DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE\Small label gives artists their freedom.

Byline: Mario Tarradell Dallas Morning News

At Hightone Records, the music comes first - and that's not just a catchy slogan.

After 13 years, the California independent label that first signed blues savior Robert Cray and provided a mid-'80s home for Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore has become the music industry's premier progressive country imprint.

Can you think of a major label that would dare hand a recording contract to Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, an old-timey western swing band? Dale Watson, a Merle Haggard protege who sports a cool pompadour? Dave Alvin, a former punk guitarist who is equally at home with folk, country, blues and rock? Rosie Flores, a neo-rockabilly singer with the sass and chutzpah of Wanda Jackson? Or Buddy Miller, a rootsy singer-songwriter who recorded his critically acclaimed debut album, "Your Love and Other Lies," in his living room?

"We just kind of do what we think is good," says Bruce Bromberg, who co-owns Hightone Records with Larry Sloven. "Both of us have been in the record business all our lives. We have been fortunate to do the kind of country records that we have wanted to without needing it to support us."

What's most important to the artists on Hightone is the creative freedom.

"I can do whatever ... I want," says Alvin, who has recorded four albums for Hightone. "I can't say that 100 percent, but it's 99.9 percent of the time. It's real important to define your sound before you let anybody else define it for you."

After he exited seminal rock bands the Blasters and X, Alvin saw the need to quickly establish himself.

"When I went solo, I was presented with all these liberating opportunities, but it has taken a while to define myself," he says. "I did my first solo album on a major record label, and the Blasters were on a major record label. It is more important for career longevity to be on an independent right now."

Miller, a former sideman for Jim Lauderdale, Shawn Colvin and Victoria Williams, says he appreciates Hightone's nurturing atmosphere.

"The major labels abandon their artists, especially in country music, where, if you are cute and under 30, they think you will work," says the Nashville-based artist. "And if it doesn't work, well, that's $50,000 they lost. Hightone signs artists for artistic reasons. Within the budget I had, they wanted a record that was me and honest. I cut that thing in my living room. They didn't care; they just wanted to make sure it wouldn't destroy anybody's CD player. No major label would let me do that."

There is a downside to being on an indie - money. Hightone's record sales are paltry in comparison to the 500,000 gold-record goal of major labels. "For our kind of records, if you move 20,000 or 30,000, you are doing well," Bromberg says. "If you hit 50,000, you're doing real well."

"Tulare Dust," a folk-tinged tribute to Merle Haggard, sold more than 60,000 copies, Bromberg said. Watson's stone-country debut, "Cheatin' Heart Attack," moved about 55,000.

"We've always been profitable every year since we have been in existence," says Bromberg. "Right now the record business is really hurting, so business has been very tough."

Which means there's no money for significant promotion and publicity, and in turn no television exposure and no competitive videos. Radio airplay comes strictly from public stations and commercial outlets that program the Americana format, a rootsier alternative to mainstream country. Touring is crucial but confined to coffeehouses and small clubs.

"When you write songs, you want people to hear them," says Alvin. "It does bother me that they aren't heard. Run-of-the-mill radio stations aren't going to touch your records. But hopefully the good and bad points of independent labels equal out. If I was on an independent label that's telling me what to do, there would be no reason to be there."

But Hightone could be on the verge of a profile boost. The label has inked a distribution deal with WEA, the industry powerhouse that handles Warner Bros., Elektra and Atlantic. The first release under the new arrangement will be the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz's "Songs of Faith and Inflammation," due out in March. Watson's second album is scheduled for May.

"I'm hoping that we sell more records," Bromberg says. "WEA has always been the No. 1 distributor. They are the big dogs. They get attention and better placement at record stores. It's a step up for us."

Bromberg firmly believes that no matter who distributes the records, they still have to be good. While Hightone's corporate profile has entered a new phase, the artistic makeup remains the same.

"We're just going to keep on doing what we do," Bromberg says. "We're out there looking for people that move us, that are real to me. That is really my criteria. Just do what you do and try to do it good, and if there's an audience out there, you will find it."

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Photo Dave Alvin, formerly with the seminal rock bands the Blasters and X, says Hightone has given him the freedom necessary to establish an independent identity in his solo career.