IN THE STUDIO: Nashville Sessions Then and Now
Guitar Giants Tom Bukovac and Steve Gibson Bare Their Studio Tans

When the Lovin' Spoonful's "Nashville Cats" hit the charts in 1966, the world discovered what Country Music fans knew all along: Music City's guitarists are second to none.

This pickin' tradition dates back to the fateful day in 1955 when Harold and Owen Bradley opened the Bradley Film and Recording Studio on Sixteenth Avenue South. Soon after they opened a second facility, "Quonset Hut," which became one of the hottest places to record on Music Row. In the Bradley studios and RCA Studio B, Chet Atkins, Hank Garland and Grady Martin helped establish the pop-influenced Nashville Sound, which set the standard for the city's session guitarists, based on a melding of technique and inspiration that endures today.

The best studio players are often booked months in advance, so when two of Nashville's greatest guitarists, each representing his generation, happened to have a couple of hours off one day, we brought them together: Steve Gibson, a celebrated veteran whose toneful playing has helped define the Nashville sound for decades, and Tom Bukovac, a comparative newcomer who is responsible for some of the most feral six-string sounds in contemporary Country.

Each has amassed impressive credits throughout the years, Gibson having recorded with Kris Kristofferson, Martina McBride, Willie Nelson, George Strait and Hank Williams Jr., and Bukovac with Vince Gill, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Keith Urban and Gretchen Wilson, among many others. Amazingly, the two aces had never met until their arrival at CMA - but it took only seconds for each to find the groove in conversation as they've done countless times on disc.

How has Nashville's recording scene changed over the years?

GIBSON: I came to Nashville in 1972, when I was 19 years old. At that time, there were many more studios than there are today, and they stayed busy doing a variety of work: jingles, publishing demos, movie scores and custom sessions as well as big and little record dates. Of course, all that activity kept musicians busy. On a given day, you might do a national McDonald's jingle at 10 in the morning and a Chevy jingle at 11, grab a quick bite for lunch and then cut a demo for Guy Clark in the afternoon. Then at 6 you might work on a George Jones and Tammy Wynette album. The next day it might be George and Tammy again for a couple of sessions, and then you're off to do a B. J. Thomas date. In a short space of time, you moved from style to style and music to music. I don't see that range and density of work in today's studio culture.

Why not?

BUKOVAC: We now live in a Pro Tools world. Everybody has it [the Digidesign Pro Tools digital audio workstation], and many musicians feel all they need is a bedroom and a laptop to capture music. These days, recording to tape and having a killer drum room is considered a luxury. Cutting drums in a small room won't sound as good, but most people can't afford to rent out a big room, so they say, "We'll just do it at my house." The work gets done, but you can hear when the music has been mixed inside the computer instead of through a real console. Music sounds better when it's captured in a studio with rooms designed for that purpose. That said, a great engineer - and we have many here - can overcome some of the weaknesses of the digital recording medium.

GIBSON: I'd like to think there will always be a place for a good tracking room. People understand you need space to make drums sound good or record a string section or even capture a timeless guitar part. Plug-ins can't replicate the sound of an instrument pushing air into a microphone.

What hasn't changed over the years in Nashville?

GIBSON: People still get together in rhythm sections to cut music. Nashville is the last place where this happens. You don't find it in L.A. or New York anymore. There was once a studio business in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Jackson, Dallas, New York and Philadelphia, but that's all gone. What's left of that spirit is best represented, I think, right here.

BUKOVAC: When I do a session, I'm always amazed at how freakishly good the other musicians are. To be honest, I can't believe I'm playing with cats like Gordon Mote, John Jarvis, Danny Dugmore, Shannon Forrest, Jimmy Sloas and Glenn Worf. These musicians transcend their instruments. There's a depth here that's mind-blowing and humbling.

GIBSON: I agree with Tom. The studio musicians in this town are the very best of the best, in terms of understanding the breadth of the music and knowing what needs to be done. That's the one thing that makes this town unique: incredible rhythm sections. It's Nashville's heart, soul and identity. Because of changes in the music business, it's been whittled away somewhat, but we still have it. We need to cultivate and retain it, because once you lose the combined experience, talent and creativity of a pool of seasoned session players, you can't go back. And you simply cannot replicate that feeling when you record a song one piece at a time, which is the norm elsewhere.

BUKOVAC: The difference between the first and second take in this town is unbelievable. Just play the song once and it will already be good. But by the second take, every little problem is healed. The second take may not have the fury and fire of the first, but if the piano and steel were clashing, that will be gone. And nobody said a word.

GIBSON: Take the rhythm section we use for George Strait records: Eddie Bayers, Stuart Duncan, Glenn Worf, Paul Franklin, Brent Mason, Mac McAnally, Steve Nathan, Matt Rollings and myself. We all know each other so well that when some little spark flies through the room, we instinctively know what to do. This may sound mystical, but it's really true. Something flies off of someone's hands and somebody else grabs it - instantly, mind you, without even thinking - and adds the next set of molecules to it and passes it on. There's nothing in the world that feels as gratifying.

You've both cut innumerable guitar parts. Which ones are your favorites?

BUKOVAC: The opening bit on Keith Urban's "You'll Think of Me." That somber, low, thick baritone is my soul in a note. You get lucky every once in a while.

GIBSON: I'm exceedingly proud of those England Dan and John Ford Coley guitar parts. [Producer] Kyle Lehning and I worked a long time on those, doubling the lines using just a Strat through a '50s Fender Deluxe. I was happy with my Telecaster tone on Randy Travis' "Diggin' Up Bones" and my Les Paul tone on Reba McEntire's "Is There Life Out There."

What about parts you wish you could do over?

GIBSON: My old rack gear made for crummy guitar sounds that I wish I could go back and change. We were all caught up in that during the '80s. But that's so minor when you put everything in perspective. In 35 years and thousands and thousands of sessions, I can count the bad experiences on one hand and still have fingers left over. Even today, I can't wait to go into the studio and cut some music. I love the hang, the smell of the studio - everything about it. I like the people, the crummy jokes and listening to a hit before anyone else hears it. I love watching people's reactions in the studio and trying to figure out, 'How scared is this artist? How concerned is the producer? Is this somebody's first shot or maybe their last?' And all the while, I try to remember Grady Martin's best advice to me: "Don't forget why they call them fills."