Post by fogcitygal on May 7, 2006 4:26:54 GMT -5
In addition to making videos and appearing on CMT, many of us have been wondering what Alison has been up to since the band stopped touring. The following article not only answers that question in part, it also addresses what she and other women in Nashville have to deal with to be recognized and respected as record producers.
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The Tennessean
Sunday, 05/07/06
Women make inroads into realm of record production
Veteran artists step up from calling their own shots to steering creative process for others
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Lari White just produced a Toby Keith album called White Trash With Money. It has sold more than 400,000 copies in less than a month and is expected to spawn several country radio hits.
And that shouldn't be all that surprising a deal. Keith is, after all, among country's biggest stars. He had the most-played country radio song of the 1990s with "Should've Been a Cowboy," he's been a well-known commercial commodity in the new century and he's well known for his ability to win fans with attitude-laden, "love-me-or-loathe-me" recordings.
But the whole thing is surprising, not so much because of Keith's popularity and longevity, and not solely because this is Keith's first release on his own record label.
The whole thing is most surprising because of the gender of the producer.
Women, it seems, don't normally produce hit albums for male country artists.
In fact, until this new Toby Keith song-set, a woman has never produced a hit album for a contemporary country superstar male artist. The person who oversees the recording process, determines which musicians will play, guides the superstar country artist through the sessions and in the end reaps a chunk of the sales proceeds has never, until White, been a woman.
A position that requires no brute strength and is most capably handled by people with good interpersonal skills, advanced listening abilities and broad musical knowledge, "producer" would not seem to be a job that would be the near sole domain of men.
"It's odd that it's odd for a woman to do this, isn't it?" White mused. "In all kinds of professions, though, women are still playing catch-up, and it's probably going to take many more years."
The Jackie Robinson of Music City female producers is Gail Davies, who kicked down Music Row doors in 1979 by producing her own The Game album, which was released in 1980. Before that, Davies fought battle after battle in trying to assert herself in the studio with male producers and musicians.
"I met with unbelievable opposition," she said. "They treated me like (expletive). Men have changed tremendously in country music in the last 30 years, and even then there were some men who were very supportive of what I was trying to do. But it's like (California session bass player) Leland Sklar said once, 'When Gail Davies came to Nashville, women were still barefoot, pregnant and in the vocal booth.' "
Not that country is much less inclusive than pop, rock or R&B, though the sheer volume of output in those genres has helped at least some women wind up with production credit.
In the 1980s and 1990s, several Nashville women followed Davies' cue. Wendy Waldman produced music for New Grass Revival, Suzy Bogguss and others, Pam Tillis produced her own work, and the Nashville duo of Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose produced their records for Sting's Pangaea Records.
With the exception of Waldman, though, women who produced almost always did so only for their own albums. Davies' 1990s efforts as country's first female staff producer (meaning she worked for the label to produce other artists) at Jimmy Bowen's Liberty label were more frustrating than fruitful. She claims she was squashed by Bowen, who she said assigned her to record demos for newbie acts in an effort to "see whether they were ready to make albums."
"So many aspects of this business are just seen as male," said Martina McBride, who produced her most recent album, Timeless. "I don't know why that is. I just feel like it's automatically thought of as a male position. I think even when women do produce their own albums, some people think, 'Yeah right, she just put her name on it and there was a man there who did all the work.' "
White, Davies, Rose, hit songwriter/would-be producer Victoria Shaw and much-celebrated producer Buddy Cannon (he's the chief on Kenny Chesney's multi-million-selling albums) cited numerous factors that have hindered the number of women in the position.
Lack of female role models, the still-short history of women producers in Nashville and the glaring lack of any female record label heads in town are three points that were brought up repeatedly in conversation. Label leaders are often quite active as producers on their labels and for artists on other labels. Paul Worley, Tony Brown, Luke Lewis and James Stroud are among Music Row kingpins who guide companies and who produce artists, and these men have no female corporate peers in Nashville. So those slots are filled, and other producers aren't likely to freely cede ground.
