as "Rounders", the name reflecting the "outlaw self-image of three romantics who positioned themselves in opposition to capitalism, the programmatic rigidity of the old Left, and the more doctrinaire cultural rules of the folk revival itself." The lawyer who drew up Rounder's papers of incorporation did so in exchange for two Rounder albums. Irwin and Nowlin were introduced to fiddle music through a Folkways recording of the 34th Old Time Fiddlers Convention, and in late 1969 (sources differ), for $125., they bought the rights to a tape by a 76-year-old banjo player, George Pegram, who had been a star of the Fiddlers Convention. It became Rounder's first release, Rounder 0001. Rounder 0002 was by the Spark Gap Wonder Boys; a local band, the album was recorded at the Harvard and MIT radio stations for "the cost of the tape." 500 copies of each record were pressed. Both were released on October 20, 1970. To boost the label's credibility—and get local record stores to stock their releases—Irwin, Nowlin, and Levy started distributing other small folk labels, and began selling albums at music festivals. In 1971, the label released its first bluegrass album, One Morning in May, by Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys. Over the next several years, they released bluegrass albums by old-time artists (Snuffy Jenkins and Pappy Sherrill, Highwoods Stringband, and The Blue Sky Boys), traditional bluegrass artists (Don Stover, Ted Lundy, Del McCoury, The Bailey Brothers, Buzz Busby), and progressive bluegrass artists, most notably by Country Cooking and Tony Trischka. Believing that "music doesn't discriminate," Nowlin, Irwin and Leighton-Levy sought out female artists, then a rarity in the bluegrass world, and in the early 70s released albums by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, who recorded as Hazel & Alice, and Ola Belle Reed. By 1974, Rounder had put out 22 records, including the label's breakthrough album, Norman Blake's Home in Sulphur Springs. Realizing that Rounder was no longer a part-time pursuit, Irwin resigned from his job—he was a professor at the University of Lowell—and Nowlin and Levy left graduate school to run Rounder full-time. In 1975, Rounder released the self-titled debut album by J. D. Crowe & The New South. One of the "most pioneering and influential records in the history of bluegrass,", it was commonly referred to by its stock number, Rounder 0044. The program notes from the 2016 Bluegrass Hall of Fame Induction ceremony