Foo Fighters in Nashville: Zac Brown Details ‘Sonic Highways’ Visit
When Dave Grohl first met country rock artist Zac Brown, he told him his idea to visit select cities around the country and record a song after spending a week in each location. Brown was immediately on board and even offered a suggestion.
“I was telling him about Southern Ground studios in Nashville, and he was just super stoked to come in because of all the history,” the Nashville-via-Atlanta musician tells Rolling Stone. “I told him we’d love to host him there.”
On Friday night’s episode of Sonic Highways, which featured interviews with Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Carrie Underwood and Emmylou Harris, fans finally saw the result of the Foo Fighters‘ week in Nashville. Grohl admitted his knowledge of the city was limited to its reputation as the birthplace of country music, but throughout the episode, the musician ties the city back to everything from the swamp rock of Tony Joe White to the gospel roots of many of his favorite country singers (including an incredible story by Dolly Parton about Elvis Presley’s aborted attempt at covering “I Will Always Love You.”)
The episode culminated with the recording of new song “Congregation” featuring guitar and backup vocals by Brown. It’s a raucous track the guitarist says the band already had ready when they came in, but left a section open for Brown “to shred on.” “I ended up hearing something a little more melodic than just [the intended] machine gun-type guitar part,” he says.
For Brown, who owns Southern Ground, the experience allowed the band to soak up the natural history of the space, which served as a Presbyterian church for decades before becoming the home of Monument Studios, the recording outpost of famed early rock & roll label Monument Records. Since then, albums such as Neil Young’s 2005 output Prairie Wind and Kris Kristofferson’s first three records have been recorded there.
When Brown purchased the space in 2011, he also inherited much of the vintage equipment, including microphones, mic stands and a Neve V3 console (made by the same company famously profiled in Grohl’s directorial debut Sound City). “All of the wood in the entire place is guitar wood, so you’re standing on exotic wood floors that are normally reserved to make instruments with,” Brown says. “We’re really big on hospitality. So while the Foos were in there recording and hanging out, we just blew their minds with how we take care of them.”