"I remember when I was wanting to break into production: It's such a protected job," Cannon said. "Other producers don't want to let anybody new in, not just women. They're afraid for their job security."
Rose, who owns her own recording studio and who has written hit songs for McBride, Restless Heart and others, is hoping White's work with Keith will contribute to a change in the atmosphere.
"Toby is a secure artist and a secure man, obviously, and he's in a position to say creatively, 'This is who I think I'll make the best music with.' Every one of the guys who is a top producer had to be given a chance at some point. Maybe it's time now that some of the people given that first chance are women, if they're talented enough and capable enough."
Another hit songwriter, Victoria Shaw, is also seeking an opportunity to produce a major artist.
"I don't waste my time moaning about how it's so much harder for a woman, but it is a fact that when you look at the country charts, until this Toby album, you don't often see women producers listed there. Now that Lari has made history, it's going to open doors for everybody. It took a brave man, and Toby is a brave chance-taker. I think he'll go down in history as someone who really changed things."
Another country superstar will soon join what is now Keith's one-member club: Alan Jackson has lately been in the studio working on sessions produced by acoustic music luminary Alison Krauss.
"Things are better now," said Davies, who in 2002 produced each of the 21 tracks on Caught in the Webb, a tribute to Webb Pierce that featured Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam among many others. "And I think there'll be girls coming up who are going to want to do this. I lectured at a couple of colleges and talked to roomfuls of kids about production. I told the girls, 'If you want to produce, you don't have to learn how to do everything. You have to learn how to know who works together well and how to put things together.'"
For her part, White has been answering questions from journalists, friends and others about her groundbreaking role in Keith's album. She has yet to tire of the queries.
"I'm happy to talk about it to help continue the motion of women in this world," she said. "The more we can get it out there and open people's minds to it, the more natural it will become." •
Peter Cooper writes about music for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 259-8220 or by e-mail at pcooper@tennessean.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------
To see the pictures from the article or to read the original article, go to:
www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060507/ENTERTAINMENT01/605070319/1419/ENTERTAINMENT50
---------------------------------------------
The Tennessean
Sunday, 05/07/06
Women make inroads into realm of record production
Veteran artists step up from calling their own shots to steering creative process for others
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Lari White just produced a Toby Keith album called White Trash With Money. It has sold more than 400,000 copies in less than a month and is expected to spawn several country radio hits.
And that shouldn't be all that surprising a deal. Keith is, after all, among country's biggest stars. He had the most-played country radio song of the 1990s with "Should've Been a Cowboy," he's been a well-known commercial commodity in the new century and he's well known for his ability to win fans with attitude-laden, "love-me-or-loathe-me" recordings.
But the whole thing is surprising, not so much because of Keith's popularity and longevity, and not solely because this is Keith's first release on his own record label.
The whole thing is most surprising because of the gender of the producer.
Women, it seems, don't normally produce hit albums for male country artists.
In fact, until this new Toby Keith song-set, a woman has never produced a hit album for a contemporary country superstar male artist. The person who oversees the recording process, determines which musicians will play, guides the superstar country artist through the sessions and in the end reaps a chunk of the sales proceeds has never, until White, been a woman.
A position that requires no brute strength and is most capably handled by people with good interpersonal skills, advanced listening abilities and broad musical knowledge, "producer" would not seem to be a job that would be the near sole domain of men.
"It's odd that it's odd for a woman to do this, isn't it?" White mused. "In all kinds of professions, though, women are still playing catch-up, and it's probably going to take many more years."
The Jackie Robinson of Music City female producers is Gail Davies, who kicked down Music Row doors in 1979 by producing her own The Game album, which was released in 1980. Before that, Davies fought battle after battle in trying to assert herself in the studio with male producers and musicians.
