© Cody McCain
Mississippi natives The Mountainous started tracking their debut album in Studio B with Calvin Lauber engineering. Studio B is home to an SSL 6000. Featured on the session was the Super Reverb, JCM900, AKG414s, and Sennheiser 421s.
More news coming soon...
© Cody McCain
© Cody McCain
© Cody McCain
© Cody McCain
© Cody McCain
Big congrats to Phoenix artist Cait Brennan on her upcoming release on Omnivore Recordings.
Studio A: Jody Stephens, Fernando Perdomo, Adam Hill, and Cait Brennan
The album was tracked in Studio A with engineer Adam Hill. Cait's musical partner in crime Fernando Perdomo co-produced the record with Cait and played many instruments - including Chris Bell's cherry red Gibson ES-330. Also featured are Van Duren and Robert Mache.
Cait Brennan with Chris Bell's guitar
Fernando Perdomo and Van Duren
The first single from LOW CUT CONNIE's new album Dirty Pictures (Part 1) it now out! Take a look and listen to "Revolution Rock n Roll". The track (and forthcoming album) were tracked and mixed in Studio C by Adam Hill, Dave Chale, and LCC frontman Adam Weiner.
The album will be released in May on Contender Records. Pre-order here.
(Front row) Luther Dickinson, Mary Lindsay Dickinson, Carol Baker, Jimmy Crosthwait, Cody Dickinson (Middle row) Adam Hill, Paul Taylor, Steve Selvidge (Back Row) Ben Baker, Luke White
All photos ©Andrew McNeill
The first single from ZESHAN BAGEWADI's new album Vetted is now out! Take a look and listen to his cover of "Cryin' in the Streets", originally recorded by George Perkins & The Silver Stars in 1970. Vetted was tracked in Studio C, with Adam Hill engineering, Lester Snell producing, and Stax Records wrecking crew as sidemen.
Zeshan's debut solo album will be released on Chicago label MINTY FRESH. Get the single here.
Studio B | Amy Black ©AddisonHare
Studio B | Studer Tape Machine ©AddisonHare
Last week Americana soul singer-songwriter Amy Black brought her new album to Studio B to be mixed by Adam Hill and Grammy nominated Scott Bomar. The album titled "Memphis" was tracked at Scott's Electraphonic Recording Studio and features a host of legendary Memphis session players, with Scott engineering and producing. Amy brought the project over to Ardent to be mixed by Adam Hill using our 8 Track Studer Tape Machine.
Memphis will be released June 2nd.
Studio B | Amy Black, Scott Bomar, Adam Hill ©Addison Hare
Studio B | Adam Hill ©AddisonHare
Studio B | Adam Hill ©AddisonHare
Studio B | Amy Black ©AddisonHare
This week Jackson, MS natives The Weeks announced their third album Easy that they tracked at Ardent in September 2015.
Currently based in Nashville, the band hooked up with engineer/producer Paul Ebersold who ultimately brought the project to Memphis. It was great having Paul back in the building, as he had been a permanent fixture in the studios for a number of years. They tracked in Studio A with Paul producing and Josh St. Moblo engineering.
Easy will be released April 7, 2017 on Lightning Rod Records. You can pre-order here.
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Studio A | Jody Stephens, Cain Barnes, Paul Ebersold, Cyle Barnes, Damian Bone, Sam Williams, and Josh St. Moblo
Studio A | Victor Wainwright ©LisaMac
Studio A | Victor Wainwright ©LisaMac
This week Studio A was taken over by Blues Music Awards winner Victor Wainwright!
Victor and his WildRoots band featuring Pat Harrington, Terry Grayson, and Billy Dean tracked with engineer Mike Wilson and producer/engineer Dave Gross.
Studio A | Dave Gross, Victor Wainwright, Mike Wilson, and Billy Dean ©LisaMac
Studio A | Background vocals: Pat Herrington, Billy Dean, Terry Grayson
Studio A - Mike Wilson (engineer) and Victor Wainwright
Studio A | Billy Dean ©LisaMac
Studio A | Pat Herrington ©LisaMac
Studio A: Pat Harrington, Terry Grayson, Mike Wilson (engineer), Victor Wainwright, Dave Gross (producer/engineer), Billy Dean
Studio A - Julien Baker with engineer Calvin Lauber
This week we had the pleasure of having Julien Baker take up residence in Studio A! The native Memphian recently signed to indie label Matador Records. Featured on the record were musicians Matthew Gilliam, Camille Faulkner, and Cameron Boucher. The tracking session took place in Studio A with Ardent's Calvin Lauber at the board.
Studio A - Julien Baker
Studio A: Robby Morris (Matador A&R), Calvin Lauber (engineer), Jody Stephens, Julien Baker, Sean Rhorer (manager, Brixton Agency) and Ryan Wiley (Ardent's General Manager)
GRAMMY Nominated blues musician Cedric Burnside was in Studio B this week tracking for his new album. Mike Wilson and Adam Hill engineered the session. Brian Jay (The Pimps of Joytime) played drums, piano, and guitar. The session was filmed by Alexander Koffler with Koffler Pictures for an upcoming documentary titled Born With It. He was also recently nominated for Drummer of the Year by the Blues Foundation for the 2017 Blues Music Awards. The awards will be presented in May in Downtown Memphis. For more info: BMAs.
