Elvis’ Former Studio?

It was an awesome night, and Robert Plant was another fan in the audience. 🙂

9/10/10

Bob Harris, BBC, interview with Lucinda Williams at RCA Studio A, Nashville, TN

Jed Hilly, Executive Director, Americana Music Association, opened the night explaining that RCA Studio A was originally built for Chet Atkins, and that legends Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton had also recorded there.

Both participants in the night’s event are living legends:

Bob Harris, who has been with the BBC for 40 years, having hosted Sounds of the 70’s and The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Lucinda Williams, three-time Grammy Award winner.

Lucinda and Bob spent time together today and recorded a BBC segment that will go out in the New Year when the new record is released.

Lucinda talked about her new album “Blessed”, which was recorded in Hollywood at the historic Capitol Studios, Studio B. Elvis had recorded there, there was a microphone in a box with the name “Frank” written on it where Frank Sinatra? kept his microphone.

Lucinda initially went in to do a one-off thing for the True Blood soundtrack, fell in love with the room and decided to cut the entire new album there. She said that her husband, Tom, is a big fan of Don Was. They ran into Don at a Neil Young tribute concert where he was playing in the house band. “Don was doing Americana before it was called Americana.” “ The older I get, the more prolific I get. When I went in to do ‘West’, we actually had enough songs for two albums and wanted to release a double”.

BH: commented that LW is an observational writer

LW – always jotting down ideas. With “Little Honey”, Lucinda had just gotten engaged and was asked what it would do to her music. She found that hard to answer, because it was so inane. Lu finds it easier to write when she has a sense of well-being and then she can just go into “the vault”. “Look at the world around us, there’s always something going on. Everybody’s got the blues. Being any kind of artist is about how you perceive things, and then make it universal so everyone can relate.”

Lucinda’s father is poet Miller Williams, so she grew up with a built-in writing course, like an apprenticeship.

BH: Uses the term ‘rinsing’ to describe the refining of the writing process

LW: Her dad, Miller Williams uses the term “The Economics of Writing”. Lucinda’s style of writing is simple, and she lets the music help with the interpretation. She had tried writing poetry, and that’s a whole different animal. Once Miller wrote a poem and sent it to her, as an idea for a song. (shakes her head ‘no’)

Lucinda indicated that her style is Country, Folk, Blues, and straight-ahead Rock.

BH: asked about LW’s record collection?

LW – Dad listened to Country Blues – Mississippi John Hurt, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Ray Charles – Country music album, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn. Then in the 60’s I veered off – the Doors, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young, Dylan, Donovan, the whole folk thing. Then I discovered Delta Blues Robert Johnson.

From age 12 1/2 , that’s all I was interested in – listening to records.

I was always told that my stuff fell in the cracks between country and rock; I fell through the cracks. It all comes down to marketing, and there was no Americana then. If Neil Young had tried to get a record deal when I was, he wouldn’t have been signed either.

BH: Thinks of “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” as the first Americana record.

LW: The Rough Trade album was really the first Americana, but it was before its time. Rough Trade was thought of as a punk label, but they were the only ones who would sign me, and also signed Victoria Williams, the Pixies, and the Smiths. Until them, I couldn’t get a record deal – Rounder Records and Sugar Hill wouldn’t sign me.

(Dylan’s) “Time Out of Mind” came out before “Essence”. It was a new direction for Dylan, the simplicity. The Nashville newspaper slammed it, ‘these are silly, insidious lyrics. He’d written better lyrics than this.” The Stones album that year got slammed, too.

“I was always very eclectic.”

My regular band now is my rhythm section – Butch Norton – drums; Dave Sutton – base. Doug was ready for change, and is working with Marianne Faithfull.

Greg Leisz played on the album. He was so choked up there to accept the award (Americana Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist), he’s one of the most humble people I’ve ever known. He wasn’t feeling well, he’s had a low-grade fever for 3 months and they don’t know what it is. He doesn’t complain.

When we were recording “Blessed”, he had a dental procedure and I said don’t worry about coming in, but he came in anyway, with the bloody cotton in his cheek. He never complains.

When you have the right people, it’s chemistry. Matthew Sweet. Elvis Costello is on four tracks – just guitar – that was Tom’s idea. Elvis was in town anyway working on his own album with T Bone Burnett. He pumped it up as only an English guitar player can do, like Keith Richards.

BH : asked if they did analog reel to reel?

LW: We always do analog. The entire country is running low on analog tape. It has that warm sound we all love when we listen to old records.

I like to be separated in a vocal booth. I can see the guys but I want to be able to hear myself. With ‘World Without Tears’, we were all in the same room, including the engineer, and I didn’t like it. I’m more relaxed and don’t make as many mistakes when I’m in a vocal booth, because I know I can fix the mistakes then.

We do a minimum of overdubs; you shoot to get as much live as possible.

BH: Asked about sequencing?

LW: Tom is really good at it. Don put one together.

BH: Do you have a shape in your head? I call it the wave shape.

LW: Don (Was) has made great records that have sold – Rolling Stones. We’d like to sell records. I was talking with Luke Lewis about the gatekeepers, and getting the radio stations to play our music. I moved to Nashville in the early 90’s because Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded that song (“Passionate Kisses”), but nobody would cut my stuff. The audience is there, but it’s the gatekeepers. It’s a matter of breaking those walls down.

BH: At South By Southwest, you told the young artists don’t compromise, saying “I’ve never met anyone who’s achieved great success who’s made compromises”.

LW: “I’m so stubborn, I don’t know any other way to do it. I’ve probably been more stubborn than I should have been, out of sheer fear. Fear of being over-produced. It’s just because I’m stubborn and a pain in the CENSORED.”

“I’ve been asked to give Faith Hill a couple songs; she wants something edgy. If you want something edgy, I’m your girl! I want a big fat hit.”

Then Lucinda performed a few songs –

1) “Don’t Know How You’re Livin’” – wrote this about my younger brother / prodigal son, same as “Are You All Right?”
2) “Blessed” – it’s close enough for folk music – that’s what Townes Van Zandt always used to say.
3) “Kiss Like Your Kiss”
4) “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” – a Delta Blues song by Skip James, in honor of the hard, hard times we’re living in now. Skip wrote this during the Depression, and it still rings very true today.
5) “Somebody Somewhere” – just recorded song for the new Loretta Lynn tribute album

@tonyg wrote:

Awesome post. Thx. 😀

Indeed!

Tom

Thank you for the inside info, TO!

Stoger, you’re playing devil’s advocate, you know. As much as I would love to hit the airways or the highways to Arkansas, it’s just not in the cards this go round. It’s the trailer, you know. It’s all about the trailer. 😆

This link to “Concert Blast” was just posted on LU’s FB page by Mike Arnold
http://www.concertblast.com/2010/09/americana-music-festival-2010-nashville-tn-part-1-of-2-podcast-181/
Listen to Part 1 of the podcast.
Mike Arold and others were invited to RCA Studio A to enjoy Lu’s BBC interview and music. They especially thanked TOverby for the invitation.
Commentary on Lucinda starts around the 4 minute mark.
lwj