In The Studio With Randi Perkins

This week I got a chance to do something I hadn't yet done here in Nashville: sit in on a recording session at Music Row. I've been in small and home studio settings when I recorded my audiobooks, but this is the first time I actually got to see first hand what part of a CD project recording session is like. I love knowing how things work and get created behind the scenes, so I was looking forward to this.

The session was for an upcoming release by singer/songwriter Randi Perkins (you've met him on my posts I've had here about the writer's nights he runs at Christ Lutheran Church in Nashville). On this evening he was getting instrumental tracks done for six songs. He had a great group of people supporting him: Rollie Mains (piano/keyboards), who is also an arranger, composer, orchestrator, producer; Gary Talley (guitar), a founding member of legendary 60's band the Box Tops; Dave Webb(bass), who has a long list of musical credits and most recently played with Sugarland; Justin Levenson (percussion), an in-demand studio musician, educator, performer and composer; engineers were Chris Rainwater and Jon Bufkin. Also documenting the session on video was Wayne Hall, known for video work with Big Machine Records artists.

I was really impressed with this group of folks professionally and personally. The musicians are all incredible players. They and the engineers really cared about the work they were doing and weren't satisfied until they got it right for Randi. Plus, they were just plain nice people who made me feel welcome (along with Randi's wife, Sandy, and son, Clark--also a musician!).

As a non-musician, I now have a much greater appreciation for the recording process that an artist walks through and will remember it every time I hold a CD in my hand by someone. I can tell you that Randi's project is going to be a nice one. You can hear live performances of some of the songs Randi cut studio versions of at his MySpace page. Take a listen to "North Dakota Farm Boy" and "The Last Harvest".

I enjoyed sitting in on the session. Thanks, Randi. And, I enjoy this town.