Canyon Records of Phoenix, Arizona has produced and distributed Native American music for 56 years. Canyon was founded in 1951 by Ray and Mary Boley, who had opened the first recording studio in Phoenix, Arizona Recording Productions, in 1948. The Boley's involvement with Native American music began when Ray was asked by the Phoenix Little Theater to record a Navajo singer named . Boley was so taken with what he heard that he recorded a collection of songs titled Natay, Navajo Singer, an album still in active release.