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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Producing Country was built from my interviews with the following people:

DAVE ALVIN (1955)

In his playing (with the Blasters, X, and solo) and in his productions (for the Derailers and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys), Alvin manifests a vision of country that’s two thousand scorched miles west of Nashville.

ERIC “ROSCOE” AMBEL (1957)

Ambel’s guitar playing with the Del-Lords and the Yayhoos is more rock than country, while his production work with the Bottle Rockets is more country than rock.

PETE ANDERSON (1948)

For many years, Anderson, a guitarist of distinction, was Dwight Yoakam’s go-to producer.

CHET ATKINS (1924–2001)

After Steve Sholes moved up the corporate ladder in 1957, Atkins became RCA’s man in Nashville. He and Decca’s Owen Bradley are widely regarded as the chief architects of the Nashville sound, the urbane style of country that found a mass audience.

JAMES AUSTIN (1946)

In his former position as vice-president of A&R at Rhino Records (whose parent company is the Warner Music Group), Austin produced many historical reissues.

JIMMY BOWEN (1937)

Before Bowen, Nashville producers cut songs that, with luck, became hits. Taking his cue (and his budgets) from pop, Bowen produced albums that generated hits and changed Nashville forever.

BOBBY BRADDOCK (1940)

Braddock produced Blake Shelton’s first five albums. In 2011, he was elected, as a songwriter, to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

HAROLD BRADLEY (1926)

Owen Bradley’s kid brother is the most recorded session guitarist in the history of American music, a constant presence on Nashville’s music scene for more than fifty years.

THOM BRESH (1948)

Merle Travis’s son is also a producer, writer, actor, and guitarist.

TONY BROWN (1946)

Someone once summarized the historical eras of Nashville production in the following manner: Bradley, Bowen, and Brown. While at MCA, Brown produced George Strait, Wynonna Judd, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Vince Gill.

STEPHEN BRUTON (1948–2009)

The brief on this Texas producer says that he was the model for Jeff Bridges’s character in the movie Crazy Heart.

BLAKE CHANCEY (1962)

While working A&R for Sony Music in the 1990s, Chancey signed genre-defining musicians: the Dixie Chicks, Montgomery Gentry, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

JACK CLEMENT (1931–2013)

Sizable chunks of country music’s history have been made in Nashville studios built by Clement. Before taking up residence in Music City, Clement was a mainstay at Sun Studios in Memphis.

MARSHALL CRENSHAW (1953)

Best known as a musician, Crenshaw has also readied several historical recordings for reissue, most notably a Louvin Brothers collection.

LAWRENCE COHN (1942)

Cohn directly impacted country music as a reissue producer for Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings; he created the Roots ’n’ Blues series for the label.

DON COOK (1949)

Cook’s strength as a songwriter—he’s a top executive at Sony/ATV Tree Publishing—has powered much of his success as a producer.

STEVE CROPPER (1941)

More or less the manager of Stax Studio in Memphis, Cropper worked shoulder-to-shoulder writing songs with Otis Redding, the most countrified of legendary soul singers.

TOM DOWD (1925–2002)

One of the most admired recording engineers of all time, Dowd was also a producer of note, devoting most of his professional life to Atlantic Records.

SID FELLER (1916–2006)

Feller produced Ray Charles, including the game-changing album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

BOB FERGUSON (1927–2001)

At RCA and in the genealogy of country production, Steve Sholes begat Chet Atkins who begat Bob Ferguson.

TOMPALL GLASER (1933–2013)

Glaser built a Nashville studio commonly known as Hillbilly Central. In it a group of insurgents initiated country’s Outlaw movement.

SCOTT HENDRICKS (1956)

A Nashville producer and record-company executive, Hendricks has held leadership positions at Capitol Nashville, Virgin, and Warner Bros./Reprise Records. He has produced recordings by Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, Faith Hill, and Trace Adkins.

BOB IRWIN (1957)

As a reissue producer for Sony/Legacy, Irwin’s country credits include Lefty Frizzell, Buck Owens, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash, and the Byrds. In 1989 Irwin started Sundazed Records.

ROLAND JANES (1933)

That’s Janes’s guitar on Billy Lee Riley’s “Flyin’ Saucers Rock and Roll” and Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” He also engineered a number of the hits that tumbled out the doors of Sun Records.

