The Truth According to Ruthie Foster Nominated for Grammy
December 9, 2009 by Daniel J Russo
Filed under Ardent Studios, Artist Spotlight, Featured, In The Studio
You may remember our post from some time last year about a great artist that graced us with her presence here at Ardent – Ms. Ruthie Foster. Ruthie, along with producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Aaron Neville) engineer Jimmy Hoyson (James Taylor, CSNY, Ozzy Osbourne), assistant Jason Gillespie and a host of great musicians (Robben Ford, Jim Dickinson, Charles Hodges, etc) spent several days tracking the songs that would become Ruthie’s sophomore effort, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster.
We are more than proud to announce that The Truth According to Ruthie Foster has been nominated for this year’s GRAMMY awards in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album. From Jason Gillespie’s account of the session:
“Grammy Nominations. They are something that we all think about and hope for in the recording industry. To be apart of a record that actually gets a nomination is a dream come true. The Truth According to Ruthie Foster was recorded in Studio A here at Ardent Studios. One of the most memorable parts of this record was the massive setup that was involved. Jimmy Hoyson (the head engineer on the record) and Chris Goldsmith (Producer) both wanted to get a natural live performance to accentuate the honesty and ‘bare-bones’ style that Ruthie’s songs were begging for. Utilizing almost 36 input tracks into the Neve VR-60 console, we were ready to track drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals and an assortment of keys all during the live tracking process. It was one of the largest live tracking sessions that I have worked on to date. However, all of this setup work would have been for naught if it wasn’t for the stellar team of musicians that Chris and Jimmy put together for Ruthie’s band. With Rock Deadrick and Larry Fulcher holding down the rhythm section, they called in the legendary Robben Ford to handle all of the electric guitar work while Ruthie herself strummed out the acoustic parts. Another secret weapon was Memphis’ own Jim Dickinson playing a majority of the keys on the record. It was the types of players that a recording engineer dreams of having on the other side of the glass. Vibe was everything.”
For more information on Ruthie and this record, check out her Web site here.
In the picture, L to R: Bassist Lary Fulcher, Jim Dickinson, producer Chris Goldsmith, engineer Jimmy Hoyson, Ruthie Foster, drummer Rock Deadrick, guitarist Robben Ford, and assistant engineer Jason Gillespie.
