Bradley's Barn

Last updated
Bradley's Barn
Industry Recording studio
FoundedMount Juliet, Tennessee, U.S. (1964 (1964))
FounderOwen Bradley
Defunct2008 (2008)
FateClosed
Headquarters
Mount Juliet, Tennessee
,
U.S.
Number of locations
1
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit of Owen Bradley's office in 1998 Owen Bradley's final studio, CMHF.jpg
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit of Owen Bradley's office in 1998

Bradley's Barn was a music recording studio founded in the mid-1960s by Owen Bradley. The studio was built in a converted barn on farmland in the Nashville suburb of Mount Juliet, and was the site of numerous notable recordings by artists including Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, The Beau Brummels, J. J. Cale, Bill Anderson, k.d. lang, George Jones and others.

History

After brothers Harold and Owen Bradley sold their Quonset Hut Studio to Columbia Records in 1962, Owen bought a farm at 722 Benders Ferry Road in Mount Juliet, a suburb 17 miles east of Nashville. Investing less than $2000 in equipment, Owen and his son Jerry converted a barn on the property into a studio for recording demos. [1] [2] By 1964, the barn had evolved into a fully-fledged recording studio, which Bradley appropriately named "Bradley's Barn." [3]

Within a few years, Bradley's Barn became a popular recording venue in country music circles, hosting 488 sessions in 1967 alone. [4] The following year, the Beau Brummels paid tribute to the studio, naming their 1968 album Bradley's Barn after the studio where it was recorded. [3] The studio hosted recording projects by such future Country Music Hall of Fame inductees as Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Webb Pierce, and Conway Twitty. Other artists who recorded at the studio in the 1960s included Jack Greene, Joan Baez, Gordon Lightfoot, Warner Mack, and Dinah Shore, [5]

In 1970, Jerry Bradley left the studio to work with Chet Atkins at RCA Nashville, but Bradley's Barn recording studio's string of commercially-successful projects continued throughout the decade, including several hit albums featuring the duo of Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. In 1977, when RCA closed its Nashville studios, Owen Bradley purchased the studio equipment and sub-let the studio space. RCA Studio A was remodeled and operated as Music City Music Hall, [6] and RCA Studio B was re-named Master Sound Studios and operated as a subsidiary of Bradley's Barn. [7]

In October 1980, the Bradley's Barn studio in St. Juliet was completely destroyed by a fire. [8] but Bradley rebuilt it on a smaller scale at the same location within a few years. [9] In 1988, k.d. lang recorded her award-winning album, Shadowland with Owen Bradley at the studio. In 1994 Brian Ahern produced The Bradley Barn Sessions , an album of classic George Jones hit performed as duets with Marty Stuart, Alan Jackson, Ricky Skaggs, Tammy Wynette, Keith Richards, Vince Gill, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood, Mark Knopfler, Mark Chesnutt, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton. In 1995, Ween recorded their album 12 Golden Country Greats at the studio.

Owen Bradley died in 1998. Bradley's Barn recording studios closed in 2008. [10]

Related Research Articles

William Owen Bradley was an American musician, bandleader and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was a chief architect of the 1950s and 60s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.

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Jerry Owen Bradley was an American music executive known for his role in country music. As head of RCA Records in Nashville from 1973 to 1982, Bradley was involved in the marketing and creation of the first platinum album in country music, Wanted! The Outlaws, which reached that mark in 1976. Bradley was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "Harold Bradley, Legendary Country Music Hall Of Fame Guitarist, Passes At 93". cmaworld.com. Country Music Association. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Froelich, Gene (27 March 1982). "Owen Bradley: Master Of The Musical Landmark". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  3. 1 2 Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 46/7. ISBN   0-85112-726-6.
  4. ↑ Williams, Bill (30 December 1967). "Studios in Nashville Pounded Out A Record 5,000 Sessions in 1967". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  5. ↑ "Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum profile of Jerry Bradley". Countrymusichalloffame.org. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  6. ↑ Kirby, Kip (6 February 1982). "Nashville Studio Broadens Its Non-Country Horizons". Billboard. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  7. ↑ Wood, Gerry (9 April 1977). "Bradley Bullish On Potential Of Studio". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  8. ↑ Kirby, Kip (1 November 1980). "Fire Ravages Bradley's Tenn. Studio". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  9. ↑ Morris, Edward (16 October 1982). "The Interlocking World of Country Music". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  10. ↑ "Bradley's Barn". MusicBrainz. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
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