Audio Engineering MasterClass

John Paul White | John Paul White is a four-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and co-founder of Single Lock Records who proudly resides in Florence, Alabama. John Paul White has cultivated a music career in Nashville for two decades, first as a songwriter, then half of the Grammy award-winning duo The Civil Wars before disbanding in 2012. His latest album, The Hurting Kind, draws on the lush, orchestrated music made in Nashville in
the 1960s. Yet these songs retain a modern feel, whether he’s writing about overwhelming love, unraveling relationships, or fading memory of a loved one.

Ben Tanner / Ben Tanner is a Grammy-winning producer, engineer, and musician based in MuscleShoals, Alabama. Born and raised in the Shoals area, Tanner cut his teeth at FAME Recording as staff engineer and studio manager from 2006 to 2009. In 2009, Tanner left FAME to further pursue his career as a freelance producer/engineer and touring musician. In 2011, Tanner joined Alabama Shakes on keyboards, performing on both of the band’s albums, Boys and Girls and Sound and Color. In 2013, Tanner founded the independent label, Single Lock Records, with John Paul White (The Civil Wars) and Will Trapp. Tanner helms in-house production and engineering for most of the label’s releases. He has worked with artists such as St Paul & The Broken Bones, Jason Isbell, Bettye Lavette, John Paul White, The Secret Sisters, and Drive-by Truckers. Selected Discography:
Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Nicole Atkins – Italian Ice
Donnie Fritts – Oh My Goodness
Dylan LeBlanc – Cautionary Tale
JD McPherson – Undivided Heart & Soul
Lindi Ortega – Faded Gloryville
Penny & Sparrow – Let a Lover Drown You
Maggie Rose – Have a Seat
St Paul & the Broken Bones – Half the City
Foy Vance – From Muscle Shoals
John Paul White – Beulah
John Paul White – The Hurting Kind

Jimmy Nutt /  GRAMMY Award winning Engineer, Jimmy Nutt, grew up in Shreveport Louisianasurrounded by musicians steeped in blues and rock. He joined his first band at age 13. Early on, Jimmy was interested in recording and sound. He acquired a Tascam 4- track cassette recorder while still in his teens and started learning how to record a band. In July of 2000, Jimmy moved his family to Muscle Shoals, Al. to work as a staff- recording engineer at FAME Recording Studios.  During his time at FAME, he recorded sessions for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Clarence Carter, Heartland, Russell Smith,The Drive-by-Truckers and many more. He worked at FAME for almost 3 years before becoming an independent recording engineer and producer. He was also a staff writer for FAME’s publishing company during this time. Jimmy is now the owner of The NuttHouse Recording Studio, Inc. located in downtown Sheffield, Alabama.  He transformed a bank built in 1955 into a recording studio and has hosted numerous recording sessions in the last 14 years including well known artists; Percy Sledge, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, The Dead South, Blind Boys of Alabama, Dylan LeBlanc, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Isbell, John Paul White, Donna Jean Godchaux, and The SteelDrivers. Jimmy occasionally teaches recording classes as an Adjunct Professor at UNA for their Entertainment Industry department and he also served as the President of the Muscle Shoals Music Association for several years. He continues to play in several local bands. Jimmy and his wife Angi created MusicNutt Publishing, LLC in 2012. In February of 2016, Jimmy won a GRAMMY award for engineering and mixing the “Bluegrass Album of the Year”, The SteelDrivers, “The Muscle Shoals Recordings”. In June of 2020, Jimmy won the Canadian Juno award for producing and mixing the “Traditional Roots Album of the Year” for The Dead South album “Sugar & Joy”.

Billy Lawson / Billy Lawson was born and raised in the Muscle Shoals area of Northwest Alabama in a little town called Zip City. His next door neighbor was studio musician, Junior Lowe, who played on some of the early R&B classics by artists such as Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter and Aretha Franklin. When Billy was nine or ten years old, Junior would let him sit in and sing with his band at the Ponderosa Club on the Alabama-Tennessee state line. This club was owned by W.R. Morris, the author of a biography on the legendary Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser, which was later made into a motion picture titled “Walking Tall.” W.R. still likes to brag about being the first person to “discover” Billy’s talent. Another friend of the family who influenced Billy was Carl Montgomery, the co-author of the truck driver hit “Six Days on the Road.” Carl was the brother of Earl “Peanut” Montgomery, writer of 38 singles and over 70 songs by George Jones, and also brother to Melba Montgomery, star of the Grand Ole Opry. Billy knew three chords on his Silvertone and could sing along with Charley Pride, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard by the time he entered grade school. Wherever there was live music, that’s where you could find Billy soaking it all up like a hungry sponge. After high school Billy started working the Alabama-Tennessee state line club and dance hall circuit with his band. One night Larry Hamby a CBS representative came to a Muscle Shoals Club and signed Billy “on the spot” to an album deal on Epic records. The legendary Sam Phillips of Sun Records fame was there that night to put in a good word. But, as luck would have it, Billy’s key man at Epic was moved to the West Coast and put in charge of the Pop and Rock division of the label. Along with several other acts, Billy was lost in the shuffle. Meanwhile, Muscle Shoals film maker Tonya Holley was casting for Orion Pictures. She had Billy to come down and audition in Selma, AL, for an up- coming movie starring Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones and Powers Boothe. Billy and his band got the part and Jessica Lange got an Oscar for best actress in “Blue Sky.” During all of these experiences, Billy continued to write songs–songs that were good enough to get the attention of Sony/Tree publisher and producer, Don Cook. Don signed him one week and by the next week, Billy had cuts on three major artists. Within a little over a year Billy had two..#1 hits…”Learning As you Go” by Rick Trevino and “I Left Something Turned On At Home” by Trace Adkins also “Irresistible You” A..#20 by Ty England. Billy's song "He Ain't Even Cold Yet" recorded by Gretchen Wilson was played in an episode of HBO's The Sopranos. Billy was one of the 14 John Rich handpicked songwriters for CMT/VH1's "Gone Country" Hosted by John Rich & Starring Bobby Brown, Maureen McCormick, Jermaine Jackson, Taylor Dayne, Sisqo, Shelia E, Dee Snyder, Diana DeGarmo, Carnie Wilson & Julio Iglesias Jr.The following is a list of some of the other artists that have recorded Billy's songs:
Blake Shelton, T.G. Sheppard, Chalee Tennison, Mel McDaniel, John Anderson,
Lonestar, Daryle Singletary, Lee Ann Womack, Daron Norwood, Shenandoah, Delbert
McClinton, Confederate Railroad, George Strait, Sammy Kershaw, Lori Morgan, Tim
McGraw, Travis Tritt, Ken Mellons,  Gretchen Wilson, Ty England, Charley Pride, Bryan
White, Oak Ridge Boys, Ronnie Milsap, Rick Trevino,Trace Adkins,  Angela Hacker, Zac
Hacker, Billy Bob Thornton, Kenny Rogers, Jermaine Jackson, Taylor Dayne, Maureen
McCormick "Marsha Brady", Tyler Dickerson, Gene Watson & Alison Krauss