An outfit fit for a King

Watertown label launches with a fortunate first release

Watertown-based record label Casa Nueva Industries hit the ground running with its high-profile debut last month. The one-man startup launched with Americana hipsters King Wilkie’s third album, “King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers,” simply because some rather attractive ducks lined up.

“The fact that this well-known band found themselves with a great record and no place to put it gave me a little bit of a boot,” says Casa Nueva be-all Brad San Martin.

King Wilkie begins a June residency at the Lizard Lounge tonight, where the band will perform every Tuesday. What with the record, which features some notable guests — bluegrass guitarist David Bromberg, pop iconoclast Robyn Hitchcock, and banjo-playing singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn — and Wilkie’s upcoming national tour, Casa Nueva is thrust into the thick of things.

Still, San Martin can handle it; he’s certainly no music business rookie.

While in college, the Atlanta native did radio promotion at esteemed local roots label Rounder Records. He moved on to publicity at Compass Records before returning to Rounder as a music product manager. “That was a great lesson in learning all the parts of putting out a record,” he attests.

But San Martin’s not looking to become the next major indie. Small is where he’s happy.

“These days you have to be small enough to keep your costs low,” he says.

San Martin, who is also a multi-instrumentalist in local twee pop band One Happy Island, has a wish list for his future roster that reflects his own genre-hopping tastes.

Still, he seems adamant that there’s one band he won’t be signing: his own.

“That would feel awkward,” he insists before catching himself. “But never say never.”

King Wilkie June Residency
Tonight with Kristin Andreassen and Dave Godowsky
Every Tuesday in June, 9 p.m.
Lizard Lounge
1667 Mass. Ave., Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Harvard
$7, 21+, 617-547-0759
www.lizardloungeclub.com