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ifty years ago in Nashville, the RCA Victor buildings known now as “Studio A” and “Studio B” ushered in a new era for Nashville’s music industry, bringing state-of-the-art technology to Music Row and making Music City USA a worldwide brand in just a few years’ time. Today, this important piece of American music history continues to operate under the looming threat of demolition, despite being widely considered by historians to be the most important music history site on Nashville’s famous Music Row.
These few acres were once the center of the city’s creative music scene, home to an informal “producers’ alley” where Chet Atkins, Cowboy Jack Clement, Bob Ferguson and others kept offices. It was on this site that songwriters and publishers once pitched and discussed the songs that would not only be recorded by major artists, but make country music history worldwide.
Expanded in 1964 to become one of the premier sound engineering marvels of its time, the complex provided space to record a 100-piece orchestra, creating a unique acoustic environment that even today exists in only a handful of recording studios in the world. From Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and Charley Pride to Nancy Sinatra, Perry Como and Al Hirt, the depth of music history that can be traced back to the RCA Victor Nashville Studios is astounding.