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In The Studio Archives
Darrel Petties, Smokie Norful and Jason Latshaw
Smokie Norful and his newly signed Gospel talent Darrel Petties were in to record Darrel's debut for EMI Gospel. Smokie produced, Jason Latshaw engineered and Curry Weber assisted.
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Curry Weber, Jim Dickinson, John Hampton, John Hiatt
John Hiatt came in to record and mix his new one for New West Records/U.S.. Jim Dickinson produced and Jim's sons, Luther and Cody (both of North Mississippi Allstars), provided their special feel on guitar and drums respectively. David Hood was the perfect addition on bass. John Hampton engineered both tracking and mix sessions. They used the cutting edge direct stream digital recording format Sanoma. Sanoma's creator, Gus Skinas provided guidance on the new format. Curry Weber assisted and became the Sanoma operator.
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From left: Skip Pitts, Adam Hill, Scott Bomar, and John Hampton
Scott Bomar (music supervisor for Hustle and Flow) returned to Ardent to mix the song "Kick It" with engineer John Hampton. The track (a contribution to the Barnyard soundtrack) was produced by Bomar and performed by his band The Bo-Keys. Skip Pitts (famed wah wah guitarist of the Shaft theme song) played guitar and sang lead on the song. Scott took a moment off from his duties as film scorer for writer/director Craig Brewer's new feature Black Snake Moan. The film's Executive Music Producer Karyn Rachtman was serving double duty, overseeing both this session and Mickey P's mix session in Ardent's Studio A.
Read about it in Mix Magazine.
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From Left: Pete Matthews and Devon Allman
Honeytribe's Devon Allman (son of Allman Bros legend Gregg Allman) was in the studio with Pete Matthews this month to mix their soon to be released CD. They also tracked and mixed a cover of Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry. The album, entitled Torch, is set for release this fall on Livewire Recordings. While here in Memphis they took time out to play at the Beale St. Music Festival before returning to St. Louis.
Look for Honeytribe on the road this summer in the midwest. In the meantime, check them out at www.honeytribe.com.
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From left: Engineer Doug Easley, Maria Taylor, and Assistant Jason Gillespie
Maria Taylor, member of such previous (and current) groups Azure Ray and Now It's Overhead, was in the studio this month working with Doug Easley and Ardent's own Jason Gillespie on material for her new solo album, to be released next year. She chose to work with Doug on the remainder of her album after having heard some work he did with Astralwerks/Virgin UK artist Willie Mason. Maria has contributed to many successful projects in the past, including albums from Moby, Bright Eyes, and Crooked Fingers.
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From left: Engineer Jason Latshaw, Daz Dillinger and Assistant Jason Gillespie.
West Coast gangster rap maven Daz Dillinger returned to Ardent this month to record vocals on and mix a new project. The new material, which features fellow former Death Row artists Snoop Dogg and Kurupt, is for a followup album to Daz's most recent release, So So Gangsta.
Daz has worked with a multitude of platinum selling recording artists from the West Coast, including Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, and many others, and continues to do so today. You can check him out on So So Gangsta, released on Jermaine Dupri's label So So Def.
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From left: Keyboardist Rick Steff, Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and guitarist Teenie Hodges.
Cat Power returned to Ardent this month to work on a track for the soundtrack of the highly anticipated Bob Dylan biopic entitled "I'm Not There," set to premier in May 2007 at the Cannes Film Festival. She came with The Memphis Rhythm Band, who have been on tour with her since recording The Greatest here at Ardent last year.The Memphis Rhythm Band includes Doug Easley (guitar), Teenie Hodges (guitar), Rick Steff (keyboards), Dave Smith (bass) and Greg Lundy (drums), among others. The soundtrack will feature several artists covering Dylan songs, paralleling the director Todd Haynes' non-traditional approach of casting multiple actors to portray Dylan in several distinct stages of his life. Stuart Sikes engineered the session with George Drakoulias producing and Ardent's Curry Weber assisting
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Wax Fang and the Ardent Gang, Christmas 2006
Wax Fang was in the studio this month with Doug Easley engineering and Ardent's Jason Gillespie assisting. Scott Carney (bass), Jake Heustis (guitars) and Kevin Ratterman (drums) were tracking material for their first full length album, which is yet to be titled. Kevin had worked with Doug in a previous band and had such a positive experience that he decided to come back to Memphis with the new group. Says Kevin: "He is so patient and creative and a delight to work with."
