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A Day in the Life of Cash Cabin Studios
A few weeks ago, my partner in crime, John McEuen moved to Franklin Tennessee. He had been talking about getting back to the area for a couple of years. Because he is well known in Nashville, I encouraged the move thinking that opportunities that he had been missing would come his way. Sure enough, I got a call asking if I would like to come up to record at Cash Cabin Studios. John Carter Cash had heard that John was back in town and wanted to get him over to try a few things out. It took me two seconds to reply “YES!” So, on one of our recent beautiful Spring Tuesdays, I hopped in my car and drove up to Franklin. John wanted to record one of his new songs, one of my songs and an instrumental of his that we play live. As a side note, I had been neglecting my guitar for several months and was pretty rusty and apprehensive. We practiced Tuesday night for quite some time and my fingers were screaming at me. I knew the next day would be a challenge.
The next morning, we made our way from Franklin to Hendersonville through bad Nashville traffic and arrived at the Cash compound around 10 a.m. Walking through the trees and into the studio was like walking into a museum in a national park. The cabin had been Johnny Cash’s get away. It was a place where he could write and unwind. And even though Cash/Carter memorabilia was everywhere, it felt more like a home with family pictures and knick knacks. After he passed away, the family built on to the existing cabin and created the studio. Johnny’s grandson, Joe Carter Cash greeted us warmly and introduced us to the engineer, Trey, and the crew. I’ve been in a lot of recording studios in my day and the vibe of the crew and the room are extremely important. This was a very chill vibe and we both felt comfortable right away. Until… They started chatting about the day before when Margo Price, Marty Stuart and Kenny Vaughan had been in to shoot a video. I have known Kenny for forty years and he's been great for forty years. Marty and Kenny are two of Nashville’s finest players and knowing that I was basically “following” them in the room amped my anxiety to ten. Plus, we were tracking live. My fingers still ached and my 70+ year old brain was feeling every year. Of course, McEuen wanted to start with the instrumental. I would be playing solos in front of a crew of seasoned pros who have heard it all. Dang! We ran the tune a few times and the more we played, the more I loosened up. All the while, Trey and Joe Carter were offering enthusiastic comments. This is what professional studio engineers do. Having just recorded two of the best pickers in Nashville, they still managed to make us feel like we were killing it. I was relieved once we got a proper take.
During a break, Joe, figured out that I was a guitar nerd and asked me to come with him to the control room. He opened a door in the back and inside were stacks of guitar cases, old guitar cases. He pulled out a huge archtop case and lifted the guitar out. “This is Maybelle’s Stromberg, want to play it?” Yes, yes I do. After that, he found a very old Fender tweed case. When he opened it, I saw a 1952 Fender Esquire with a guitar strap that said “Luther Perkins”. As it turns out, it was the guitar that Luther played on all the Johnny Cash recordings beginning in the 50s. That’s cool. Just sayin’. We ended the session with the two songs where I basically played rhythm and sang. Right up my alley. A couple of run-throughs, four or five takes and we were done. The pressure was off. As we were packing up the crew ooh’d and ahh’d over my Collings OM 2H and my beat up 1970 D-18. McEuen was playing a 1933 OM28 and I don’t think anyone noticed. Crazy.
All in all, it was a great experience and I’m thinking about doing some of my new project up there. Unless it costs a fortune…
Postscript:
John Carter liked what we did and has asked us to come back with some new stuff. Neither of us is sure what it’s all about or where it’s headed (if anywhere) but, at our age, we’re up for any adventure.
John Cable 2021
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