American Sound Studio

Coordinates: 35°09′50″N 90°02′12″W / 35.163844°N 90.036715°W / 35.163844; -90.036715

American Sound Studios

American Sound Studio was a recording studio located at 827 Thomas Street in Memphis, Tennessee. More than one hundred hit songs were recorded there between its founding 1967 and its closing in 1972, The music for these hits was played by the house band "The Memphis Boys", also known as the "827 Thomas Street Band".

Artists who recorded at American Sound Studio included Elvis Presley, Merrilee Rush, Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Dusty Springfield, B. J. Thomas, Petula Clark, Joe Tex, Roy Hamilton and The Box Tops. Bobby Womack was a session guitarist at American Sound Studio and recorded his first charted hit there.

History

American Sound Studio was started in 1967 in North Memphis by producer Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman^[1] and Don Crews.^[2] Between 1967 and 1971 approximately 120 hit songs were produced, and listed in the top 100 of Billboard, at the American Sound Studio.^[3] During one week span 25% of Billboards top 100 not only came from the same studio but featured the same band backing a variety of artists. It was further noted that the Memphis Boys recorded 122 Top 10 records using the same rhythm team, and were also known as the 827 Thomas Street Band after the address of the studio.^[4][5] American Sound Studio folded in 1972 and the building was later torn down. In its place is a beauty shop and a crumbling parking lot.

Recording artists

In January 1969, Elvis Presley recorded his last number one hit "Suspicious Minds" with producer/engineer Chips Moman.^[6] Around this time, American Sound Studio was at the top of its game, in the middle of a three-year span that would yield more than 100 hit records for artists that included B. J. Thomas,^[7] Neil Diamond^[8] and Dusty Springfield.^[9]

The Memphis Boys

The Memphis Boys, American Sound Studio's House Band was composed of drummer Gene Chrisman, bassists Tommy Cogbill and Mike Leech, guitarist Reggie Young and keyboardists Bobby Emmons and Bobby Wood. They brought versatility to the studio, including Joe Tex's "I Gotcha", Merrilee Rush's "Angel of the Morning", Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", The Box Tops' "Cry Like a Baby", Presley's "In the Ghetto" and Danny O'Keefe's "Goodtime Charlie's Got the Blues". It was Tommy Cogbill's bass ride out in Dusty Springfield's hit "Son Of A Preacher Man." They were also the band in flutist Herbie Mann's 1969 Jazz Rock classic Memphis Underground . In 2007, they were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN.^[10]

Bobby Womack

Bobby Womack worked at producer Chips Moman's American Sound Studio in Memphis, and played on recordings by Joe Tex and The Box Tops. Until this point, around 1967, he had had little success as a solo artist, but at American he began to record a string of hit singles, including 1968's "What Is This" (his first chart hit), "It's Gonna Rain" and "More Than I Can Stand". During this period he became known as a songwriter, contributing many songs to Wilson Pickett's repertoire; these include "I'm in Love" and "I'm a Midnight Mover." He also applied guitar work on three of Aretha Franklin's hit-making late 1960s recordings, including Lady Soul, where he played guitar on Franklin's hit, "Chain of Fools". Among his most well-known works as a session musician from this period, his appearance as guitarist on Sly & the Family Stone's 1971 album There's a Riot Goin' On and on Janis Joplin's Pearl, which features a song by Womack and poet Michael McClure entitled "Trust Me". In 1971, on an album with jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó, he introduced his instrumental piece "Breezin'", which later became a hit for George Benson.

Elvis Presley

In January and February 1969, Elvis Presley recorded an extensive number of tracks during a period known as his comeback. One notable track, and the first to be released, was In the Ghetto, unusual in Elvis' repertoire for its social commentary on the cycle of crime and poverty, followed by Suspicious Minds, which became a centerpiece of his live performances that would begin that year.^[11] Indeed, four charting singles came from these sessions--Suspicious Minds, Don't Cry Daddy, In the Ghetto, and Kentucky Rain—as well as two critically acclaimed albums released during 1969, From Elvis in Memphis and the studio portion of From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis, which was later reissued in Back in Memphis in 1970.^[12] Additional tracks recorded during the 1969 sessions would continue to appear haphazardly on assorted Elvis albums as late as 1972, including a cover version of The Beatles' "Hey Jude".

B. J. Thomas

B. J. Thomas came full circle. The five-time Grammy Award winner made his name in the mid-1960s with easy listening hits like "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head recorded at American Sound Studio^[13] The song written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Further, David and Bacharach won Best Original Score. The version by B. J. Thomas was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States in January 1970 for four weeks and the first #1 single of the 1970s. It also spent seven weeks atop the U.S. adult contemporary chart.^[14]

The song was recorded in seven takes, after Bacharach expressed dissatisfaction with the first six.

Dusty Springfield

The sudden changes of pop music in the mid-1960s left girl singers out of fashion. To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Dusty Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee to record an album of pop and soul music at American Sound Studio. The LP Dusty in Memphis earned Springfield a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970 and received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2001. International readers and viewers polls list the record among the one hundred greatest albums of all time.^[15] The LP's standout track "Son of a Preacher Man" was an international Top 10 hit in 1969.^[16][17]

The Box Tops

The Box Tops recorded Wayne Carson Thompson's "The Letter". Though under two minutes in length, it was an international hit in late 1967, reaching Billboard's number-one position and remaining there for four weeks. The record, produced by Dan Penn, sold over four million copies and received two Grammy Awards nominations. Their single "Cry Like a Baby" was a major hit in 1968, peaking at number two on Billboard, and has been covered by such artists as the Hacienda Brothers and Kim Carnes. Some of their recordings' instrumental tracks were performed by session musicians like Reggie Young, Tommy Cogbill, Gene Chrisman, and Bobby Womack at Moman's American Sound Studio, and by future Chilton producer Terry Manning at Ardent Studios, although the actual group members performed on a number of the recordings, including their first hit "The Letter", and on all live performances.^[18]

Neil Diamond

"Sweet Caroline", recorded at American Sound Studio,^[19] was Neil Diamond's first major hit after his slump.^[20]

Joe Tex

Joe Tex recorded his last major hit, "I Gotcha", in 1971 at American Sound Studio. "I Gotcha" was originally intended to be recorded by King Floyd, but Floyd never recorded a version of it. Instead, Tex went ahead and recorded it himself in the late 1960s, but ended up not releasing it. He decided to re-record the song in late 1971 at American Sound Studio and released it as the B-side of "A Mother's Prayer," the first single off his 1972 album that was also titled I Gotcha. Radio DJs decided to flip the single over and started playing "I Gotcha." This would result in Tex having his first major hit in five years as "I Gotcha" eventually peaked at number one on the R&B chart and number two on the Pop chart and would sell around three million copies.^[21]

Aretha Franklin

In 1967 Franklin issued her first Atlantic single, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", a blues ballad that introduced listeners to her gospel style. Produced by Jerry Wexler, the song became Franklin's breakthrough single reaching the Top 10 on the Hot 100, and holding the #1 spot for 7 weeks on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. The B-side, Do Right Woman, Do Right Man recorded at American Sound Studio, charted on the R&B side, and introduced a more gospel element to Franklin's developing sound.^[22]

See also

• Booker T and the MGs
• The Funk Brothers

Further reading

• Roben Jones - Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios, 2011
• Peter Guralnick - Sweet Soul Music, 1999

References