Music fans and preservationists are on a celebratory mode because National Park Service added a part of the city's famed Music Row, Nashville's Studio-A, as one of the country's National Historic Places.
In a report by Curbed, the studio was said to have been built back in 1965 by Chet Atkins, when he was looking to record string parts for an Elvis gospel album. The studio underwent several renovations and was made spacious to accommodate larger groups.
Ben Folds reportedly rented the studio for a long time. Studio-A also once fit the entire Nashville Symphony under its roof. The Nashville studio has also hosted a lot of famed recording sessions by legends like Presley, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and the Beach Boys. Current country stars who have recorded in the studio include Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Miranda Lambert, Curbed reports.
The Studio-A still accommodates events unlike its sibling, Studio-B. The sibling studio has been closed since 1977, and was instead made as a tourist attraction. In the recent year, it was bought for $4 million by a developer who had planned on converting it into condos and a music-themed restaurant.
Folds, who still wants to preserve the Studio-B, made an open letter bemoaning the fate of the building which sparked a campaign to preserve the studio. The campaign became successful, thanks to philanthropist and preservationist Aubrey Preston, who made a successful offer to buy the studio for $5.6 million. He teamed up with Curb Records founder Mike Curb and Tennessee philanthropist Chuck Elcan to make the preservation possible, reports Curbed.
Curb, known to be a preservationist on Nashville's Music Row, has saved not only Studio B, but Columbia Studio A and the Quonset Hut as well. He also plans to make a new music tourism initiative called the Americana Music Triangle, while preserving the studio's original purpose.
According to the report given by the Biz Journals, the official listing of the Studio A as one of the National Historic Places was on July 21.