RCA Studio B

RCA Studio B Preservation made possible through a partnership between the Mike Curb Family Foundation and The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
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The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum preserves and interprets Historic RCA Studio B as a legacy landmark in the rich history of popular music, in Nashville and the U.S. the museum makes Studio B accessible to the public through regular tours, educational programs, and events. Tours depart daily from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

In the mid-1960s, Waylon Jennings uprooted his life from Arizona to Nashville after Nashville label chief Chet Atkins, a...
01/22/2025

In the mid-1960s, Waylon Jennings uprooted his life from Arizona to Nashville after Nashville label chief Chet Atkins, at Bobby Bare’s urging, signed him to RCA. The Texas native had already put out one release on a small label, but this was a promotion to the big leagues.

During March 1965, Jennings and Atkins (as producer) were in Nashville’s RCA Studio B working on what would become the singer’s first album for the label, the 1966 release “Folk-Country.” Markedly different than the rough-edged, rebellious sound he would perfect years later, the album notably featured studio contributions from Jennings’s band members Jerry Gropp, Richie Albright, and Paul Foster—highly unusual considering that Atkins normally selected from Nashville’s top-tier studio musicians.

Though not a commercial blockbuster, “Folk-Country” included at least one enduring song that remained a staple of Jennings’s repertoire for years. “Stop the World (and Let Me Off),” a lament of romantic frustration that had been recorded by artists including Carl Belew, Patsy Cline, and Johnnie & Jack, received the Jennings treatment after he and the band worked up a live version. The recording has many of the smooth, sophisticated Nashville Sound trappings, but it’s beefed up with a shuffling rhythm and Jennings’s electric guitar.

The audacity of playing a guitar solo while Atkins observed certainly wasn’t lost on Jennings. “I looked over in the control room and realized ‘I’m playing guitar in front of Chet Atkins!’ So I just grabbed me a string and held on for dear life,” he recalled in his autobiography.

Jennings’s long tenure with RCA would bring him back to RCA Studio B many times over the years. Songs from those sessions include “(That’s What You Get) For Lovin’ Me” and “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” the 1968 single that foreshadowed his more individualistic work to come.

At the start of his recording career, Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride walked into RCA Studio B and took ...
01/15/2025

At the start of his recording career, Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride walked into RCA Studio B and took his place behind the same microphone once used by Elvis Presley.

“I rubbed the microphone, [and] I said, ‘Be good to me.’” he later recalled. “And I think it happened.”

It would be hard to disagree. From 1969 to 1983, Pride earned twenty-nine #1 country hits, and many of his earliest ones were recorded at Studio B. That includes 1971’s “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’,” which was released two weeks after Pride was named Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards. It won a Grammy for Best Country Song and became his signature song as well as the biggest crossover hit of his career. In 2024, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The song was written by veteran Music Row writer Ben Peters, who penned several hits for Pride as well as "Daytime Friends" for Kenny Rogers. The lyrics of "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" found Pride sharing his secret to happiness: “Kiss an angel good mornin’/ And let her know you think about her when you're gone.”

“When I got that [song], I couldn’t wait to get into the studio to do it,” he said. “I had no idea it would do what it did.”

01/09/2025

Due to inclement weather in the Nashville area—and out of concern for our staff and visitors—the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Hatch Show Print, Haley Gallery, and Historic RCA Studio B will be closed tomorrow, January 10. Please stay safe and warm, and check back here and at CountryMusicHallofFame.org for updates.

Elvis Presley celebrated his twenty-ninth birthday quietly at Graceland in Memphis on January 8, 1964. But four days lat...
01/08/2025

Elvis Presley celebrated his twenty-ninth birthday quietly at Graceland in Memphis on January 8, 1964. But four days later, he roared into the new year in style, showing up at RCA Studio B in Nashville on his motorcycle at 6:30 p.m. It was time for a session.

The first thing Elvis did when he walked in the studio was to send someone out for takeout food to feed himself and the assembled team of crack studio musicians. On hand were guitarists Grady Martin, Harold Bradley, and Scotty Moore; bassist Bob Moore; drummers D. J. Fontana and Buddy Harman; keyboard player Floyd Cramer; saxophone and vibraphone player Boots Randolph; and background vocalists Millie Kirkham and the Jordanaires.

They soon launched into a five-hour session during which Presley recorded three songs: a faithful, rocking rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis, Tennessee,” the passionate “It Hurts Me” (written by Joy Byers and Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Daniels), and an English language remake of an Italian hit, the airy ballad “Ask Me,” written by Domenico Modugno, who wrote the 1958 international hit “Volare.” Two out of the three tracks they cut became pop hits in 1964: “Ask Me” reached #12, and “It Hurts Me” peaked at #29.

1964 was a much bigger year for Elvis in Hollywood. He had three movies released that year: "Kissin’ Cousins," "Viva Las Vegas," and "Roustabout." Combined the movies grossed more than $16 million—worth about $158 million in today’s dollars. He was, after all, the King.

Elvis would not return to record at Studio B until February 1965. Between 1958 and 1977, he recorded more than 240 songs at the famed studio. (Pictured: Elvis on his Harley-Davidson with actor Nick Adams, 1956. Photo by Robert Dye.)

Preservation of Historic RCA Studio B is made possible through a partnership between the Mike Curb Family Foundation and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

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1611 Roy Acuff Place
Nashville, TN
37203

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