The following is excerpted from Mix Magazine.

John Fullbright: Troubadour Gets a Band

Engineer/producer Wes Sharon helped take John Fullbright’s brilliant, raw folk-blues to the next level when they made From the Ground Up in Sharon’s 115 Recording (Norman, Oklahoma). Sharon, who plays bass on the album, says the key was to let the songs show the way: “When you listen to a singer/songwriter you can hear where the drums are going to sit; you can hear where the bass goes or the snare’s going to hit.” Sharon recorded to Digital Performer (he runs an Apogee system with Symphony Card). Fullbright was captured with an SM7 (vocal), and SM81 (acoustic) both going through an Aurora GTQ2 pre/EQ. “All but the second-to-last song on the record, ‘Daydreamer,’ were recorded live,” Sharon says. “We augmented a few things here and there, but on the track that’s his live vocal and his live guitar part.” –Barbara Schultz