Columbia Records

==== Hoyt Axton and Tom Rush ====
Davis lured artists [[Hoyt Axton]] and [[Tom Rush]] to Columbia in 1969, and both were given what was known as "the pop treatment" by the label. Hoyt Axton had been a folk/blues singer-songwriter since the early 1960s, when he made several albums for [[Horizon Records|Horizon]], then [[Vee-Jay Records|Vee-Jay]]. By the time he joined Columbia, he had mixed successful pop songs like "[[Greenback Dollar]]", with hard rock songs for [[Steppenwolf (band)|Steppenwolf]], such as "[[The Pusher]]", which was used in the film ''[[Easy Rider]]'' in the same year. When he landed at Columbia, his album ''My Griffin Is Gone'' was described as "the poster child for 'overproduced,' full of all kinds of instruments and even strings".<ref name="bsn27">{{cite web|last1=Watts|first1=Randy|last2=Callahan|first2=Mike|last3=Edwards|first3=David|last4=Eyries|first4=Patrice|title=Columbia Album Discography, Part 27 (K)CS 9900–9999 (1969–1970)|url=http://bsnpubs.com/columbia/columbia12/columbia3100.html |date=November 10, 2015 |website=Both Sides Now Publications|access-date=June 29, 2017}}</ref> After that album, Axton left and joined Capitol Records, where his next albums contained "[[Joy to the World (Three Dog Night song)|Joy to the World]]" and "[[Never Been to Spain]]", which became hits for [[Three Dog Night]] on [[Dunhill Records|Dunhill]]. Axton eventually became a country singer, and founded his own record label, Jeremiah.

Tom Rush had always been the "storyteller" or "balladeer" type of folk artist, before and after his stint with Columbia, to which Rush was lured from [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]. As with Axton, Rush was given "the treatment" on [[Tom Rush (1970 album)|his self-titled Columbia debut]]. The multitude of instruments added to his usual solo guitar were all done "tastefully", of course, but was not really on par with Rush's audience expectations. He commented to record label historian Mike Callahan: {{cquote|Well, when you're in the studio, they bring out all these "sweeteners" and things they have, and while you're there, you say, yeah, that sounds good. But then you get the album home and you almost can't hear yourself under all that.<ref name="bsn27" />}} Eventually, Rush returned to his usual sound (which he applied to his [[Wrong End of the Rainbow|next]] [[Merrimack County (album)|three]] [[Ladies Love Outlaws (Tom Rush album)|albums]] for Columbia) and has been playing to appreciative audiences ever since.