Cowboy Jack Clement & RCA Studio B

Pat Boone, Cowboy, and Chet Atkins

Jack Clement Newsletter December Question:

Ron from Nashville, TN asked:
Do you have any favorite stories, memories, or interesting notes associated with RCA Studio B from the recordings you produced there?

I have a lot of memories of working and playing in RCA Studio B.  The first time I recorded there I was working at Sun Records in Memphis.  That was around 1957.  I had not yet learned to love the Sun Studio and I had written a couple of songs that I felt needed a dose of the Nashville Sound. 
I had always wanted to meet Chet Atkins anyway, so I took my piano player and my favorite guitar and drove to Nashville.  We recorded a session in the RCA Studio with one of Chet's bass players.  It wasn't known as Studio B then because Studio A was still about 10 years in the future.
I moved to Nashville from Beaumont, Texas in January, 1965 and rented 2 offices in the new RCA Studio building which is about 15 feet from the Studio B building.  My landlords were Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley.
My offices were on the 3rd floor.  Chet was directly under me on the first floor and I gave him first crack at most of my productions, including Charley Pride.  Now, there was a fun story, that day I had Charley in Studio B for the first time.  The word had gotten around that I was producing an African American country singer.
So the control room was full of spectators, including Connie B. Gay, a famous Washington, D.C. showman and one of the people who started The Country Music Association.  Later Connie B. was helpful in getting Chet to sign Charley.
The most fun part of that day for me was watching blind piano player Hargus "Pig" Robbins' facial expressions as he heard Charley sing.  I wish I had that on video tape or film.
I continued to regularly use Studio B until I built my first Nashville studio in 1969. 



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