Hi, friends of the show, it's Novena here. I and the rest of the Lost Notes team would like to send our

condolences to the family of Earl Dolphin, who passed away on April 25th, 2024. Earl and his twin

brother, Gerald, sat down with us last December to talk at length about their mother, Ruth Dolphin,

for the episode you're about to hear.

To honor their participation, we're releasing the finished episode, as intended, prior to

receiving the news. We'd like to dedicate it to Earl, Ruth, and John, as well as the entire

dolphin family.

Hey, Novena.

Yes, Michael.

Don't look now, but I think we have a doppelganger on our hands.

Oh, no. Did you find my evil twin?

No, no. Might still be out there, which kind of feels like a great Halloween theme podcast.

But I digress. We didn't necessarily plan it this way, but we have another Ruth

coming down the pike today. Oh, Lord. I hope this one is a good Ruth. Yeah, don't worry. This is

definitely a Ruth you can root for. Next. This week on Lost Notes from KCRW, we're going to talk about

Ruth Dolphin, a name that any true aficionado of soul music in Los Angeles

should already know. Oh, absolutely. So her husband, John Dolphin, was a massive presence in the

musical landscape of 1950s Los Angeles. He was a pioneering black entrepreneur in the music

business, first through his record store, Dolphins of Hollywood, and later through

a series of hugely influential record labels like recorded in Hollywood. He had the label

Money, another one called Cash, another label called Lucky. And John also played a huge role in

breaking down color lines among LA's soul and R&B fans. But then his murder in February of

...