Carolina Story Premieres New Song “Hotel Memphis” @folkalliance

02/27/2012 By

We had so much fun watching our friends in Carolina Story perform this past week at Folk Alliance International that we ended up seeing them play three showcases – the most we saw of anyone else that played. The Nashville based duo was originally formed in Memphis while Emily and Ben were attending Visible School. After graduation they decided to get married and move to Nashville.

We invited them last year to come to Ardent to record an episode of The Warm Up. They ended up touring quite extensively with Star & Micey and this song, by Nick Redmond, was a direct result of that partnership. Look for it on an upcoming vinyl 7 inch along with their song “Gold” later this year.

Carolina Story‘s unique style of Folk music is derived from the dynamic of a married couple creating it. Their blended harmonies backed by guitar, harmonica and suitcase percussion create a sound that is solely their own. Their songwriting is based on their personal experience together on the road.

Filed Under: Exclusives Tagged With: , , , ,

Locals Only: Landon Moore Listens to Star & Micey

01/20/2012 By


The first time I heard my favorite Memphis band, Star & Micey, I wasn’t even in Memphis.

Home for me at the time was Charleston, SC, where I lived for about 11 months. I saw a link on facebook to download three free songs from their first Ardent Music release. I downloaded the trio song pack and took a listen.

The first song I heard entitled “So Much Pain” made me do a double take. “Wait, this band is from Memphis?” I checked the track in iTunes to make sure I hadn’t accidentally played another band’s song. I can’t explain how much I loved this song.

I loved the other two songs, but I couldn’t stop listening to “So Much Pain,” which features Luther Dickinson on slide guitar. Four months later I found myself back in Memphis trying to become a regular fixture at Ardent Studios. I met Josh Cosby, Nick Redmond and Geoff Smith and immediately found their music, which is fun, honest, quirky and serious at the same time, was nothing compared to guys themselves.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Locals Only Tagged With: , , , , ,

Voting is Open for Ardent’s Studio C Video Submission Contest!

12/01/2011 By

Back in September we asked musicians to submit a video to win two free days of recording time in our newly renovated Studio C and now it’s time for you to help us judge and decide a winner!

Studio C has been totally remodeled, and now features a state-of-the-art Duality console from Solid State Logic. You can check out all of the details about the new Studio C here.

Submission Guidelines: Musicians were asked to submit a video of 60 seconds or less describing their music and why Ardent and the newly renovated Studio C are the perfect place for them to record. We’ve narrowed the entries down the best based on:

1) Music – How they sound! We want the best of the best to win this studio time, so we asked them to prove it to us!

2) Desire and reason to record in the new Studio C – We asked the musicians to tell us why they think they deserve to be one of the first people to record in the new Studio C.

3) Creativity – We asked musicians to get goofy, get serious, get artsy fartsy.. anything goes (…almost anything…), but show us how creative they can be!

And without further ado – in no particular order – here are the finalists~! After you watch each video you will find a link to vote!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Exclusives Tagged With: , , , ,

Ardent Presents: Anthony Da Costa

04/05/2011 By
Ardent Presents: Anthony da Costa [ 28:24 | 26 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When I stepped out of my $20 cab ride from the airport onto the sidewalk before Ardent Studios, what lay before me was truly a sight for sore eyes. I hadn’t slept the night before. It isn’t unusual for me to be up all hours of the night doing something (though sometimes nothing at all). However, on the eve of the Folk Alliance International conference, there was no way I would get any sleep.

I had been up all night packing, printing showcase fliers, and burning album samplers, all while having a US Foreign Relations paper due the next morning. My girlfriend, being the sweetheart she is, had been up all night with me, repacking my poorly packed bag and placing stickers on CDRs. I had a 6:45am flight out of La Guardia Airport that I absolutely could not miss. I was exhausted.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Ardent Presents Podcast Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Ardent Sessions with Rainy Day Manual

03/09/2011 By

For years it was just the building across from the little shop with the great gyros.

It’s funny how perspective can drastically change even though our surroundings don’t change much at all. As my musical talents and tastes grew so grew the way I looked at the brick building that housed Ardent Studios. I spent a long time looking in from the outside as a musician in Memphis, but as our band grew and as our sound melded I found myself bumping into Ardent a little more each year. I remember seeing Jason Gillespie at one of our shows in November of 2006. I could tell there was something about that guy but it was until a full two years later that the seed was germinated. I suppose things that are meant to be will stick around one another without always understanding why.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: The Ardent Sessions Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Ardent Sessions with Colour Revolt

02/01/2011 By

Thinking back on recording our Ardent Session with the Colour Revolt, it really sunk in to me how incredible it is that there is a place as successful and still happening as Ardent that is willing to do something as modern as the Ardent Sessions.  I have had the pleasure of playing three Ardent Sessions, first with Antenna Shoes then later with Jeffrey James and the Haul, both Memphis based bands, and most recently with the Colour Revolt, whose members are scattered across the mid south.  

