This particular Carol Records (there were other labels with this name) was located in Sulphur Springs, Texas. It was run by J.T. Adams, a wonderful tenor who had long recorded as J.T. Adams and the Men of Texas.

James Taylor (J.T.) Adams was born on July 17, 1926 and grew up in Sulphur Springs, Texas. He served in the Navy Air Corps in World War II, then returned to Texas for college. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Texas Christian University, then a Master of Music Education from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce, near Sulphur Springs). After graduation from East Texas State, he joined their faculty.

J.T. Adams and his group the Men of Texas (a glee club made up from men drawn from all over the state) burst on the scene in 1952 with the song "My God Is Real," which was recorded for Republic, a country label based in Nashville. Although Adams' output for the label was overtly Christian, songs like "My God Is Real" found their way onto the secular country music airwaves. He spent about four years (1952-1955) recording for Republic while he was also teaching at East Texas State.

By 1956, he had moved to the Word label in Waco, Texas, where he and his Men of Texas put out may albums over the next two decades. In the mid-1960s, he started Carol Records and Carol Press Publishing Co. His first wife, Virginia, was a high school teacher in Sulphur Springs, and it is for their daughter, Virginia Carol Adams (known as Carol), that the label was named (they also had a younger daughter, Holly). During this time, he was also Director of Music and Youth at the First Baptist Church of Sulphur Springs, and it is through this connection that many of the artists on the Carol label were found.

By the early 1960s, Adams was writing cantatas and getting into stage productions as well as recorded music. Some time in the mid-to-late 1960s, Adams moved to the Fort Worth area. He also remarried, to Judy Partridge, who recorded an album for Adams' Carol Records as well as being the soprano soloist in his 1966 Christmas Cantata, The Prince of Peace. By the early 1980s, J.T. and Judy were living in the Greensboro, NC area, where he continued to write and direct stage productions. His credits include Worthy Is the Lamb, Something Extra-Special, Time Out, Prince of Peace, and Gethsemane. From August, 1990, until his death in September, 1993, he was Director of Music and Drama at the Cathedral of His Glory in Greensboro. His wife, Judy, continued as Executive Director of the Productions Staff of Worthy Is the Lamb after his death. The production also included involvement by Adams' two youngest children, sons John and Joel.

The Carol albums were undoubtedly pressed and manufactured by Word, and show definite Word label influence in their graphics. For example, they use the same stereo banner, have word-for-word the same warnings about defective needles on the back, and use a slogan ("Sacred Music at it's Best," which was later corrected to "Sacred Music at its Best"; compare Word's slogan "The Finest Name in Sacred Music") under the label name. If Carol albums were distributed outside Texas, it was probably by Word. I found several of them in a Goodwill store in McKinney, Texas, about 50 miles from Sulphur Springs; that may be all the farther they traveled.

The recording artists also appear to be local. Ricky Loy was a high school student at Sunset High at the time his album was recorded. Adams wrote some of the songs on the albums. The Kittermans, unlike Ricky Loy, had some previous "fame," albeit fairly local. Gene sang bass with a Dallas youth group called "Four Hits and a Miss" in his earlier days, and later ran the Paris Chapel Choir as Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church in Paris, Texas, not far from Sulphur Springs. Adams apparently sold enough copies of the Gene and Kris Kitterman album to have issued it twice.















Apparently, it was a custom label, with albums issued when the need arose. There doesn't seem to be any set series except perhaps the 100 series, as the albums we've found on this label have largely unrelated numbers except that some have a similar prefix. The labels also seem to have changed on an ad hoc basis. The Kittermans album label was black with silver print, with no graphics or even special fonts. Glynda Carter's album was orange with no graphics or special fonts. The Ricky Loy album and the James Rhoads album both used a very basic orange colored label with silver print and no graphics. The Glynda Carter album also had an orange label with silver print, but the typeface in the logo was just plain block letters. The David taylor album had an orange label with black print, with the label name curving around the top. The Judy Partridge album used black and multicolor stock with the same silver print as the Loy label. We have not seen the H.T. Wright album to determine the label color.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography, especially other albums on this label. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Carol Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (all of which are out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2001, 2002 by Mike Callahan.