Producing Country. Michael Jarrett

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       PRODUCING COUNTRY

      Music:Interview

      A SERIES FROM WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

       Edited by Daniel Cavicchi

      Yip Harburg: Legendary Lyricist and Human Rights Activist by Harriet Hyman Alonso

       Reel History:

      The Lost Archive of Juma Sultan and the Aboriginal Music Society by Stephen Farina

       Producing Country:

      The Inside Story of the Great Recordings by Michael Jarrett

       Always in Trouble:

      An Oral History of ESP-Disk,’ the Most Outrageous Record Label in America by Jason Weiss

      The Music/Interview series features conversations with musicians, producers, and other significant figures in the world of music, past and present. The focus is on people who have not only made good music but also have insightful and profound things to say about creativity, politics, and culture. Each Music/Interview book presents an original approach to music-making, showing music as a vehicle for inspiration, identity, comment, and engagement. The interview format provides conversations between knowledgeable insiders. By foregrounding individual voices, the series gives readers the opportunity to better appreciate the sounds and music around us, through the voices of those who have experienced music most directly.

       publication of this book is funded by the

      BEATRICE FOX AUERBACH FOUNDATION FUND

       at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

       PRODUCING COUNTRY

       THE INSIDE STORY OF THE GREAT RECORDINGS

       MICHAEL JARRETT

      WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

       Middletown, Connecticut

      WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

      Middletown CT 06459

      www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

      © 2014 by Michael Jarrett

      All rights reserved

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Designed by Richard Hendel

      Typeset in Chaparral, TheSerif and Champion

      by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.

      Wesleyan University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper.

      publication of this book is funded by the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

      Steve Cropper’s comments on Otis Redding, “Dock of the Bay,” first appeared in Michael Jarrett, “Mystery and Manners: Steve Cropper and the Sound of Stax,” The Fretboard Journal, 4 (Winter 2006): 44–59. Reprinted by permission. Portions of Tom Dowd’s comments on Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis, and Willie Mitchell’s comments on Al Green appeared in Michael Jarrett, Sound Tracks: A Musical ABC, Vols. 1–3, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. Reprinted by permission. Portions of comments by several producers appeared in Michael Jarrett, “The Self-Effacing Producer: Absence Summons Presence,” in The Art of Record Production: An Introductory Reader for a New Academic Field, eds. Simon Frith and Simon Zagorski-Thomas, Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2012, pp. 129–148. Reprinted by permission.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Producing country : the inside story of the great recordings / [interviews by] Michael Jarrett.

      pages cm. — (Music/interview)

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7463-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8195-7464-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8195-7465-7 (ebook)

      1. Country music—Production and direction—History. 2. Sound recording executives and producers—United States—Interviews. I. Jarrett, Michael, 1953–, interviewer.

      ML3524.P76 2014

      781.642′149—dc23 2013048875

      5 4 3 2 1

      Cover illustration: Tompall Glaser in the studio control room at Hillbilly Central, 1978. © Leonard Kamsler.

       For all y’all but, mostly, for Pamela

       CONTENTS

       List of Illustrations xv

       Acknowledgments xvii

       Introduction xix

       Biographical Sketches xxv

       OVERTURE: WHAT IS A RECORD PRODUCER? 1

       1. CUTTING TRACKS: CAPTURING THE PERFORMANCE, 1927–1949 11

       Various, RCA Country Legends: The Bristol Sessions, Vol. 1 (1927) and “A Satisfied Mind” (1954) 13

       Various, Roots n’ Blues: The Retrospective 1925–1950 15

       Bill Monroe, The Essential Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys 1945–1949 17

       Bob Wills, The Essential Bob Wills 1935–1947 18

       Gene Autry, The Essential Gene Autry (1933–1946) 19

       Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings (1936–1937) 20

       Tex Ritter, “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle” (1942) 21

       The Maddox Brothers and Rose, America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band, 1946–1951 23

       T. Texas Tyler, “Deck of Cards” (1946) 24

       Tex Williams and His Western Caravan, “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)” (1947) 25

       The Dinning Sisters, “Buttons and Bows” (1947) 27

       Merle Travis, Folk Songs of the Hills (1947) 28