When I heard that the Colour Revolt were going to be able to do an Ardent Session, I started gushing to all the guys in the band about how incredible a studio Ardent is and how much fun it is getting to walk around and just look at all the incredible recording gear not to mention albums and artists that have all come through those halls doing exactly what we’ve come there to do.  It might have been that we had been on the road for nearly three months, but I definitely felt proud to be able to share the experience with some musicians I respect and that I know also appreciate what Ardent has to offer.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: The Ardent Sessions Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ardent Presents: Valerie June

01/14/2011 By

Pleasantly sitting before a hot cup of coffee, I allow my mind to venture back to the first day I set foot in Ardent Studios.  The profound reputation of the musical genius that has been captured at Ardent was present in my mind, but even more so was the role Ardent played in nurturing young and talented artist in the Memphis community by offering recording services in exchange for live shows at the studio’s many events throughout the year. 

I was lucky enough to be one of the local musicians who was welcomed at Ardent Studios by Elizabeth Montgomery Brown to provide the entertainment for one of those fine and fabulous events.  I had been on tour and returned home to Memphis to find that Hurricane Elvis, a storm of A-line winds, had torn across the Midtown area destroying several homes.  Brilliant minds gathered together after the disaster to hold a benefit show for the victims of the storm.  I performed and in exchange for my performance a year later I decide to use the full day of studio time Ardent had given to me to record with my former band, Bella Sun.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Ardent Presents Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Ardent Sessions with Jamie Randolph and the Darkhorse

10/15/2010 By

Ardent Studios is a time capsule thousands of miles below the earth’s surface…or at least that’s the way it feels every time I have the privilege of walking through the door. I love everything about it. The smell (which they should bottle and sell in both spray and rear view mirror hanging formats) the random echoing conversations you catch the beginning, middle, or end of that make you stop walking and pause for brief reflection on what was just said, the ridiculousness that is the way that on any given day some super famous person is just roaming the halls.

And that’s all before you start setting up your gear because you’ve gotten the magical phone call from Rachel Hurley that you are scheduled to play The Ardent Sessions!

We setup in studio C, which is my personal favorite of the 3 studios at Ardent. It’s the furthest away from the “hubbub.” For being a decade Memphis music person with mixed reviews, to be able to be on sacred ground with the ghosts of greatness all in the name of rock ‘n’ roll, is pretty f@#$*&% cool. We had a wonderful turnout of close friends, family, and fans that thought they were at a different band’s session…ha.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: The Ardent Sessions Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Ardent Sessions with Big Smith

07/09/2010 By

Last year my band Big Smith had the amazing experience of meeting John Fry, Rachel Hurley, and the gang at Ardent Studios. We loved seeing our buddy Pete Mathews nestled in his array of monitors and consoles, learning about the amazing success of the Soulsville Charter School, and being moved and inspired by our tour of the Stax museum, as well as the work and legacy of Ardent. I’ve written about this once in a lifetime experience at Ardent elsewhere in more depth.

Of the old Boston Garden, it was often said that when opposing teams played there, they not only played the Boston teams; they also had to play “the ghosts” living in the rafters: the specter of past Boston teams: their legend and their victories. At Ardent, it might be said that when you play there, you not only get to play with your band, you get to play with the ghosts. The legacy of great music is everywhere apparent at Ardent, from the gold and platinum records hanging on the walls, to the album covers and photographs, to the equipment. Holy mackerel, the equipment! A 2-inch tape machine is a great, lovely beastie under any circumstance, but when it has played a role in producing legendary music…well, these things ought to be preserved as monuments—preferably working monuments on which my bandmates and I get to record.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: The Ardent Sessions Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ardent Presents: Amy Speace

05/14/2010 By

Memphis 2009. I was in town from my then-hometown of Jersey City for the North American Folk Alliance Conference, a three day extravaganza of acoustic music, showcases and meetings and panels and workshops and late night (or early morning, depending on your perspective) hallway and stairwell jams. I was invited to Ardent Studios to play an acoustic set they would record for their “Ardent Presents” series. Having been confined to a hotel for days, it was nice to get outside, out into the bright Memphis sunshine and take a “field trip.”

I was definitely sleep-deprived, at 2am the night before having found a group of the best musicians around in a smoky stairwell, trading Townes and Woody songs. I think being half-awake/half-aware helped me when Jody Stephens pulled up to the hotel to pick me up for the session. When I was just starting out playing guitar, my college boyfriend, who was in a rock band, was obsessed with Alex Chilton and Big Star and the double CD “#1 Record/Radio City” was the soundtrack of my early 20s (and that to-be-doomed relationship).

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Ardent Presents Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts