Kacey Musgraves’ Pageant Material and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller have more in common than making it into the Scene’s 2015 Best of Nashville picks. Both albums also are nominated for CMA Album of the Year and are likely Grammy contenders as well. And both were cut at famed RCA Studio A, just after the Music Row landmark narrowly avoided a Brentwood condo developer’s wrecking ball. That happened a year ago last week, when Leiper’s Fork philanthropist, preservationist, music historian and real estate mogul Aubrey Preston stepped in at the 11th hour and dropped a $5.6 million deposit to save the building, once the former headquarters of RCA Nashville. Fellow philanthropists Mike Curb and Charles “Chuck” Elcan helped Preston pick up the tab, partnering with him to preserve the building — which the National Park Service added to the National Register of Historic Places in July — and in the process, quell international outrage over its potential razing led by Studio A tenant and troops-rallier Ben Folds.
Best Happy Ending
RCA Studio A Is Saved
Photo: Angelina Castillo
