RCA Studio B - Nashville

In this episode – RCA Studio B, Nashville . . .

You've never been to Nashville; what sights would you want to see? Is it the "Broadway Honkytonk Scene" where live bands "blast" their music non-stop from 9:30 am until 3:00 am every day!

Maybe it's The Grand Ole' Opry?

Or how about the Earnest Tubb Record Shop serving downtown Nashville since 1947 - hosting The Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree, the second longest-running radio show in history. Broadcast on WSM 650 with a live audience every Saturday at 10:00 pm.

For me, it was Historic RCA Studio B.

Constructed in 1957, RCA Studio B became known as the birthplace of the "Nashville Sound." A melodic style characterized by background vocals and strings helped establish Nashville as an international recording center from 1957 – 1977 – Music City USA.

On December 3rd, 1957, country singer Don Gibson stood before a microphone in a newly built Nashville studio at 17th Ave. South and Hawkins St, leased to RCA records by local businessman Don Maddox.

Poised to record his original song "Oh Lonesome Me," Gibson was backed by drummer Troy Hatcher, vocal quartet The Jordanaires, bassist Joe Zinkin, rhythm guitarist Velma Smith, and guitar ace Chet Atkins who played electric lead and produced the session.

Adkins later explained, "I just wanted to make "Oh Lonesome Me," kind of like Don's demo, toward that end; he said, "we miked the bass drum."

Up until that time, people just recorded the drums with one microphone. On cue, Velma Smith kicked off the performance by playing "a special beat," as Atkins had advised, with syncopated basslines quickly building the excitement.

Atkins spiced the recording with strategic "chunks" then sailed into a spirited rock-tinged lead. The Jordanaires harmonized background chords and punctuated the arrangement with clipped fills (bah-dee-yah-bop-bop). "It was so fresh and so exciting," Atkins reflected in 1989. "We hit the bullseye at that time." It was just the kind of recording that satisfied country fans while reaching beyond the genre's core audience.

As "Oh Lonesome Me" proved, Atkin's country-pop approach worked well. In February 1958, the record began its 34-week chart run to #7, where it remained for a whopping eight weeks on Billboard magazine's country/pop charts.

Recorded during the same session and issued as the flip side of "Oh Lonesome Me," Gibsons "I Can't Stop Loving You," another original, also became a #7 country hit.

His double-sided smash confirmed Gibson's status as a star while boosting producer Atkin's confidence. This propelled the new studio to instant national visibility.

The studio's opening marked a milestone in Nashville's development as a music center. Based in New York, RCA already maintained studios there; in Chicago, Hollywood, and Camden, New Jersey. Studio B strengthened the label's commitment to Nashville's emerging music industry.

Nashville's Bradley family had previously established a studio in 1955 at 804 16th Ave South. The new RCA recording room became the second major enterprise in the neighborhood, later called "Music Row."

Over the next 20 years, RCA studio B hosted over 18,000 recording sessions. Both RCA studio and Bradley's operation became workshops for hits that embodied the country-pop Nashville sound.

This new style increased country records sales and fueled the dramatic expansion of full-time country radio stations from 81 in 1961 to more than 600 in 1972.

Both studios earned international fame for producing musically diverse hits that became firmly grounded in American popular culture. In doing so, the studios helped to secure Nashville's international reputation as Music City, USA.

Today Historic RCA Studio B-once, the recording home of famous artists such as Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Roy Orbison, Eddy Arnold, Dolly Parton, Charlie Pride, Willie Nelson, and the Everly Brothers, is a classroom for Nashville area students and a popular tourist attraction.

In 2002 the Mike Curb Family Foundation purchased the studio and leased it to the non-profit Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.

The studio's exterior was renovated, and the interior returned to its 1970s-era as an analog "temple of sound."

So, won't you be my virtual neighbor? If you enjoy our weekly visits, please share them with a friend.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

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