David R. "Fergie" Ferguson (born July 2, 1962 in Nashville, Davidson County

Davidson County

Davidson County is the name of two counties in the United States:* Davidson County, North Carolina* Davidson County, Tennessee...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

) began in the mid-1980s engineering Country Music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 recordings for "Cowboy" Jack Clement

Jack Clement

Jack Henderson Clement is an American singer, songwriter, and a record and film producer.Raised and educated in Memphis, Jack Clement was performing at an early age...

, at Clement's Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa, in Nashville, Tennessee. Today, Ferguson is best known for his works with Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, as sound engineer on the highly successful Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 winning American Recordings albums produced by Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin

Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...

, in the 1990s and 2000s. Ferguson has also engineered or produced recordings for such artists as folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 legend John Prine

John Prine

John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...

, bluegrass music

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 artist Mac Wiseman

Mac Wiseman

Malcolm B. Wiseman , better known as Mac Wiseman, is an American bluegrass singer, nicknamed The Voice with a Heart. The bearded singer is one of the cult figures of bluegrass....

, The Del McCoury Band

Del McCoury Band

The Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo,...

, country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 legends Charlie Pride, Eddy Arnold

Eddy Arnold

Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...

, rock-n-roll band U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

, and many others. Ferguson appeared as himself in the U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 film, Rattle and Hum

Rattle and Hum

Rattle and Hum is the sixth studio album by rock band U2 and companion rockumentary directed by Phil Joanou, both released in 1988. The film and the album feature live recordings, covers, and new songs...

, and portrayed his mentor and once real-life boss, Jack Clement

Jack Clement

Jack Henderson Clement is an American singer, songwriter, and a record and film producer.Raised and educated in Memphis, Jack Clement was performing at an early age...

 in the Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

 film, Great Balls of Fire!

Great Balls of Fire! (film)

Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...

. Ferguson maintains a recording studio in Nashville, and resides in nearby Goodlettsville, Tennessee

Goodlettsville, Tennessee

Goodlettsville is a city in Davidson and Sumner counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Goodlettsville was incorporated as a city in 1958 with a population of just over 3,000 residents; at the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 13,780. Goodlettsville chose to remain autonomous in 1963...

, near his boyhood home.

External links

• Sound on Sound Magazine interview June, 2010