A blues, jazz and folk gospel music lover has launched a record label to bring previously-unheard "songs which tell a story" to the masses.

Adam Goodchild, 29, from Epsom, set up online record store Redbelly Records in September and launched his record label of the same name two months later.

His aim in starting the online store is to make enough money to one day set up his own record shops in Surrey and London.

He launched the record label because he saw a gap in the market for high-quality releases of blues, folk and jazz tunes which have been recorded but never released.

The former Epsom and Ewell High school student, who studied theatre arts at university and previously worked as a retail supervisor, released his first record under the label in December, Blues EP.

He said: "As a store, we specialise in blues and folk gospel music and I have a few wholesalers and was always buying the same songs by the same artists.

"I started realising there’s a lot of stuff out there that hasn’t been released.

"I looked into music archives like the Library of Congress in America and started finding songs I personally would have liked to have heard in vinyl.

"You can find a lot of stuff online, but it’s fuzzy.

"The gap in the market is providing quality blues and folk recordings as a specialist outlet."

Mr Goodchild said his business has been successful so far and he is in the process of discussing signings to the label.

"Blues and folk songs all have a story.

"There’s a culture now that songs have three verses and a chorus and it’s great to be able to dance to a song, but it’s also great to sit and listen to music with a story, especially if that story is meaningful to them."

The name of the company, "Redbelly", is a reference to the red-bellied turtle - the national animal of Birmingham, Alabama, in America, where blues and jazz emerged.

For more information visit www.redbellyrecords.com.