Cedric was previously in the studio back in September, filming for the BBC series Great American Railroad Journeys. The episode will be released soon, check back!
Studio B: Cedric Burnside
Studio B: Mike Wilson (engineer), Cedric Burnside, Mona Ables, Brian Jay, and Adam Hill (engineer). ©AlexanderKoffler
Studio A - Cedric Burnside and Brian Jay ©Alexander Koffler
Studio A | Brian Jay ©AlexanderKoffler
Studio B - Brian Jay ©Alexander Koffler
Studio B | Cedric Burnside ©AlexanderKoffler
Studio B - Mike Wilson | ©AlexanderKoffler
Studio B | Cedric Burnside with the BBC crew for Great American Railway Journeys ©AlexanderKoffler
For more photos from Cedric's session, check out @KofflerPics on Instagram!
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Low Cut Connie - Larry Sconton, Adam Weiner, Lucas Rinz, James Everhart, and Will Donnelly. © George Murphy
Low Cut Connie is back in Studio C finishing up the mix on their next album! Adam Hill has been working on engineering the next LCC record with frontman Adam Weiner and producer Dave Chale. For this leg of mixing, supreme vocalists Reba Russell and Vicki Loveland stopped by to add background vocals to a track.
LCC spent time last Summer tracking the album in Studio C. Take a look at those session photos below. The new album from LCC will be released in May. Look for their first single in February!
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Studio C | Will Donnelley, Adam Weiner, Adam Hill (engineer), Dave Chale (producer)
Studio C | Adam Weiner, Reba Russell, Vicki Loveland, Adam Hill, Dave Chale, and Will Donnelly
© George Murphy
© George Murphy
© George Murphy
© George Murphy
© George Murphy
© George Murphy
Studio A | Switchfoot ©ChrisTownsend
Recently after a concert at Minglewood Hall, the guys in Switchfoot headed down to Ardent after hours for a session. The tracking took place in Studio A with engineer Mike Wilson. It was great to have Drew Shirley back in the building after his days with All Together Separate! ATS recorded 3 albums at Ardent, so it was a bit of a homecoming for Drew.
Enjoy these images from the session taken by Switchfoot's tour photographer Chris Townsend.
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Studio A - Jon Foreman of Switchfoot @ChrisTownsend
Studio A | Switchfoot ©ChrisTownsend
Studio A | Jerome Fontamillas using the mellotron from Big Star records ©ChrisTownsend
Studio A | Drew Shirley ©ChrisTownsend
Studio A | L-R: Jerome Fontamillas, Drew Shirley, Andrew McNeill (assistant), Mike Wilson (engineer), Chad Butler, Tim Foreman, Ryan Wiley (General manager), and Jon Foreman ©ChrisTownsend
Studio C | Freeworld with engineer Adam Hill
Studio C | Richard Cushing ©DannyDay
Studio C | Richard Cushing, Chris Stephenson ©DannyDay
Studio C | Chris Stephenson, Andy Tate ©DannyDay
Studio C | Peter Climie ©DannyDay
Studio C | Andy Tate ©DannyDay
Studio C | Greg Lundy ©DannyDay
Studio C | ©DannyDay
Studio C | Jody Stephens guest drumming on a track ©DannyDay
Studio C | Zeshan Bagewadi ©AntarHanif
“The album is a wide array of tempestuous soul arias, sentimental ballads, urban love dramas, Memphis blues, upbeat existentialism and last but certainly not least, a civil rights anthem.”
Starting at the beginning of this year and continuing every few months, Chicago native Zeshan Bagewadi traveled down to Ardent to track and mix his latest project. Having grown up being exposed to Indo-Pakistani and Stax-era soul music, Zeshan's musical background is excellently reflected in this new album. Zeshan called upon Stax Records legend Lester Snell to produce and assemble the players, Memphis' own wrecking crew.
The album will be released on Chicago label Minty Fresh in April 2017. Stay tuned for updates!
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Studio C | Lester Snell and Zeshan ©AntarHanif
Studio C | Adam Hill, Kirk Smothers, Kameron Whalum, Scott Thompson ©AntarHanif
Studio C | Zeshan ©AntarHanif
Studio C | Zeshan with Spencer Wiggins
Studio C | Lester Snell, Zeshan, Kameron Whalum, Kirk Smothers ©AntarHanif
Studio C | Zeshan
Studio C | Deer Tick with photographer Laura Partain
Alt rockers DEER TICK camped out in Studio A for a week in August to start tracking on their next album. They'll be returning again later this month and move to Studio C. Engineering the session is Adam Hill with Adam Landry producing. Adam Hill will also be mixing once all tracking is complete.
Stay tuned!
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Studio A | Deer Tick
Studio A | Ian O'Neil
Studio A | Ian O'Neil and Zeke Hutchins (manager)
Studio A | John McCauley (seated) with Ian O'Neil