable pure faith amidst a thousand perfidies: but sweeter, still more charming, most delectable, the dreamy Paradise of Bachelors …”
Contact Us
Paradise of Bachelors is available for licensing inquiries, disc-jockeying engagements, music supervision, and folklife consultation, research and writing. We cheerily accept recordings, visual media, curatorial proposals, tips, comments, artist inquiries, research queries, recipes, and miscellaneous correspondence.
You can reach us at info@paradiseofbachelors.com, through social media (where we are generally slower to respond), or via the post:
Paradise of Bachelors
PO Box 1402
Carrboro, NC 27510
U.S.A.
Please visit our PoB Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages for additional listening, looking, and engagement.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Subscribe to our periodic newsletter for occasional (roughly monthly) digest dispatches from Paradise concerning upcoming releases, deals and sales, touring, and other edifying information. We promise not to hassle you, and it’s easy to unsubscribe.
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Various
Inquiries and Answers
Distribution & Retail
All Paradise of Bachelors releases, both physical and digital, are distributed exclusively and internationally by Secretly Distribution and their partners. You can browse and purchase PoB records at fine shops around the world. If you’re a fan and can’t find our records in your area, please drop us a line so we can remedy the situation, or order from us directly.
If you are affiliated with a record shop, mailorder, online retailer, or digital service provider, please contact the fine folks at Secretly Distribution to discuss carrying our products.
Orders, payments & returns
Please place all personal orders through our Shop. We accept all major credit cards via Stripe as well as PayPal payments, bank transfers, and credit and debit card payments via PayPal—please note that you do not need to have a Paypal account to use your credit or debit card through the Paypal platform. We also accept checks and money orders made out to Paradise of Bachelors, LLC (please email us with order details, including shipping address, for a total, and include a note with your check, so we can identify your order.)
If you would like to place a physical order for your shop or mailorder outfit, please contact our distributors at Secretly Distribution.
Please note that coupon code discounts are only applied and calculated after you enter your shipping region during checkout.
If you have questions about your order or invoice, or if there is a problem with your order, please don’t hesitate to write to laura@paradiseofbachelors.com, and we will do our best to resolve any issues.
If you need to return or exchange an item, please do so at the point of sale (e.g., here with us if you ordered directly, or at the brick-and-mortar shop or online retailer where you purchased it.)
Unfortunately, due to the cost of international shipping, and because we can’t be liable for mishaps or damages that may occur with foreign customs or postal services once a shipment leaves the U.S.A., we’re unable to accept returns or offer refunds or replacements for any international orders of physical items.
Thanks for your support, and keep on chooglin’!
Shipping & handling
Regular orders will be processed and shipped as soon as possible, generally within a few business days. Although we can’t guarantee shipment or delivery times, when feasible, pre-orders usually ship about a week before the official release date, contingent on pressing plant schedules. Pre-orders and backordered items will ship as soon as possible following shipment from the manufacturing plant.
If you place an order that includes both pre-ordered or backordered items as well as immediately available items, the entire order will ship once all the pre-ordered/backordered items become available. If you’d like the immediately available items to ship earlier and separately, please contact laura@paradiseofbachelors.com to arrange additional shipping and handling charges for a split order.
You should receive an email notification when your order ships (check your junk/spam email folder if you can’t find one.)
For U.S. customers, depending on the total weight of your order, we ship via USPS Media Mail, First-Class Package Service, or Priority Mail (your choice), with email notification and delivery confirmation (please allow 1–2 weeks for Media Mail.) U.S. orders totaling $100 or more always ship for free!
For international orders, again depending on weight, we ship via USPS First-Class Package International or Priority International (please allow two weeks or more.) We encourage international customers to place combined orders with friends to substantially reduce shipping costs per record. Certain international orders may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a shipment reaches your country. Additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by the recipient; we have no control over these charges and cannot predict what they may be. Customs policies vary widely from country to country; you should contact your local customs office for further information.
Please contact laura@paradiseofbachelors.com with any shipping questions or changes.
