Deeply rooted in Washington, DC's independent music scene, DeSoto Records was nominally created in 1989 by members of the band Edsel to release their first single. Later that year, Kim Coletta and her bandmates in Jawbox offered to keep the DeSoto name alive by using it for their first EP. Before she knew it, Kim had turned DeSoto into what she now calls a "full-time labor of love."
Since 1991, DeSoto has made its mark with a string of over 40 records, 7" singles, CDs, and good old long-playing vinyl records for an international roster of rock bands. DeSoto has released full-lengths from Burning Airlines, The Dismemberment Plan, Seattle's Juno, Kansas City's Shiner, and Milwaukee's Compound Red; innovative seven-inch packages from bands like Candy Machine, Les Savy Fav, and Roads to Space Travel; and, naturally, a stack of releases from Kim's own Jawbox. Current DeSoto bands include Maritime, Channels, The Life and Times, Doris Henson, and Edie Sedgwick.
