Well Kept Secret is a music company



that resists the music “business”.


I don’t know everything, but I know what we have right now doesn’t work.

the day after Mardi Gras, 2023, after a 5am flight from New Orleans to Chicago... music is glamorous work, y’all. 


Hi! My name is Reed and I’ve spent the past twenty years playing music, running a label, managing bands and doing just about every job you can possibly imagine to pull it together and make some sort of career in music. 

I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.

I am a co-owner of Single Lock Records, an independent label with roots in the fertile soil of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. We generally win 25% of the Grammys we’re nominated for (currently 2 for 8) and that’s why I bought a suit. I’ve played drums for tons of folks, most notably on Cedric Burnside’s Grammy winner I Be Trying. I’ve toured and sold records around the world and back. When I was in college, I started a fake label and made up names for all the staff members... but they were all me. Now, I currently serve on the board of A2IM and as a Governor of the Memphis Recording Academy Chapter. Times change, I guess.

I’ve started Well Kept Secret because not everyone needs a traditional record label.  The thing I’m finding more and more is that everyone needs something a little different.  This company is an idea:  what if the music business started by responding to what artists need?  One size just doesn’t fit all anymore.  (It never really did.)

The only thing I ever truly loved was music and it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. You probably feel the same way.
Twenty years in and I’ve learned something about working in music:  if you do it right, it’s a public service.
 
In fact, I believe helping lift up good art and expose it is a moral exercise.

That’s the backbone this company is based on and we hope you’ll see it in everything we do.