Some have asked if it is true. Every word.

The story of OLD KOTON INDUSTRIES is the story of the legacy of one man, Obediah Linus Dunne. Scots by birth, Dunne founds OLD KOTON in Coahoma County, Mississippi in 1843. By the time of his death he has enlisted twelve of his fourteen children in OLD KOTON's employ. It is Dunne's belief that "koton is a family industry". Well over a century later, his portrait hangs above the Parks family fireplace in Los Angeles. Sally Parks (née Sara Louise Rightor), matriarch of the Los Angeles Parks family, Dunne's direct descendant, and born in Coahoma County, finds her way to the Southland via Paris. One day Richard Parks, Sally's only begotten son, suggests Sally does a little line drawing of the distiguished O. Linus Dunne, founder of the storied OLD KOTON INDUSTRIES. She does. It looks wonderful, it is very well executed. "This is a wonderful drawing," says Richard. "Thank you," says Sally. Richard decides to look in the Yellow Pages and find somebody to print the drawing on a shirt. His name is Raoul Sanchez and he has a shop on Pico called Tropical Tees. Sally (who used to make her living designing airbrushed and silk-screened t-shirts for boutiques in Beverly Hills, New York, and Paris) is very impressed by Raoul's screens, they are really faithful. They print a whole bunch of shirts and show them to their friends. Everybody is very happy with the results. Richard's friends Bennett Baker Barbakow, Matt Cartsonis, and Casey McKinney suggest he build a website. After all, they all have websites and they are very nice. Richard doesn't know from FTP, but with their help, he makes a website to show his mother's t-shirt designs, which are multiplying, to the rest of the world. All the designs are really nice and are based on Sally's family history, which is really quite colorful and distinctly American. Then Richard's father and Sally's husband Van Dyke Parks pokes his head in and says, "What am I, chopped liver? Let's put some music on this site." Richard doesn't know how to put music on the internet but Casey tells him to buy Quicktime Pro and teaches him how to do that in one hour. Van Dyke uses some of his more obscure or unreleased music, which makes everything nice and legal and also piques the interest of people who like music. The site is now really quite beautiful, and everybody is still happier. They start to work on some designs based on Van Dyke's family history, which is equally as colorful and distinctly American as Sally's. "These are nice drawings," says Van Dyke. "Thank you," says Sally, "that's some nice music." Richard borrows his sister Zoenda Joy Parks McIntosh's digital camera and takes some shots of Zoenda and her son Declan and daughter Violet wearing OLD KOTON shirts for the site. These are great, really cute. Then Richard's other sister Elizabeth Taylor Parks takes some shots for OLD K. in her apartment in San Francisco. Everybody looks great, this helps a lot. To give the site that final and authentic Southern stamp, Richard asks his uncle King "T.K." Rightor, Sally's older brother, to say, "Welcome to OLD KOTON INDUSTRIES," into a microphone. He does so and it is fantastic, just perfect. Everybody is thrilled. Now Richard and Sally are working on colors for the shirts, dying them at home. Their friend Chelsey Virginia Santry is helping Richard get some shirts into boutiques in L.A. and saying things like, "Purple is the new pink, Richard Parks!" This is fantastic, a great help. We are working so hard and we are happy.

Welcome to our little industry. We hope you koton to it.

OLD KOTON MUSIC CREDITS

HOME: "Deep River" by W.C. Handy, sung by Hoagy Carmichael (not in commercial release)

ABOUT, PURCHACE, PHOTOS, and CONTACT: "Various OLD KOTON" by Van Dyke Parks (not in commercial release)

ROBERT PARKS: "Canon in D" by Martin Luther, arranged by Van Dyke Parks (from Clang of the Yankee Reaper by Van Dyke Parks, available on Warner Brothers Records in the U.S. and Rykodisc in Europe and the U.K.)

OBEDIAH: "Movies is Magic" by Van Dyke Parks (from Orange Crate Art by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, available on Warner Brothers Records)

OLD KOTON BALE: "C-H-I-C-K-E-N" by Uncle Dave Macon, arranged by Van Dyke Parks (from Moonlighting by Van Dyke Parks, available on Warner Brothers Records)

OUR FOUNDER: "Souvenir de la Havane" by Louis Morreau Gottschalk, performed by Van Dyke Parks (not in commercial release)

DAN SCOTT TAYLOR: "Aquarium" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by the Esso Trinidad Steel Band (from The Esso Trinidad Steel Band, available on Bananastan Records)

SPIRIT OF CHAMPAGNE: "Les Yeux Créoles" by Louis Morreau Gottschalk, arranged and performed by Van Dyke Parks (not in commercial release)

FARMERS DELIGHT: "Joshua Tree Suite" by Van Dyke Parks (not in commercial release)

VAN DYKE'S BACK: "Donovans Colors" by Donovan Leitch, performed by George Washington Brown (from Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks, available on Warner Brothers Records in the U.S. and Rykodisc in Europe and the U.K.)

BLUE GRASS MUSIC DESTROYED MY LIFE: "St. Anne's Reel" by the Public Domain, arranged by Van Dyke Parks (not in commercial release)