Owen Bradley

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Owen Bradley (born October 21, 1915 in Westmoreland , Tennessee , † January 7, 1998 ) was an important American producer of country music and pioneer of the Nashville Sound .

Life

Owen Bradley grew up in Nashville . He began his musical career as a pianist in bars and clubs in the vicinity. In 1935 he made his first appearances at the radio station WSM . Soon he got a permanent engagement there and worked his way up to music director. He held this position from 1947 to 1958. He also founded his own dance band, the Owen Bradley Orchestra, and recorded records. His biggest sales success was the title Blues Stay Away From Me , which reached number 17 on the US charts in 1950.

In 1947 he received an offer from Decca producer Paul Cohen to lead recordings as his assistant in Nashville. Bradley agreed. In 1951 he opened a film studio with his brother Harold (1926–2019), which two years later moved to the city center and was soon converted into a music studio. It was the first studio in what is now known as Music Row and is the commercial heart of country music . After Cohen left Decca, Bradley became Vice President of the Nashville Section. He kept this position after the merger with the MCA label in 1961. As a producer, he initially worked successfully with established stars such as Red Foley , Ernest Tubb , Webb Pierce and others.

An extraordinarily successful collaboration with Patsy Cline began in the early 1960s . Bradley provided her first-class song material and changed her style towards pop music. He did a similar thing with Brenda Lee . Instead of sparse country instrumentation, string groups and background choirs determined the sound. The sales figures rose steeply. Owen Bradley was one of the most important architects of the Nashville Sound, alongside Chet Atkins and Billy Sherrill .

To enable his eldest son to produce demo tapes, he bought a farm outside Nashville in 1961 and set up a simple studio in a barn. As the demand for music studios skyrocketed in the wake of the successful Nashville Sound, more and more stars came to recording sessions in his barn, which became known as "Bradley's Barn".

In 1974 Bradley was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame . In 1988 he returned from his retirement to produce an album dedicated to Patsy Cline with the Canadian singer kd lang . In 1990 an album for the up-and-coming singer Marsha Thornton followed . One last time, he announced his retirement for the production of the album I've Got a Right to Cry by Mandy Barnett on. Bradley died during the recording in early 1998 and the unfinished album was completed by his brother Harold and his son Bobby.

Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut Studio

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  1. ↑ US catalog number: Coral 60107; Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Records 1940–1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 12
  2. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Marsha-Thornton-Marsha-Thornton/release/5709968
  3. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/ive-got-a-right-to-cry-mw0000597767

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bradley, Owen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country music producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Westmoreland , Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1998