A Country Way of Life Episode 6

A country way of life, Episode 6 (Scott Hendricks, Eric Weissberg, Jim Lauderdale)

Author: Jonny Brick.

Scott HendricksProducer: Scott Hendricks

In February 2024, Gwen Stefani and her husband Blake Shelton put out a new song called Purple Irises. As with so much of Shelton’s catalogue, the song was produced by Scott Hendricks, who is 68 years old. At the end of 2023 he announced his departure as creative director of Warner Music, a role he began in 2007. Before that Hendricks was the CEO of Capitol Records, launching the solo careers of Trace Adkins and Keith Urban, and he also opened a short-lived Nashville branch of Virgin Records.

A architectural acoustics graduate of Oklahoma State, Hendricks moved to Nashville to work as a mix engineer. Outrageously, according to Variety magazine, running from the 1980s to the 2020s Hendricks has been involved in the chart-topping journey of 95 songs, producing 78 of them. They include the modern standards Don’t Rock The Jukebox by Alan Jackson and Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn, as well as a run of seven number one hits for the band Restless Heart.

In the 2010s, Hendricks helped Hunter Hayes and Brett Eldredge find both their sound and their audience. Working with Dan + Shay meant that he was responsible for magnificent productions like From The Ground Up, Speechless, Tequila and Save Me The Trouble.

 

Eric WeissbergPlayer: Eric Weissberg

Whenever a banjo makes its presence known in a movie soundtrack, it follows the precedent set in the movie Deliverance. Dueling Banjos was a number two hit on the Hot 100, and it gave Eric Weissberg a wider audience to go alongside the acclaim he had within the country music world.

Born in Brooklyn in 1939, Weissberg was the right age at the right time when the New Folk Revival hit Greenwich Village in the late 1950s, joining folk group The Tarriers who had a version of the Banana Boat Song in their repertoire. Weissberg played upright bass, violin, banjo, guitar and mandolin, and was thus a utility man who was beneficial in an age when session musicians had to lay down backing tracks in the recording studio.

Weissberg’s playing can be heard on John Denver’s albums, as well as those by Barbra Streisand, Judy Collins and Chaka Khan. He provides some of the guitar parts on Bob Dylan’s song Meet Me in the Morning. He died of Alzheimer’s in 2020 as the world was preparing to lock down for the Covid pandemic.

 

Jim LauderdaleSongwriter: Jim Lauderdale

Jim Lauderdale is the songwriter’s songwriter, as well as the subject of a documentary called The King of Broken Hearts. It was named after a Lauderdale song which was cut by George Strait for the film Pure Country. Strait went on to record a dozen others across his career including We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This, while Vince Gill, Elvis Costello and Mark Chesnutt also cut songs written by Lauderdale.

Born in Troutman, North Carolina, he initially came to Nashville in summer 1979 but abandoned it for New York City, where he fell in with a company of performers including Lucinda Williams and Dale Watson and moved to LA. Having got a publishing deal, he then moved back to Nashville where he lived with his pal Buddy Miller.

Lauderdale’s first album as an artist, 1991’s Planet of Love, was produced by John Leventhal and Rodney Crowell. He later collaborated with Dr Ralph Stanley and lyricist Robert Hunter. In the 2010s he put out an album a year, either on Yep Roc Records or his own Sky Crunch imprint. He also has the dubious honour of being dropped by four record labels!

 

All Episodes can be found hereA Country Way of Life by Jonny Brick

For more country music evangelism, go to countrywol.com where you can read Monday essays, Friday reviews and Sunday Hymn Sheets. Follow Jonny’s Country Music Calendar at the Country Way of Life Facebook page (facebook.com/acountrywayoflife).