Staff Picks
The Great Studios
- Sarah C.
- Monday, January 07, 2019
Collection
Explore the iconic recording studios that shaped the face of popular music with these great titles!
This list is part of the #BroaderBookshelf2019 reading challenge. Find more lists here.
Sam Phillips
The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll
Published in 2015
The author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biography Last Train to Memphis brings us the life of Sam Phillips, the visionary genius who singlehandedly steered the revolutionary path of Sun Records. The music that he shaped in his tiny Memphis studio with artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, introduced a sound that had never been heard before. He brought forth a singular mix of black and white voices passionately proclaiming the vitality of the American vernacular tradition while at the same time declaring, once and for all, a new, integrated musical day. With extensive interviews and firsthand personal observations extending over a 25-year period with Phillips, along with wide-ranging interviews with nearly all the legendary Sun Records artists, Guralnick gives us an ardent, unrestrained portrait of an American original as compelling in his own right as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, or Thomas Edison.
Rhythm Ride
A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound
Published in 2015
"A narrative history of the Motown music label covering the historical context, personalities, and ongoing legacy of the "sound of young America.""-- Provided by publisher.
Dreams to Remember
Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul
Published in 2015
"A soul icon and the southern music he helped popularize come to life in this moving requiem,"--Amazon.com.
Studio Stories
How the Great New York Records Were Made
Published in 2004
This is an engaging account of some of the most memorable moments in New York's recording history, as seen through the eyes (and ears) of the many producers, engineers, songwriters, and recording artists who helped make them happen. It explores the explosive 30 years between 1950 and 1980 and the numerous ingredients that made them unique artists performing live in large, vibrant recording spaces, producers and engineers spontaneously creating new effects and techniques; composers writing parts on demand in the studio; and, most important, recording studios that had life, character, and their own fingerprint sound.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios
How the Swampers Changed American Music
Published in 2014
An estimated four hundred gold records have been recorded in the Muscle Shoals area. Many of those are thanks to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, dubbed "the Swampers." Some of the greatest names in rock, R&B and blues laid tracks in the original, iconic concrete-block building - the likes of Cher, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones and the Black Keys. The National Register of Historic Places now recognizes that building, where Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded the original version of "Free Bird" and the Rolling Stones wrote "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses." By combing through decades of articles and music reviews related to Muscle Shoals Sound, music writer Carla Jean Whitley reconstructs the fascinating history of how the Alabama studio created a sound that reverberates across generations.