William Owen Bradley was an American musician, bandleader and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was a chief architect of the 1950s and 60s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.
28 Facts About Owen Bradley
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In 1947, Owen Bradley was hired by the head of Decca Records' country music division, Paul Cohen, to assist with recording sessions and later establish the label's operations in Nashville.
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In 1954, Owen Bradley established Owen Bradley Studios, later commonly known as the Quonset Hut Studio, which was the first music industry-related business in what is known as Music Row, and helping establish Nashville as a recording industry center.
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In 1958, Owen Bradley became vice president of Decca's Nashville division.
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Owen Bradley's work extended to producing records for artists like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, playing a key role in their career successes.
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Owen Bradley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974, reflecting his impact on the industry.
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Owen Bradley's contributions have been recognized with various honors, including the dedication of a public park and a bronze likeness in Nashville.
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Owen Bradley was born in Westmoreland, Tennessee and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Owen Bradley's father was Vernon Bradley, and his mother was Letha Maie Owen.
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In 1935 at the age of 20, Owen Bradley got a job at radio station WSM, home of the Grand Ole Opry, where he worked as a musician and arranger.
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That same year Owen Bradley co-wrote Roy Acuff's hit "Night Train to Memphis".
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In 1947, Owen Bradley was hired by the head of Decca Records' country music division, Paul Cohen.
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Owen Bradley worked as a music arranger and songwriter during the Castle Studio recording sessions of some of the biggest talents of the day, including Ernest Tubb, Burl Ives, Red Foley and Kitty Wells.
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Owen Bradley produced both Foley's 1950 hit "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" and Wells' 1952 hit "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", along with hits by Bill Monroe and Webb Pierce.
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Owen Bradley's studio was an instant success, recording hits by several Decca artists as well as hits for Capitol, Columbia, MGM, and other record labels.
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In 1958, Owen Bradley succeeded Cohen as head of Decca's Nashville division, and began pioneering what would become the "Nashville Sound".
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The singers Owen Bradley produced made unprecedented headway into radio, and artists such as Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Lenny Dee, and Conway Twitty became household names.
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Owen Bradley often tried to reinvent older country hitmakers; as previously mentioned, he tried to update Moon Mullican's sound and produced one of Moon's best performances "Early Morning Blues" where the blues and the Nashville sound complement each other surprisingly well.
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Owen Bradley sold The Quonset Hut Studio to Columbia Records and bought a farm outside of Nashville in Mount Juliet, Tennessee in 1961, converting a barn into a demo studio which he named Owen Bradley's Barn.
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The studio burned to the ground in 1980, but Owen Bradley rebuilt it within a few years in the same location.
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Owen Bradley was inducted in 1974 to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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Owen Bradley achieved the distinction of having produced records for more fellow Hall of Fame members than anyone else except Paul Cohen who produced nine.
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Owen Bradley retired from production in the early 1980s, but continued to work on selected projects.
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Owen Bradley Park is at the northern end of Music Row.
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Owen Bradley has a section of roadway named after him where Owen Bradley's Barn once stood in Mt.
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Owen Bradley was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum upon receiving the 2019 Producer Award.
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Jerry's wife, Connie Owen Bradley, worked with ASCAP's Nashville office for more than 30 years beginning in the mid-1970s, eventually as Senior Vice President.
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Jerry's son, Clay Owen Bradley, currently serves as the Vice President of Creative at BMI.