the coolest thing I've done in my career so far...

Last night I had the great honor and privilege to record in the historic Sun Studio in Memphis, TN. If you're not familiar with what this place is, it's pretty much the birth place of rock and roll. This was where Elvis made his first record. This was where Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all got their start. U2 recorded part of Rattle and Hum here, with Bob Dylan and B.B. King even taking part on the album. Great Balls of Fire was recorded hear for crying out loud! So to be in this studio and actually get to record here was quite an experience, especially right after taking the tour.

I visited Sun Studio as a regular tourist a little over a year ago and took the tour. But, to follow up the tour this time with "okay, your turn" was very intimidating. Known for giving music legends their start, Sun Studio is getting back to what they do best with a program called "Sun Studio Sessions" where they invite up and coming musicians and bands to record a session while they video it. It will air online later this year and hopefully expand to an actual televised program. They were nice enough to let me invite a select number of fans in to watch my own session take place, which gave it a nice "playing for friends in a living room" feel, except it was Elvis and Johnny Cash's living room...

It's hard for me to explain how cool and amazing it was to have not only played, but recorded in that room. I should explain to you that without this studio popular music would not be what it is today. Without Elvis there would have not been The Beatles, and without the Beatles... well... enough said. So to be part of that history is overwhelming. I'm excited for you all to see the show.

Everyone who works at Sun is amazingly nice and made it so much more of experience than I could have ever expected. You can tell they all take much pride in working there, and why shouldn't they?? But it was awesome to work with such a real group of people that actually understand what the music industry SHOULD be. They get it, and I'm so glad to have made new friends with them.

I played a lot of new songs and a few oldies. For anyone interested, here was my set...

Giving It All To You
The Good Life
Do It Again
Wherever
Here
Sentimental Spell
Surface
Beautiful Girls
The Lighting
Better With You
Up To Me
Audience of Zero

In short, that was my experience. I'm still soaking it all in. I will have exclusive video and photos for you soon.

In the meantime, go listen to the first Elvis record, go listen to early Johnny Cash, go listen to Rattle and Hum (tracks 10-13). Do yourself a favor and go visit the Sun Studio website and learn about this place.

- Brad