Seminal Nashville songwriter John Prine has released a new version of his song “How Lucky,” as part of the new Amazon Original “Produced By” series, only on Amazon Music. The track was produced by the GRAMMY Award-winning, Memphis-based producer Matt Ross-Spang. The “Produced By” series pairs producers with a collection of some of today’s top artists across various genres to create exclusive, new recordings for Amazon Music listeners, and to spotlight today’s community of producers working behind the scenes to develop the best in music.
Stream “How Lucky” via Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2Mnzk8y
John Prine’s “How Lucky” is the second song to launch as part of Ross-Spang’s “Produced By” series for Amazon Music, which will continue with new releases throughout the week. Following yesterday’s release of “Leftovers” by Margo Price, additional releases will include Amazon Original songs from GRAMMY Award-winning artists including William Bell and Al Green. Future “Produced By” installments will feature acclaimed producers and artists from a variety of genres including Latin, Indie, Country, and R&B.
“How Lucky” was originally recorded in 1979 at the Sam Phillips Recording Service, and was one of the last two songs ever produced by Sam Phillips along with “Saigon,” both of which were featured on Prine’s Pink Cadillac record. Prine’s updated version of the song was recorded at the Historic RCA Studio A in Nashville TN.
Ross-Spang explains his connection to the song: “For me, growing up in Memphis and starting work at the legendary Sun Studio at just 16, the Phillips family was always larger than life. While I never got to meet Sam Phillips, I did become close with his two sons: Knox and Jerry. Fast forward to 2007 and the Recording Academy honored Knox in Memphis and John Prine came into town and performed the song ‘How Lucky.’ I’ve never forgotten John’s performance that night… it was quite profound and the song has always resonated with me as I’ve been very lucky in this life . After engineering John’s The Tree of Forgiveness album and becoming close with him I thought the song is even more relevant now.”
“How Lucky” features a veritable dream team of Tennessee musicians – Jerry Pentecost on drums, Charles Hodges playing B3 organ, Jeremy Ivey on harmonica, and David Jacques on upright bass.
Matt Ross-Spang began interning at Sun Studio at age 16, eventually working his way up to Chief Engineer & Operations Manager. In 2015, Ross-Spang left Sun to become an independent engineer, producer, & mixer based primarily out of the legendary 1960 time capsule studio Sam Phillips Recording Service. Recent productions by Matt include both albums by Margo Price, as well as the latest Lucero, Nicki Bluhm and Sean Rowe records. He won two GRAMMY Awards for his work on Jason Isbell’s Something More Than Free and The Nashville Sound, and has worked on several GRAMMY-Nominated Albums such as Lori McKenna’s The Bird and the Rifle, Brent Cobb’s Shine On Rainy Day and Luther Dickinson’s Blues and Ballads. He recently mixed unreleased Elvis Presley tracks for the compilation album Way Down in the Jungle Room and the Elvis documentary The Searcher. More info is available on Matt Ross-Spang’s official website.
Amazon Music listeners can simply ask, “Alexa, play the playlist Produced by Matt Ross-Spang” in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android and on Alexa-enabled devices. addition to the new track, Amazon Music listeners can access hundreds of Amazon Original songs and numerous albums featuring both emerging and established artists across numerous genres, available to stream and purchase on Amazon Music.
