In thinking of fall or falling, I remember when I was a song publisher in Nashville; it was amazing how many songs dealt with falling in or out of love. It makes me a little nostalgic about my experiences on the row. Therefore, I am going to indulge in memories and incorporate a nonfiction creative piece I slapped together a while back on the subject.
Music Row
Come, let us take a tour of Music Row, Nashville, Tennessee. You know, where the “boys who make the noise” are on Sixteenth Avenue. The Row is a Mecca for dreams. People flock to its streets in search of fame, notoriety, and money. Notoriety is easy to come by here. It is the fame and money that do not come easily. Yes, it is not what you would expect for the capitol of Country Music; it is smaller than you anticipated. The high rise office buildings have been built in the last twenty years or so in attempts to cash in on the country market. And, as the business grew, the dreams it spun seemed to have faded into the background. Ironically, the biggest buildings belong to the “non-profit” companies like BMI and ASCAP, which are geared to assisting songwriters in collecting money.
As you walk the Row, it is not unusual to encounter someone using a corner as a stage, singing their hearts out in hopes of discovery, of someone who is someone taking their hand, and of validation of their dreams. Their quests and dreams, however, all started where the Sony Music building is now located.
Actually, the Row started in 1951 with Owen and Jerry Bradley who wanted to get into the movie production business. When they were unsuccessful with movies, they switched over to music. Within three years, they bought an old house on 16th and added a Quonset hut. This now infamous Quonset hut was the start of Music Row. Within its walls, it has housed Capitol, Columbia, and Decca Records.
Do you see Sony Records over there on the corner of Music Square East and Music Circle South? Well, it looks pretty impressive right now, but let’s go around to the back parking lot. You see that corner of a curved roof just to the left of the back door? It seems inconsistent with the rest of the building doesn’t? Actually, Sony added onto the CBS building when they bought it, and CBS built their building around the Quonset hut that housed the first music studio that the Bradleys’ built. Let me tell you, they do not show you that bit of history on one of those bus tours of the row. The Sony building has expanded like a nautilus shell, changing its outward appearance as it changed owners. Now, all that is visible is the glittering shell that houses its history hidden within closed chambers.
If you look to your left as you are facing the backside of Sony that is MCA Records facing South Street. And if you look to your right, the first building on the corner is Masterfonics, a great mastering studio. The next house down, the kind of run-down red Victorian house, is a private residence. However, the next one down is Ronnie Milsap’s company. Now, while your back is turned to MCA Records, a story comes to mind, which is about Jimmy Bowen, who was the head of MCA, and it was well known that you sure didn’t want to turn your back on him! There was a lot of enmity that was build up over the years with Bowen with many people; however, the rivalry between Bowen and Jim Foglesong is well known as Bowen was always moving Foglesong out as the head of different record companies, notably, MCA and Capitol Records. Anyway, the story goes this way: After Bowen died, Foglesong calls over to MCA and asked to speak with Bowen, but the secretary tells him that she is sorry but he has passed away. Jim says okay and hangs up. The next day, he calls again and asks for Bowen. Again, the secretary says she sorry but he is no longer with us. Jim says okay and hangs up. The next day he calls again and asks for Bowen. This time the secretary is out of it and says to Foglesong, “Sir, I told you that he was dead!” Jim replies, “I know, darling, but I just wanted to hear you say it again!” I like that story because it shows the competitiveness and the real blood shedding that the Row has absorbed over the years.
In speaking about bloodshed, in 1989, Kevin Hughes who worked for Cashbox Magazine was killed just a few blocks south of the Sony building as he was leaving Evergreen Studio. He was wounded and chased down the street where he was killed by a masked gunman. Among those who arrived after the police answered the sound of gunshots were Willy Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, who were just down the block recording an upcoming album. It was rumored that he was killed because he was going to reveal some of the double dealings that were going on with the charts that listed the sales and popularity of artists and songs, notably Cashbox. Richard D'Antonio, his boss at the time, was brought to trial ten years later but was not convicted as most of the evidence was circumstantial. Just as with anywhere else, any institution or industry resists change preferring to hold on to its secrets especially when they deal with business and money.
Across the street in a large red brick building is EMI publishing.
It is one of the older and larger publishing companies and, now, a huge corporation with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Songwriters can only get their songs heard by someone in there by request. As the song says, you have to know someone who knows someone. Another sign of the times, years ago, if a songwriter were pitching his songs, he would walk into any office and could get someone to listen to him—not anymore.
Let’s see, where should we go next? Studio B? Sure, if we go up half a block and west one block, it is there on the corner. Yeah, you can go inside if you want to pay the money.
Elvis did record there but it really isn’t all that much to see. It was back in the days when it was more about the music than the business. Tell you what—let’s go down half a block to the small building with the black glass walls. Why? Well, if we go around to the back, we can see if Tom Pick is in the studio. If you want history, let’s hear it straight from him. He was the head engineer for RCA and recorded Elvis, Andy Williams, Chet Atkins, The Everly Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson. Tom’s a master in the studio.
He is so laid back, and the final test for any important recording that he does is to pipe it through a cheap mono speaker. His philosophy is that if it sounds great on the small speaker, it will reach out and grab the listeners on the radio. Of course, that worked in the days of transistor radios but everything is digital now. Oh! It must be a closed session. . . .
You can just make out the eight sided UA tower on the right hand side of the picture. My office of seven years is in there. My window looks out the rear of the building, of course. But the backside of Crystal Gale’s building doesn’t provide a great view.
Hey, do you see that over there? Yeah, it two songwriters standing on the street corner with a sign that says, “Will Write for Food.” That is great! It is more productive than what that woman did a few weeks ago. Oh yeah. Can you believe that she was sitting on the corner down by the freeway with her two small children panhandling? She said that she was going to stay until she was discovered. I never did hear what happened to her.
Did you notice that the front of this building looks similar to the one a block across on 16th Avenue? With all that black glass for walls? The building on 16th was always considered cursed, and the street number of 666 didn’t make the workers too happy. Come to think of it, Kevin was gunned down just a few yards away. When you think of it, 16th avenue is cursed. More people than I could possibly count have dreamed and watch those dreams fade into nothing. It’s the fault of all those lawyers that head up the business now. What? You think I am cynical? Maybe you’re right. When I started in the business, I was a believer, a dreamer. Now, I am just realist. I’m thinking of changing to something different. I don’t know what. Maybe, a teacher? Just chalk it up to another Row casualty. Hey, I’m getting dry, and there’s a great themed bar downtown . . .