The band recently came off of a two week tour with The Features and The Whigs which took them from Louisville, KY to SXSW. They have miscellaneous dates coming up in New York, Atlanta, and Nashville, but are now focused on finishing up the album at Kevin's studio in Louisville.
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From left: Assistant Adam Hill, Engineer Jeff Powell, and Joy Whitlock
Ardent Records' artist Joy Whitlock was in the studio this month with producer/engineer Jeff Powell and Ardent's Adam Hill. Guitarist Steve Selvidge was called in to add some special touches to "Fake," which was mixed along with "Faith Don't Fail Me Now." Read more about this remarkable artist at www.joywhitlock.com.
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From left Engineer Curry Weber, Josey Scott, Rob Cressman of 93X, and Wayne Swinny
Josey Scott and Wayne Swinny of Saliva were in the studio this month to record an acoustic track and interview for Friday Morning Quarterback. 93X's Rob Cressman conducted the interview and Curry Weber engineered the session.
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From left: Bassist Reed Herron, guitarist Shawn Eckels, producer/engineer Pete Matthews, and keyboardist Marcus Chatman.
Springfield, MO natives Speakeasy were in the studio this month recording with Ardent producer/engineer Pete Matthews. The album, which is yet to be titled, includes 12 all new songs and is the band's fourth studio project. Look for the album this summer and head to www.speakeasyband.com for more info on the band.
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From left: Assistant Jason Gillespie, Alex Watson, Alan Mearns, Jimmy Brown, Adrian Rice, John Coogan, and engineer John Hampton (seated).
Airspace recently made a welcome return to Ardent Studios and John Hampton. This time the band's mission was to record their first single, entitled "The Conjuror," an elegiac anthem co-written with renowned Belfast poet Adrian Rice. The song is in memory of the late, great Belfast soccer legend George Best - a player described by the Brazilian maestro Pele as being "the greatest player the world has ever seen." Like two of the band members (Jimmy Brown and Alan Mearns), Rice hails from Belfast. All three now live in Hickory, North Carolina along with band members John Coogan and Alex Watson.
Once the song took shape, the band (including American members John Coogan and Alex Watson) had no hesitation in turning once again to John Hampton - whom they call "the ultimate professional" - for expert production. Having already received numerous requests for the single from BBC radio in both Britain and Ireland, this intriguing transatlantic five man version of Airspace are looking forward with excitement to the reception of their heartfelt tribute to the genius that was George Best.
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From Left: Engineer Curry Weber, Producer John Hampton, drummer Kim Trammell (seated), Todd Agnew, and bassist Dave Smith
Ardent Records artist Todd Agnew moved into the studio this month to start work with John Hampton on a new record, entitled "Better Questions." Todd thinks that this is his best album so far, with bigger ideas going into the project and a bigger team involved in the production. He cites John Fry, John Hampton (producer), Curry Weber (engineer), and Adam Hill (assistant) as being indispensable in the production. The album thus far has featured some of Memphis' finest players: Steve Selvidge (guitars), Kim Trammel (drums), Dave Smith (bass), Jack Holder (guitars) and Jonathan Chu (strings).
"The theme for this album is that I have better questions than I do answers," says Todd, "and that that's okay. It's okay not to know everything - the questions themselves are important." The record is slated for release this summer on Ardent Records with an accompanying DVD. Check www.ardentrecords.com to read more about Todd and for his upcoming tour dates.
