Butch Stone

The Old State House Museum has acquired a collection of memorabilia from rock music manager and concert promoter Butch Stone. The 92-item collection includes correspondence between Stone and Arkansas politicians regarding legislation affecting the music industry, articles detailing his activity in the music business, and photographs, awards, and Gold and Platinum albums.

Stone, born in Blytheville, started his music career in the late 1960s by becoming the manager of the band Knowbody Else, which recorded its first self-titled album with Stax Records.. The group’s first performance, promoted by Stone, drew an audience of over 3,000. 

In 1971 the group changed its name to Black Oak Arkansas and Stone secured a deal for them with Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records. The band released its self-titled album and began a vigorous tour schedule, performing over 500 concerts over the next two years. Black Oak Arkansas became the first rock group from the state to make the national charts.

He managed Black Oak Arkansas for 10 years and went on to manage the careers of Swiss heavy metal group Krokus, Jimi Jamison of the '80s group Survivor and Tommy Aldridge of Ozzie Osbourne and Whitesnake.

Stone produced over 400 artist performances at Riverfest Amphitheatre and promotes the Maumelle Family Fest. His Eagles concert on May 5, 1995 at War Memorial Stadium is the highest grossing and most attended concert in the history of Arkansas. Recently he established the Arkansas Entertainers Walk of Fame which will induct its first celebrities in 2011. He will launch Music on Line Entertainment (MOLE-FM), a digital record label featuring Arkansas talent, next year.

The Old State House Museum first worked with Stone while creating the exhibit Send You Back to Arkansas: Our Own Sweet Sounds (1995) and its sequel of the same name (2005). The museum is devoted to the collection of Arkansas music memorabilia and maintains over 1,300 artifacts representing Arkansas contributions to folk, gospel, jazz, blues, country and rock. The items received from Stone will be added to this collection.

The Sweet Sounds exhibit is archived on the museum’s website.

The Old State House Museum will record Stone’s oral history and produce a related podcast. For more information click here.