Digital Downloads
Whenever possible (i.e., not restricted by licensing agreements), we include digital download coupons with our vinyl records. Likewise, when feasible, with purchases of any physical media from our website, we offer links for immediate downloads of the digital editions of the releases.
If you have ordered products that include digital downloads, you can find your download link(s) in your order confirmation email. If there are no such links in your email, you’ve ordered a release for which we are unable to offer immediate download links, though the album may still include a download coupon in the jacket itself; see individual product page descriptions for details. If you can’t find your confirmation email, check your junk mail folder and spam filters.
Please note that downloads generally will not work on smartphones or tablets, so please use a computer. In case of technical difficulties, your link(s) will work twice for your particular IP address; check that your current network doesn’t have a firewall blocking the download of zip files (or large files of any type.) Do not close the popup tab or window in your browser until the file downloads to completion. Please contact laura@paradiseofbachelors.com if you have any technical problems with downloading audio.
You can also find many Paradise of Bachelors releases on major DSPs such as Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, TIDAL, Amazon Music, YouTube, Soundcloud, Deezer, et al., as well as on our Bandcamp page.
press, publicity & media
We have images, texts, and of course, recordings of all our artists to share confidentially with interested press outlets. Please email us at press@paradiseofbachelors.com to reach the relevant publicity contact for each release, to request materials on specific artists or releases, or to request access to the password-protected Paradise Pressrooms. Interested publicists may contact us at the same email address.
Liscensing
Paradise of Bachelors actively seeks to license our recordings for appropriate and relevant third-party and synch uses. For synch licensing inquiries, please contact our friends at Terrorbird Media, who administer all master synch licenses on our behalf.
We can also offer music supervision and soundtrack consultation services for your film project. Email us at brendan@paradiseofbachelors.com to discuss possibilities for your project.
Demos, Submissions, and Curatorial Proposals
We’re always in search of interesting music both new and historical, and we will try to listen to everything you send us. We do collaborate with independent curators as well as directly with artists, so if you have an artist tip, a long-forgotten recording, or a curatorial concept you’d like to explore, please get in touch at info@paradiseofbachelors.com (please include the word “submission” in your email title somewhere.)
With prior consultation and mutual planning, we can accept recordings in many formats—vinyl, CD, cassette, digital files, reel to reel tape, etc.—but please send only streaming audio unless you have specifically discussed another format with us. Linking to your website, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, or Spotify page to listen to private or public audio streams is always much more convenient than digital downloads and a good way to introduce your work. Please also be patient and understanding about a reply, as we receive a lot of material and are simply unable to respond to everyone. If you have arranged to send physical media or artifacts, please don’t send anything precious that you need returned without discussing it with us first, or you won’t get it back.
Mail all physical media and/or gifts to:
Paradise of Bachelors
Attn: Submissions Desk
PO Box 1402
Carrboro, NC 27510
U.S.A.
Soundsystem and Other Services
The Paradise of Bachelors Soundsystem is available to DJ select events. We have heavy-duty record collections–let us manage your party’s vibes while you relax! As experienced folklorists, curators, writers, and designers, we can also provide music and folklife consultation, research, and writing services, as well as graphic design assistance. Let’s talk: info@paradiseofbachelors.com.
Kindnesses
“Paradise of Bachelors is a brilliant record company dedicated to releasing under-recognized musical treasures. The PoB curators bring rare vision and talent to our understanding of Southern music.”
– William Ferris
“A North Carolina-based label that handles reissues with particular grace. The label’s co-owners, Chris Smith and Brendan Greaves, are judicious, intuitive curators; ingenuity is paramount when attempting to recognize instances in which the culture stumbled as its own filter, and then to question whether we are actually any better equipped to receive the work now.”
– Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker
“One of the most assiduous labels currently active.”
– John Mulvey, Uncut
“Magnificent.”
– Laura Barton, The Guardian
“Consistently excellent … an alternative vision of country music from the American South.”
– Claire Biddles, The Wire
“Paradise of Bachelors has spent the past few years building its reputation as one of the finest labels around for tradition-minded North American music. If they’re putting it out, you should be listening.”
