Making Tracks

Scott Billington is a three-time Grammy-winning roots music producer who has worked with such artists as Irma Thomas, Charlie Rich, and Bobby Rush. For many decades, he balanced his roles of producer, art director, musician, and A&R executive at the highly regarded Rounder Records label, where he was responsible for hundreds of recordings. A former Recording Academy Trustee, he lives in New Orleans, where he teaches music production at Loyola University. He often performs with his wife, the children's musician Johnette Downing. Peter Guralink has been called "a natrual resource" by critic Nat Hentoff for work that has argued passionately and persuasively for the vitality of this country's intertwined black and whiite musical traditions. His books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love; Searching for Robert Johnson; Sweet Soul Music; and Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. His 2015 biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll, was a finalist for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography of the Year, awarded by the Biographers International Organization. His most recent book is Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing

Get It While You Can should be the subtitle of MAKING TRACKS, and someone should be cranking up a unique award to give the producer-author.--Bill Bentley "Bentley's Bandstand" After reading this wonderful saga of Billington's career, you are left with a deep appreciation for his vision and his remarkable ability to bring out the absolute best in a wide array of artist. He combined great artists with compelling material, and stellar backing bands, then skillfully brought all of the pieces together time after time. A marvelous book worth several reads, which makes it highly recommended!--Mark Thompson "Blues Blast Magazine" The book proves that he [Billington] has a great memory for details, is a terrific storyteller, and has worked with more than a few musicians of note over the past four-plus decades. . . . But the book isn't just about music. Much of it passes as a beautifully written travelogue with detailed descriptions that give you a feeling of place and history.--Ed Symkus "artsfuse.org" Scott Billington has a wealth of experience to draw upon in American roots music and the music of New Orleans and Memphis, in particular. His intimate first-person accounts of the making of numerous valuable and historically important records make this book an essential resource for scholars of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American music.--Kyle DeCoste, coauthor of Can't Be Faded: Twenty Years in the New Orleans Brass Band Game Making Tracks: A Record Producer's Southern Roots Music Journey is a tour de force of interesting anecdotes on the record industry, driven by a relaxed and accessible style that engages the reader with detailed information while also providing valuable insight into the human relationships that make a successful recording possible. The sheer diversity of artists with whom the author has worked is in itself truly amazing. Anyone interested in American vernacular culture, New Orleans or zydeco music, or the workings of independent record labels will love this book.--Bruce Boyd Raeburn, curator emeritus at Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, and author of New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History As his career advances, [Billington] discusses evolving recording technology and imparts lessons he has learned about making good recordings, which culminates with the insight: "The collective energy of a group of talented people makes for a socially dynamic experience that can result in music greater that any of the individuals involved could imagine creating on their own. When a recording can harness that kind of feeling listeners can feel it, too, and they will come back to it time and time again." Making Tracks: A Record Producer's Southern Roots Music Journey captures that feeling, and hopefully Scott Billington will continue to harness it on new recordings as he continues his extraordinary journey.--Robert H. Cataliotti "Living Blues" I am honored to be a part of Making Tracks. Scott has a wonderful way of telling the story of our working together. The book reads like a song in print, and I love the beauty of his memory.--Irma Thomas, blues vocalist and "Soul Queen of New Orleans"