BOB JOHNSTON (1932)

Most famous as Bob Dylan’s producer, Johnston followed Don Law Sr. as head of Columbia’s country-music division.

JOHN KEANE (1959)

In his Athens, GA, studio, Keane has produced R.E.M., the Cowboy Junkies, 10,000 Maniacs, and Nanci Griffith.

JERRY KENNEDY (1940)

From his post at Mercury Records, Kennedy produced, among others, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom T. Hall, and Roger Miller. That’s his guitar on any number of hits.

BUDDY KILLEN (1932–2006)

Perhaps, country music’s greatest song hunter, Killen signed hundreds of writers to Tree Publishing Company. He produced the countrified soul singer Joe Tex.

JON LANGFORD (1957)

Langford’s sensibilities as an artist (drawing, painting, and making music) come from punk, and they are discernable in the music he’s recorded solo or with the Mekons, the Waco Brothers, and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts.

DON LAW JR.

Law is one of music’s most successful concert promoters; his father (1902–1982) was a legendary producer for Columbia Records.

WILLIAM MCEUEN

A producer of both film and music, McEuen made his mark on country when he brought his brother John’s group, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, to Nashville and recorded Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

BLAKE MEVIS

Standout items on Mevis’s resume include production work with George Strait, Vern Gosdin, Keith Whitley, and Mila Mason.

BUDDY MILLER (1952)

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Miller has production credits that include Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant, Allison Moorer, Solomon Burke, and Richard Thompson.

WILLIE MITCHELL (1928–2010)

At Royal Studios in Memphis, Mitchell created a patented brand of soul music that Al Green took to the world.

GURF MORLIX (1951)

An Austin-based guitarist and producer, Morlix’s work is heard to great effect on albums by Lucinda Williams and Robert Earl Keen Jr.

KEN NELSON (1911–2008)

For Capitol Records, Nelson produced the Louvin Brothers in Nashville, but it was his Hollywood-based production work with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens that defined a genre: the Bakersfield Sound.

JIM ED NORMAN (1948)

Before moving from California to Nashville in the early 1980s, Norman worked with the Eagles, Jennifer Warnes, and Anne Murray. Their sound anticipated country’s subsequent musical direction.

JOHN PALLADINO (1920)

Palladino was a pioneering recording engineer for Capitol Records in Hollywood.

DON PIERCE (1915–2005)

More than anyone in Nashville, Pierce knew how to market country music. Along the way, he produced a few records.

ALLEN REYNOLDS (1938)

Reynolds produced Garth Brooks (all of the defining albums), which is fame enough, but he also produced hits for Crystal Gayle, Don Williams, Kathy Mattea, and Kenny Rogers.

JIM ROONEY (1938)

Albums produced with Iris Dement, Nanci Griffith, and John Prine made Rooney an alt-country luminary.

SHELBY SINGLETON (1931–2009)

With money he earned from sales of Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” Singleton bought Sun Records (1969). Before that, he produced records for Mercury.

CRAIG STREET

Street crosses all musical boundaries and has produced k. d. lang and Norah Jones.

JAMES STROUD (1949)

The key to much of Stroud’s success as a producer (with Clint Black, Toby Keith, Tracy Lawrence, and Tim McGraw) is his ear for a groove. He started out as an R&B drummer.

MARTY STUART (1958)

Stuart’s production work with gospel group Jerry and Tammy Sullivan is a labor of love, reflecting his zeal for country traditions.

JEREMY TEPPER (1963)

Tepper’s Diesel Only Records has issued several compilations of truck-driving (“rig-rock”) songs.

BOB THIELE (1922–1996)

Though he is best known as a jazz producer at Impulse! Records, Thiele played a pivotal role in the career of Buddy Holly.

MICHAEL TIMMINS (1959)

A songwriter and guitarist, Timmins has produced albums by the Cowboy Junkies, the band he helped found in the mid-1980s.

JERRY WEXLER (1917–2008)

Legendary as an R&B producer, Wexler made few forays into country music, but he did notable work with Willie Nelson.

PAUL WORLEY (1950)

The Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum, and Big & Rich earned hits with the production assistance of Worley.

REGGIE YOUNG (1936)

In the 1960s, as house guitarist at Chips Moman’s American Studio, Young contributed his signature sound to chart-topping pop and R&B singles. After he moved to Nashville in the 1970s, he continued to play as he always had, but on chart-topping country hits.