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From left: Jimbo Mathus, Larry Nix, King Louie, Kevin Nix
It's been a long and arduous process, but a new project from King Louie Bankston should see the light of day soon. The project is called King Louie and the Loose Diamonds and consists of Bankston along with Jack Yarber on drums, Harlan T. Bobo on guitar, Adam Woodard on keys, with Chad Booth and Jimbo Mathus trading time on rhythm guitar. Although the record is being touted as having been recorded at Jimbo Mathus' Delta Recording Studio in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the history of the project is actually a lot more lengthy.
Recording of the album, titled Memphis Treet, originally began at Easley-McCain Studios. The early recordings survived that studio's tragic fire in March 2005, but then futher recording was postponed due to the Katrina Hurricane after Bankston was uprooted from his home in New Orleans. The tapes ended up in a basement studio in Memphis, made their way down to Mississippi and then ended up at Jim Dickinson's Zebra Ranch Studio to be mixed. The final mastering was done in April by Nix Mastering located inside Ardent Studios.
After being plagued by fires, hurricanes, and makeshift recording sessions, the album will finally be released this summer by Seattle's Empty Records.
But don't expect after four years for there to be a lot of hoopla around the release. Yarber and Bobo, who will be releasing his sophomore album I'm Your Man on July 17th, are both headed back to Europe to tour this summer, while Bankston plans to focus all of his attention on his latest band, "I'm spending all my time with The Black Rose Band right now, I'm just gonna let this record do it's thing."
Tracklisting:
1. Negative Contact
2. Memphis Treet
3. Gypsy Switch
4. Girl in the Holler
5. Heart
6. Wheelbarrow Whiz (Jack's Theme)
7. Fire on the Sun
8. She's Losing Her Hair
9. Lookin' for a Heart
10. Mountain of Lore
11. Untitled Lament
12. Burning Sands
Memphis Treet Fun Fact:
Treet is a canned meat product, similar to SPAM, that is marketed under the brand name Armour Star by the Dial Group in the USA. Treet is made with chicken and pork. SPAM is made with ham and pork. Treet is often less expensive than SPAM.
Treet has a less greasy texture than SPAM, more akin to bologna or vienna sausages. Like SPAM, it is often heated before consumption. This includes frying or baking. Baked Treet with ketchup or steak sauce is often referred to as "Treet loaf" after meat loaf. Although it is officially a "spiced luncheon loaf", Treet is often called "Treet meat". For unknown reasons, possibly ingredient costs, Treet is copied for private label luncheon loaf more often than SPAM. While very popular, Treet does not have SPAM's cult following.
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Memphis, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Ardent Studios) - Al Kapone, one of the originators of the Memphis underground rap explosion and known as a pioneer of the Dirty South Crunk/Buck style of Hip-Hop, has been mixing at Ardent Studios with engineer Jason Latshaw. Kapone, who is a 2006 Critic's Choice Award-winner, previously mixed material at Ardent for the hit film 'Hustle and Flow.'
For his new album, with the working title 'What About the Music?', Kapone has been experimenting with a number of different styles, including Rock, Soul, and R&B. Kapone revealed during sessions at Ardent that he's interested in incorporating the music of Memphis in its earlier days into the album, referring to Stax artists and the unforgettable soul music that came out of the 50's and 60's. His vision includes a new sound that utilizes the legacy of Elvis, B.B. King, Al Green and Isaac Hayes with the crunk energy of the Memphis rap scene developed by Three-6 Mafia, 8Ball & MJG, Yo Gotti, and Project Pat. The album is expected for Fall release.
(Source)
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From left: George Thorogood, Producer Jim Gaines.
George Thorogood and the Destroyers were in the studio this month working on cutting some new songs and re-cutting some classic material for the best-of album they have coming out soon. Jim Gaines was the producer on the sessions, with Sean Burman engineering and Jason Gillespie assisting. The material they were working on included the classic "Bad to the Bone."
George and the Destroyers played in Memphis at the Beale Street Music Festival on May 5, and have returned to Ardent to finish up the work they've started. They've got some guitar and sax overdubs left, and will then mix the material with Ardent engineer John Hampton. Look for the new release on EMI sometime in the future.
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