– Duncan Cooper, The Fader
“The roots-music label Paradise of Bachelors seems incapable of releasing anything that isn’t wrenchingly beautiful.”
– Tom Breihan, Stereogum
“An esteemed label. Consistently excellent.”
– Uncut
“Paradise of Bachelors has established itself as offering one of the most dependable catalogs in modern music.”
– Jason Woodbury, FLOOD Magazine
“Arguably the best label in America right now.”
– The Nashville Scene
“Consistently compelling.”
– Dangerous Minds
“The Paradise of Bachelor label has considerable past form of locating the most interesting contemporary rebooters of the great North American songwriting tradition.”
– Line of Best Fit
“North Carolina’s Paradise of Bachelors is a dedicated US label flying the flag for music’s rich heritage by unearthing long-buried nuggets from a time when passion ruled over dollars.”
– Kris Needs, Shindig!
“Paradise of Bachelors do incredible work. They’re one of the few record labels that are able to articulate just how far out American vernacular music goes. They’re not into Civil War recreation, they’re interested in vibrant and progressive American music of all stripes. I am honored to work with them. They’re the most articulate people that I know in terms of how they present their stuff. They’re so careful with articulating what the music is about, and they just hit it on the nose every time. Brendan is just the best fucking writer I’ve ever met in my life. He’s sort of a savant. That is a powerful arrow to have in the quiver.”
– M.C. Taylor, Hiss Golden Messenger
“One of the most promising labels in the Southeast, arguably the entire country.”
– Stephen Deusner
“Just might be the perfect North Carolina label. PoB boasts a compelling approach, releasing new albums from musicians who mine oft-neglected corners of the South’s rich musical history alongside archival offerings that highlight artists who made unheralded contributions to that heritage. Brendan Greaves, one of the label’s co-founders, is an eminently skilled folklorist and essayist, and his press releases set a high bar for any features or reviews that they inspire. Rare are label owners who possess such penetrating insight into the works of their artists. It’s one of many traits that makes PoB an ideal home for the musicians it attracts.”
– Blurt
“A resourceful and adventurous label … Paradise of Bachelors has made a name for itself in the increasingly crowded reissue market.”
– Pitchfork
“Respected North Carolina label Paradise of Bachelors’ archival releases are music-critic catnip.”
– Chicago Reader
“The North Carolina-based label puts out a rich mix of reissues and new releases. In the former category, this year marked the release of Terry Allen’s Juarez and Lubbock (on everything), each record magnificently packaged with extensive supplementary material and liner notes. These records not only make Allen’s music available to a broader audience, they also provide illuminating context that articulates why the music is so essential.”
– The Brooklyn Rail
“A label now officially at the forefront and exciting and crucial reissues of overlooked records.”
– PopMatters
“Lavender Country helps drives home the importance of organizations like the label Paradise of Bachelors, which is working to preserve and promote relics like this. They specifically focus on country, folk and Americana music, and there is almost no one else honing in on these rapidly disappearing art forms.”
– Caitlin White, MySpace
“One of the preeminent curators of outsider Southern music.”
– The Independent Weekly
“Heroic.”
– Dangerous Minds
“Firmly on our radar as a label that is consistently putting out quality.”
– HearYa
“Trust the folks at North Carolina label Paradise of Bachelors to put out at least one Top 10-worthy record every year.”
– The Boston Globe
“A label that has been batting a thousand since launching a few years back.”
– Aquarium Drunkard
“The rare label able to balance the contemporary with the could-have-been classic.”
– Grayson Haver Currin
“This label is one of the few with a clear mission and a very focused catalog, making it easy to explore and discover new bands with a similar aesthetic.”
– Stinkweeds Records
“They are one of a select handful of labels whose releases we buy as a precedent, everything they have released has spun long on our stereo and sat proud on our shelves.”
– Drift Records
Privacy Policy
With the exception of confidential and password-protected press materials, please feel free to use the music and media available on this website for any personal, non-commercial purposes.
We will not share your contact information with anyone, ever, and will treat all your information with respect. We take your privacy (and ours) seriously. You may unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time by following the link in the footer of the email. Thanks for your interest.