Anita Kerr Quartet - We Dig Anita: Oohs & Aahs of the Nashville Sound

UK collection. Anita Kerr was one of the architects of the Nashville Sound, the production phenomenon which re-invented the country music in the late '50s and early 1960s. Her extraordinary musical versatility, the wit and economy of her arrangements (sometimes written under great time pressure) and the clean, modernizing verve of her singers were essential factors in this historic musical development. The Kerr Singers, the all-male chorus, the Jordanaires and musicians of the caliber of guitarists Hank Garland, Grady Martin, Ray Edenton, Harold Bradley and Velma Smith; saxophonist Boots Randolph, bass players Bob Moore and Junior Husky; drummer Buddy Harman and pianist Floyd Cramer constituted the production "A" team; the select group of musicians who - sometimes augmented by the guitar of Chet Atkins - sculpted these records. They did so under the auspices of three Nashville producers; Atkins at RCA, Owen Bradley at Decca and British-born Don Law at Columbia. Anita Kerr and her singers worked for them all; three or four sessions a day, seven days a week; grabbing coffee and a hasty sandwich where they could, often while rehearsing the next set of parts in the breaks between sessions. Fiddles were out and strings were in. The new formula caught on and Nashville soon began rolling out big national and international hits; Jim Reeves' 'He'll Have to Go', 'Only The Lonely' by Roy Orbison, Skeeter Davis' melancholic 'The End of the World', 'Three Bells' by The Browns, and Brenda Lee's I'm Sorry which topped the pop charts, which although not actually marketed as a country record came to be recognized as an early, but passionate example of the Nashville Sound. In addition to contributing to all of these hits, Kerr was there at the start of Bobby Bare's career and at the renaissance of veteran country singer Eddy Arnold. Hear how her embellishments cushion Patsy Cline and complement Roger Miller's playfulness. With Skeeter Davis' 'End of the World', she became the first woman to produce an album in Nashville.