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MHIC
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Subject:
Rick Rubin |
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John met Rick Rubin after his show at the Rhythm Cafe, a small dinner
theatre in Santa Ana, California, on February 27, 1993. Rubin's proposal
to produce him left him intrigued, if slightly amused. After all, what
could the bad boy owner of Def American Records do that others had not?
Well, I will let the great writer Chet Flippo say it:
The most important thing that Rick Rubin ever did—or ever will
do—was to ask JC to just sit down with his guitar in front of a
microphone and sing the songs he wanted to sing
There were obstacles. Although Polygram had shown no interest in John
since Steve Popovich left in 1988, that label still had a contract for
at least one more album. And John himself had performing commitments
with Nelson, Jennings and Kristofferson (they were not actually called
The Highwaymen at the time) as well as dates in Branson, which he took
on after the collapse of the Cash Country venture. |
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Polygram demanded to be paid to release John from his contract with
them. This was effected due in large part to the fact that Polygram was
the international distributor for Def American. John's last
"comeback" may well have never occurred if not for this very
propitious situation.
The now-legendary "Living Room Sessions" which occurred from
May 17-20, 1993 were squeezed in between John's touring schedule, and
were originally meant to be simply demo sessions. By the end of June,
when John found time to return to LA for more recording, the two men had
not only come to agreement on contract terms, but had developed a deep
bond. Although the details were hammered out by the lawyers (there
really wasn't much to negotiate, truth be told)through the month of
June, John formally signed a contract the last week in that month.
As has been stated previously, "AR" was released on April 26,
1994. The single "Delia's Gone" did not chart. There were a
number of reasons for this. Not only did radio *not* play it (big
reason, duh), Rubin's label simply did not have the distribution. More
attuned to the rap industry, American did not even ship the single to
country radio, and its sales team had no comraderie with
"heartland" stores such as Wal-Mart. As a result, the single
was almost non-existent and the album rather hard to find. Things got
better after Sony took over distribution (Universal put out "The
Man Comes Around"), but that's another story.
-
Mark
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