RCA Studio B, the building in front of you, is arguably the most important recording studio in country music history and the room where the Nashville Sound was created. Studio B opened in 1957 under the direction of producer and guitarist Chet Atkins, who was developing a recording approach that would transform country music's commercial fortunes. The Nashville Sound replaced the fiddles and steel guitars of classic country with lush string arrangements, smooth vocal backing groups, and a sophisticated pop sensibility that brought country into the mainstream American pop market.
The studios on Music Row were the factories of this sound, and Studio B was the preeminent factory. The list of recordings made here staggers: Elvis Presley's Are You Lonesome Tonight, Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman, Dolly Parton's early recordings, Waylon Jennings, Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins himself, and dozens of others. Ray Charles recorded Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music here in 1962, a crossover album that demonstrated the deep relationship between country and soul that the Nashville Sound had been developing.
The studio is now operated by the Country Music Hall of Fame as a museum and active recording space. The original equipment is preserved. The room sounds the same.