Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records).

The label is named after Saddle Creek Road, a major street which cuts through midtown Omaha and also the beginnings of a scene whose members included Justin's brother Conor Oberst (at the time a solo artist and now from Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Desaparecidos, and Monsters of Folk), Tim Kasher (then of Slowdown Virginia, currently of Cursive and The Good Life), and others.

[2] SCR continues to be the flagship label of a style of music called "The Omaha Sound", characterized by a slight country twang.

Other artists not from Nebraska followed including Los Angeles' Rilo Kiley, Eric Bachmann (formerly the leader of Archers of Loaf from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Crooked Fingers from North Carolina), Georgie James (Washington D.C.), Two Gallants (San Francisco), and most recently Tokyo Police Club (Toronto).

The label's name was inspired partially by the A-side single of Polecat's 1994 -ismist Recordings release 2500 Ft of Our Love, "Saddle Creek.