The Bottom Line
Nashville is known around the country and perhaps around the world as the home
of Music Row, the Grand Ole Opry, WSM Radio, and, in connection, country music itself. But
the story of how it came to be so is interesting, and is chronicled here with a clear, intriguing
storytelling style that makes history live. Where did it all start? How did it happen? And who
was responsible? It's all here, and it's vivid.
Pros
- Excellent writing
- Crisp, clear style
- Very well-researched.
Cons
- None.
Description
- Published by the Hal Leonard Corporation.
- Sixteen pages of historical pictures.
- Details the raw beginnings of nearly every recording studio that ever graced Music Row.
Guide Review - Michael Kosser - How Nashville Became Music City USA: 50 Years of Music Row
As a fan of history, I found it very easy to dive right in to Kosser's sharply-written tale of the waxing and waning of Nashville as Music City, USA. How it all started, with the beginnings of
WSM Radio in the 20's (it was not a country radio station at the time! The Opry was the only
country show broadcast then), to the arrival of big hitmaker Ernest Tubb to the city in the 40's,
which started the wheels of making Nashville, rather than Chicago and New York, the place to
make records.
Kosser details how a simple residential block turned into Music Row, starting in 1947 when Owen and Harold Bradley bought a house at 804 16th Avenue South. There, in Bradley Studios, magic was made. It was there every single Patsy Cline record was made. Others, such as Mel Tillis, Brenda Lee, Floyd Cramer, and Jack Greene, would record there. That was the beginnings.
Today 16th Avenue plays host to every genre of music, numerous studios, and many different labels. Names have changed, fads have come and gone, some doors have closed while others have opened, but in the end, those "boys who make the noise on 16th Avenue" are still making music. This book does a fine job of telling that great story.
