Producing Country: The Inside Story of the Great Recordings (Music / Interview) - Softcover

Jarrett, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0819574643 ISBN 13: 9780819574640

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Musicians make music. Producers make records. In the early days of recorded music, the producer was the "artists-and-repertoire man," or A&R man, for short. A powerful figure, the A&R man chose both who would record and what they would record. His decisions profoundly shaped our musical tastes. Don Law found country bluesman Robert Johnson and honky-tonk crooner Lefty Frizzell. Cowboy Jack Clement took the initiative to record Jerry Lee Lewis (while his boss, Sam Phillips, was away on business). When Ray Charles said he wanted to record a country-and-western album, Sid Feller gathered songs for his consideration. The author's extensive interviews with music makers offer the fullest account ever of the producer's role in creating country music. In its focus on recordings and record production, Producing Country tells the story of country music from its early years to the present day through hit records by Hank Williams, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard, among many others.

Includes original interviews with producers Chet Atkins, Pete Anderson, Jimmy Bowen, Bobby Braddock, Harold Bradley, Tony Brown, Blake Chancey, Jack Clement, Scott Hendricks, Bob Johnston, Jerry Kennedy, Blake Mevis, Ken Nelson, Jim Ed Norman, Allen Reynolds, Jim Rooney, James Stroud, Paul Worley, and Reggie Young, among others.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Jarrett's study opens the sound-proofed door of the control room where the pilots, chariot drivers, overseers--whatever you call them--steered the recording sessions that defined popular music. It's an impressive gathering of producers that unlocks the secrets of making records."
 --Michael Streissguth, author of Outlaw: Waylon Willie, Kris and the Renegades of Nashville

"Michael Jarrett's large large body of interviews with producers from the country music field is an extremely valuable addition to music history. The large scope of the book makes it an important tool for understanding the creation of some of C&W's classic records by its most outstanding artists."
 --Holly George-Warren, author of Public Cowboy No. 1: The Live and Times of Gene Autry

About the Author:

MICHAEL JARRETT is a professor of English at Penn State University, York. He is the author of Drifting on a Read: Jazz as a Model for Writing and Sound Tracks: A Musical ABC, and has spent an inordinate portion of his life in record stores.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0819574643
• ISBN 13: 9780819574640
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320