By FRITZ HOFFMANN • Foreword by MARTY STUART
February 1994, country and rock music stars traveled to Owen Bradley’s famous studio outside Nashville, Tennessee, to record duets with George Jones for his album, The Bradley Barn Sessions.
The eleven-day sessions were remarkable for the iconic artists who walked through the barn door daily to record with the legendary Jones.
Producer Brian Ahern had the foresight to have the sessions documented in pictures. For that, MCA Records enlisted Fritz Hoffmann, a Nashville-based photographer at the time. Fritz’s exclusive pictures appeared as the album’s art and promotion.
After the album debuted, Fritz packed the negatives away and moved to Shanghai, China. For the next 25 years, he focused his photography on China. When COVID-19 closed international borders, Fritz dug into his picture library and uncovered the Bradley Barn Sessions negatives.
Reviewing the 1800 images made their historical significance clear. There will be no more pictures of George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Leon Russell, and others at the sessions who have passed on in the years since.
Fritz called on Marty Stuart, who told him, “I always thought those pictures should be a book.”
The Bradley Barn Sessions book presents a collection of negatives carefully stowed away and unseen since 1995. The pictures feature many cherished artists and musicians who have contributed greatly to the American songbook. Their music resounds throughout.
The book design organizes the black-and-white photographs by the guest artists and the eleven songs as they were tracked on the Bradley Barn Sessions record album, plus one chapter with the song “The Great Judgement Morning” recorded but not released on that record.
Essays written exclusively for the book provide an insightful framework for the visuals and offer essential historical context. In the book’s foreword essay, renowned artist Marty Stuart presents his first-hand account of the sessions. An essay by author David Cantwell establishes the context for the album, shares his close listening to the performances, and tracks the album's impact.
With the loss of several of these esteemed artists and the evolving landscape of country music, this book emerges as a poignant retrospective, reflecting the transformations within the genre and the music industry.