Nashville had great representation at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in New York City on Sunday, and the music that took home 5 awards was recorded at Studio A in Nashville, the historic RCA studio that was almost torn down and replaced with luxury condos.
Chris Stapleton won three Grammy Awards for work from his album "From A Room: Volume 1" which he recorded in the studio with Dave Cobb, and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit won two Grammy Awards for the work on their album "The Nashville Sound", also recorded with Dave Cobb at Studio A.
Stapleton and Isbell started using the studio as their recording venue of choice after Aubrey Preston, Chuck Elcan, and Mike Curb stepped up to save the studio, which has produced everyone from Dolly Parton to Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
"Nashville is full of unique places, and this is one of the most important ones," Brenda Colladay, a historian for Studio A, said. "It's the last RCA Studio like this that's still functioning. It's still serving it's purpose, and there's no greater thing for a historic building than to continue to serve it's original purpose and do so at it's highest level like this one does."
For Aubrey Preston, seeing Stapleton, Isbell, and Cobb be so successful at the awards brings him a lot of pride and joy, as well as hope for the future.
"That does a lot and will do a tremendous amount to help insure that this building is never at risk again," Preston said. "I don't think that anybody could have ever imagined that five Grammys would come from last night from that work that they're doing here."
When the studio was first saved, Stapleton, Isbell, and Cobb were responsible for winning the first two Grammy Awards under the new ownership, and this year, the five they garnered continues to bring wonderful history to the recording studio.
"The cool thing is, Dave (Cobb) tells me we're just getting started, so who knows where that goes," Preston said.
The studio is still used on a daily basis, with most of the sessions being produced by Cobb. Most recently, Amanda Shires has been using the studio and working with Cobb on her most recent project.
