Today’s author interview guest is Jake Brown, author of Behind the Boards: Nashville: The Studio Stories Behind Country Music’s Greatest Hits!

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If you’re a County Music fan, you’ve seen glimpses perhaps of it on TV shows like Nashville and movies like Walk the Line, but never before have fans of music’s biggest-selling genre been invited inside the heart of the creative nerve centers where their favorite # 1 hits are brought to life, the recording studio! Inside the pages of BEHIND THE BOARDS: NASHVILLE, Country music fans for the first time ever are given a front-row seat inside Music Row’s most famous recording studios on tours narrated by the town’s BIGGEST record producers, including Songland star Shane McAnally, Dann Huff, James Stroud, Jim Ed Norman, Dave Cobb, Justin Neibank, Ross Copperman, Zach Crowell, Chris Destefano, Jesse Frasure, Norbert Putnam, Josh Osborne, Luke Laird, Clint Black, Frank Liddell, Jimmy Robbins, Josh Leo, Nathan Chapman, Paul Worley, Jeff Stevens, Jody Stevens, Bobby Braddock, Michael Knox, Don Cook, Frank Rogers, Joey Moi, Ray Baker, and Buddy Cannon, Ray Riddle, Jimmy Robbins, J. Gary Smith, Smo, and more.

Collectively, the book features over 300 # 1 hits by Country’s biggest stars, including Taylor Swift, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, George Strait, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Clint Black, Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville”, Florida Georgia Line, Reba McEntire, Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee album, A Star is Born Soundtrack starring Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper, Brad Paisley, Sam Hunt, Blake Shelton, Trisha Yearwood, Kacey Musgraves, Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban, Alabama, Jason Isbell, George Jones, Jewel, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Lori McKenna, Midland, Faith Hill, Steve Earle, Hank Williams Jr., Lyle Lovett, Thomas Rhett, Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, Brett Eldredge, Martina McBride, The Dixie Chicks, The Band Perry, Shooter Jennings, Jake Owen, Big & Rich, Jon Pardi, the Nitty Gritty Band, Scotty McCreery, Darius Rucker, Mo Bandy, The Eagles, and the great Merle Haggard among others.

Critical Praise:

Country Music Television – “A new Jake Brown book, Behind the Boards: Nashville…goes deep.”

Mix Magazine – “A skilled writer and music biographer, Brown brings the reader into the studio by seamlessly oscillating between narration and interview, weaving together the history and context surrounding these classic recordings with the voices of those who were there, behind the boards. Behind The Boards II is a fascinating collection of tales of the technical and human elements behind some of the greatest music of all time.

Award-winning Music biographer Jake Brown has written 50 published books since 2001, featuring many authorized collaborations with some of rock’s biggest artists, including 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Heart (with Ann and Nancy Wilson), living guitar legend Joe Satriani, blues legend Willie Dixon (authorized w/the Estate), country music legends Merle Haggard/Freddy Powers, heavy metal pioneers Motorhead (with Lemmy Kilmister), country rap superstar Big Smo, late hip hop icon Tupac Shakur (with the estate), celebrated Rock drummer Kenny Aronoff, legendary R&B/Hip Hop Producer Teddy Riley, late Funk pioneer Rick James, and Mopreme Shakur. Brown is also author of a variety of anthology series including the superstar country music anthology ‘Nashville Songwriter’ Vol I and II; the all-star rock producers anthology ‘Behind the Boards’ Vol. 1 and 2; all-star Rock & Roll drummers’ anthology ‘Beyond the Beats,’ and the ‘Hip Hop Hits’ producers’ series among many others. Brown recently released the audio books BEYOND THE BEATS, DOCTORS OF RHYTHM and forthcoming SCIENTISTS OF SOUND Record Producers series and PRINCE IN THE STUDIO – The Hits 1977 – 1994 under a long-term deal with Blackstone Audio, and has also appeared as the featured biographer of record on Fuse TV’s Live Through This series and Bloomberg TV’s Game Changers series, in all 6-parts of the BET “The Death Row Chronicles” docu-series. His books have received national press in CBS News, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone Magazine, USA Today, MTV.com, Guitar World Magazine, Billboard, Parade Magazine, Country Weekly, Fox News, Yahoo News, etc and writes for regularly for Tape Op Magazine (including the 2015 cover story feature with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan). In 2012, Brown won the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards in the category of Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.