It all began as a way for some good buddies to make a few albums. In spirit, that’s exactly what Amble Down Records still is, two years after its birth. Through growth and practice, however, the record label has been able to do much more than was planned. After just eight official releases, Kyle Frenette’s little label that could is now the hub for Eau Claire’s blooming indie-rock scene, which as of late has gained a considerable amount of attention.

“Our main intention was and has always been to bring more attention to the music being produced in the Chippewa Valley and the surrounding region,” says Frenette. “Our roster is made up entirely of bands and musicians from, formerly from, or that are somehow connected to Eau Claire.”

Over the past couple of years, though, Amble Down and its bands’ influences have grown to be much farther reaching. So much so that the label has found it necessary to add digital distribution to all of its releases, making each of its albums available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic.

    “With all of the recent attention focused on this area,” says Frenette, “we’ve received some good and unexpected press from various blogs and regional newspapers and magazines.”

The label earned possibly its best piece of press to date earlier this month, when its rowdy folk band, The Gentle Guest, was featured on the nationally renowned music blog Daytrotter. The feature showcased four live recordings and gave the group a very favorable review, calling them  “a band that carries on as a sort of rambling and verbose recollection of so many different lives no longer among us.”

Amble Down veterans and pop-rockers Meridene did their part to ring in good tidings by debuting their first full-length album at No. 160 on the national CMJ charts over the holidays, and alt. country twangers, The Wars of 1812, made Minneapolis’ City Pages’ Top Ten Local Albums of the Year list for 2008. Other releases, including the first album ADR ever released, Fine’s The Ends Are Meeting Up Again, as well as Cranes & Crows’ Blame Winter, have gotten positive reactions from multiple music blogs nationwide.

Releases planned for 2009 include John Nielsen’s release of A Seed Buried in the Ground as The Cloud Hymn on March 3, The Daredevil Christopher Wright’s shimmering, quirky-pop full-length In Defense to a Broken Back in May, and a solo album from Red Fox Grey Fox front-man, Peter Miller, under his We Are the Willows moniker later in the year.

“There isn’t nearly the amount of music being produced here than there is in the Twin Cities or in Madison or Milwaukee,” says Frenette, “but we have enough to go around, and a lot of quality at that.”

It was that sort of belief in local music and community that Frenette first founded his label on, and two years later, Amble Down is celebrating its anniversary by showcasing its strongest roster yet.

    Amble Down Records Anniversary Show (with Daredevil, Meridene, The Gentle Guest, We Are the Willows, and The Cloud Hymn) • Feb. 28 • Grand Little Theater, 102 W Grand Ave • 7 pm • $5 • all ages • 832-PLAY • www.ambledown.com 

AMBLE DOWN’S FAVORITE MOMENTS SO FAR

1. Fine’s CD Release/Farewell Show (April 20, 2007 at Acoustic Café) 
“There were so many people there that some had to watch from outside, looking in from the windows.”

2. Peter Miller’s guest appearance on Meridene’s EP
“He came in to track and was greeted with goofiness and uncontrollable laughter from most of the band members, which made it difficult to explain what was requested of him. After several takes, he ended up leaving a swear at the end of Oh! Lover, which they kept on the master.”

3.The Gentle Guest’s Our Little Ruckus EP release
“I’m biased, but this is the most under-appreciated release in our catalog. It’s so good!”

4. Birth of Bramble Brown breakfast cereal
“Amble Down’s own marshmallow-y flakes that go perfectly with your well-balanced diet! An inside joke amongst a number of us. Invented by Zach Hanson(Gentle Guest/Laarks).”

5. The Gentle Guest’s Midwest/East Coast tour with A.A. Bondy
“This was just a cool opportunity for the band to play outside of the region and a nice accomplishment for all of us.”

6. The Wars of 1812 making City Pages’ Top 10 list
“Voted No. 10 out of all the albums released in the Cities in ‘08!”

7. Meridene’s album debuting at No. 160 on CMJ’s top 200
“This is a big deal in college radio. The album is still receiving heavy airplay at a number of college radio stations around the country”