Ralph America

Ralph America was an American independent record label, founded in 1993 by The Cryptic Corporation. The label, an offshoot of the defunct Ralph Records, exclusively released material by The Residents via mail-order to the American market, while the group's European distribution was handled by Euro Ralph.
Although founded in 1993, it wasn't until 1997 that Ralph America began a consistent schedule of releases, with the revival of the Buy Or Die! mail order catalog. In 1999, Ralph America employee Dren McDonald revamped the label's website, which became The Residents' only official online presence until they gained control of the residents.com domain name in 2003.
Ralph America closed permanently in 2010; the label's final release was The Residents' album Dollar General.
==History==
Ralph America was founded in 1993 by The Cryptic Corporation as an offshoot of Ralph Records, which had been out of business for four years. It was also formed as an American counterpart to Euro Ralph, which had been founded the year prior by Guido Randzio.
Unlike Euro Ralph, which acted as The Residents' main European record label (a role previously handled by Torso had previously been), Ralph America's role within The Residents' ecosystem was closer to that of UWEB, providing rare Residents recordings via mail order, which may have been of interest to fans, but not to the typical consumer. 
Ralph America was first credited on the companion CD accompanying the 1993 book Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents; the first regular release to boast the label was the limited edition CD Pollex Christi, released in 1997. T.E.C. Tones owner and operator Tom Timony assisted Ralph America with warehousing and distribution in the early months of the company's activity.
Ralph America revived the Buy Or Die! mail-order catalogs which had been so successful for Ralph in its original incarnation; the new catalogs were authored by Cryptic employee Eddy, "your Buy Or Die Guy", or sometimes Eddy's mother, Mrs. Hodgenipper. UWEB fan club founder and president Uncle Willie contributed a regular column to the revived catalog, with additional writing from Ralph America staff members Sarah McLennan and Molly Harvey.
Both McLennan and Harvey left Ralph America in 1999. From that point, Dren McDonald, formerly of Vaccination Records, took over the company's day-to-day operations. Notably, McDonald revamped Ralph America's website, which would become The Residents' only official online presence for the next several years, and was the home of the group's first free online releases at the end of the year (later compiled on the album dot.com). 
Ralph America's final release was The Residents' album Dollar General in 2010. With the rise of Internet music downloads in the early 21st century, Cryptic instead began to release would-be Ralph America material through their official Bandcamp page, the Ralphlet Outlet.
==List of releases==
Year	Name 	Cat Number	Notes
1993	Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents  	CD RZ 9302	Compilation
1994	Freak Show CD-ROM Video Tour 	R082 	VHS
1997	Pollex Christi 	RA001 	
1998	Live At The Fillmore  	RA002 	
1998	Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special! 	RA003 	Re-release
1998	Title In Limbo 	RA004 	Re-release
1999	Land Of Mystery 	RA005 	Compilation
1999	Refused 	RA006 	Compilation
1999	Wormwood Live 1999 	RA007 	
2000	Assorted Secrets 	RA008 	Special Edition
2000	Dot Com 	RA009 	
2001	Roosevelt 2.0 	RA010 	Compilation,
re-release
2001	High Horses 	RA011 	
2002	Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special 	RA012 	Re-release
2002	Demons Dance Alone ‎ 	RA013 	Special Edition
2003	Freak Show 	RA014 	Special Edition
2003	Demons Dance Alone: Director's Cut 	RA015 	DVD
2004	Disfigured Night 	RA016 	DVD
2004	The 12 Days Of Brumalia 	RA017 	
2004	I Murdered Mommy! 	RA018 	
2005	The Way We Were 	RA019 	
2006	Cube-E 	HSV 29682A/B/C
(RA020, RA021)	
2006	Best Left Unspoken... Volume One: Pollex Christi And Other Selections	RA022 	Compilation
2007	Best Left Unspoken... Volume Two: High Horses And Other Selections 	RA023 	Compliation
2007	Best Left Unspoken... Volume Three: For Elsie And Other Selections ‎ 	RA024 	Compliation
2007	Night Of The Hunters  	RA025 	
2007	The Sandman Waits  	 	
2008	Animal Lover Instrumental 	RA026 	
2008	Smell My Picture 	RA027 	
2008	Postcards From Patmos 	RA028 	
2009	Icky Flix Live  	RA029 	
2009	Mole Show DVD Bag Set 	RA030 	
2009	Akransas 	 	
2010	Dollar General (One Lost Night In Van Horn, Texas) 	RA4924 	
== See also ==
*Ralph Records
*New Ralph
*Euro Ralph
*Santa Dog Records
*New Ralph Too
*The Cryptic Corporation
*RalphAmerica.com
*Buy Or Die!
== External links and references ==
*Ralph America official website (archived July 26th 2010 by archive.org)
*Ralph Records at RZWeb (archived June 3rd 2005 by archive.org)
Category:Record labels‏‎
Category:The Cryptic Corporation‏‎
Category:Ralph Records
Category:Ralph America
Category:RalphAmerica.com
Category:Buy Or Die!