The Quonset Hut, also known as Bradley Film & Recording Studios, was the first major recording studio on what would later become known as music row

Music Row

Music Row is an area just to the southwest of Downtown Nashville, Tennessee that is home to hundreds of businesses related to the country music, gospel music, and Contemporary Christian music industries...

 in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

.

Origins

In 1954, producer Owen Bradley

Owen Bradley

Owen Bradley was an American record producer who, along with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.-Before the fame:...

, along with his brother Harold Bradley

Harold Bradley

Harold Bradley is a pop guitarist and an American country guitarist.Harold played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen Bradley. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the...

, purchased an old house at 804 16th Avenue South to convert into a film and recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

. The Bradleys tore out the first floor of the house to create recording space in the basement and attached a Quonset hut to the back of the house to use for filming musical performances for television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

. In 1955, the basement proved to be too crowded and so the studio was recreated inside the Quonset Hut after its initial venture proved unsuccessful. The recording facility became an instant success, attracting business from both Decca

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 and Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 records.

The Bradleys sold the studio to Columbia Records in 1962.
The legendary studio operated from 1955 through 1982 when it was converted into office space. In 2006, philanthropist, Mike Curb

Mike Curb

Michael Curb is an American musician, record company executive, NASCAR and IRL race car owner. A Republican, he served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983 under Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr...

 bought the structure and restored it. Today it serves as a Belmont University

Belmont University

Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...

 hands on recording classroom. Plans are to eventually open the facility for tours.,

The Quonset Hut produced some of the biggest recordings in music history such as Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...

's, "Crazy

Crazy (Willie Nelson song)

"Crazy" is a ballad composed by Willie Nelson. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably by Patsy Cline, whose version was a #2 country hit in 1962....

", Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee

Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...

's "I'm Sorry

I'm Sorry (Brenda Lee song)

"I'm Sorry" is a 1960 hit song for 15-year-old American country pop singer Brenda Lee. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in July 1960. Allmusic guide wrote that it is the pop star's "definitive song", and one of the "finest teen pop songs of its era". It was written by...

" and Bobby Vinton

Bobby Vinton

Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...

's "Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet (song)

"Blue Velvet" is a 1950 popular song, written by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably Tony Bennett and Bobby Vinton, and has inspired a film of the same name.-History of recordings:...

" to name a very small few.