"I met with unbelievable opposition," she said. "They treated me like (expletive). Men have changed tremendously in country music in the last 30 years, and even then there were some men who were very supportive of what I was trying to do. But it's like (California session bass player) Leland Sklar said once, 'When Gail Davies came to Nashville, women were still barefoot, pregnant and in the vocal booth.' "
Not that country is much less inclusive than pop, rock or R&B, though the sheer volume of output in those genres has helped at least some women wind up with production credit.
In the 1980s and 1990s, several Nashville women followed Davies' cue. Wendy Waldman produced music for New Grass Revival, Suzy Bogguss and others, Pam Tillis produced her own work, and the Nashville duo of Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose produced their records for Sting's Pangaea Records.
With the exception of Waldman, though, women who produced almost always did so only for their own albums. Davies' 1990s efforts as country's first female staff producer (meaning she worked for the label to produce other artists) at Jimmy Bowen's Liberty label were more frustrating than fruitful. She claims she was squashed by Bowen, who she said assigned her to record demos for newbie acts in an effort to "see whether they were ready to make albums."
"So many aspects of this business are just seen as male," said Martina McBride, who produced her most recent album, Timeless. "I don't know why that is. I just feel like it's automatically thought of as a male position. I think even when women do produce their own albums, some people think, 'Yeah right, she just put her name on it and there was a man there who did all the work.' "
White, Davies, Rose, hit songwriter/would-be producer Victoria Shaw and much-celebrated producer Buddy Cannon (he's the chief on Kenny Chesney's multi-million-selling albums) cited numerous factors that have hindered the number of women in the position.
Lack of female role models, the still-short history of women producers in Nashville and the glaring lack of any female record label heads in town are three points that were brought up repeatedly in conversation. Label leaders are often quite active as producers on their labels and for artists on other labels. Paul Worley, Tony Brown, Luke Lewis and James Stroud are among Music Row kingpins who guide companies and who produce artists, and these men have no female corporate peers in Nashville. So those slots are filled, and other producers aren't likely to freely cede ground.
"I remember when I was wanting to break into production: It's such a protected job," Cannon said. "Other producers don't want to let anybody new in, not just women. They're afraid for their job security."
Rose, who owns her own recording studio and who has written hit songs for McBride, Restless Heart and others, is hoping White's work with Keith will contribute to a change in the atmosphere.
"Toby is a secure artist and a secure man, obviously, and he's in a position to say creatively, 'This is who I think I'll make the best music with.' Every one of the guys who is a top producer had to be given a chance at some point. Maybe it's time now that some of the people given that first chance are women, if they're talented enough and capable enough."
Another hit songwriter, Victoria Shaw, is also seeking an opportunity to produce a major artist.
"I don't waste my time moaning about how it's so much harder for a woman, but it is a fact that when you look at the country charts, until this Toby album, you don't often see women producers listed there. Now that Lari has made history, it's going to open doors for everybody. It took a brave man, and Toby is a brave chance-taker. I think he'll go down in history as someone who really changed things."
Another country superstar will soon join what is now Keith's one-member club: Alan Jackson has lately been in the studio working on sessions produced by acoustic music luminary Alison Krauss.
"Things are better now," said Davies, who in 2002 produced each of the 21 tracks on Caught in the Webb, a tribute to Webb Pierce that featured Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam among many others. "And I think there'll be girls coming up who are going to want to do this. I lectured at a couple of colleges and talked to roomfuls of kids about production. I told the girls, 'If you want to produce, you don't have to learn how to do everything. You have to learn how to know who works together well and how to put things together.'"
For her part, White has been answering questions from journalists, friends and others about her groundbreaking role in Keith's album. She has yet to tire of the queries.
"I'm happy to talk about it to help continue the motion of women in this world," she said. "The more we can get it out there and open people's minds to it, the more natural it will become." •
Peter Cooper writes about music for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 259-8220 or by e-mail at pcooper@tennessean.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------
To see the pictures from the article or to read the original article, go to:
www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060507/ENTERTAINMENT01/605070319/1419/ENTERTAINMENT50
