Sound Biscuit Studio
It’s never too late to chase a dream. Dave Maggard turned a retirement hobby into a full-fledged recording studio and independent label, focused on bluegrass and Americana artists. A sculptor by trade, Maggard now extracts the art of music from wood and wire at his Sound Biscuit Studio in Sevierville just off Tennessee Route 66. His farm is tucked away on 10 acres, close to the tourist mecca of the Great Smoky Mountains but on a gravel road a world away from the hustle and bustle of Pigeon Forge.
Maggard made his living as an artist known for intricate wood spirit carvings. A palm-sized, bearded sculpture named “Pawley” sits on his desk, holding business cards for his second career as a studio owner and record label executive. It was sculpted from driftwood that he and his daughter found during a vacation to Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, decades ago.
The Kentucky native spent his early days pursuing a career in bluegrass and classic country music, but life got in the way. After retiring from wood carving, Maggard attended a sound engineering course at The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, Ohio. The five-week program rekindled a fire for music. At 55, he was the oldest student in his class, but his ears had been fine-tuned by a lifetime of listening to and playing music.
“In 2014, I just decided that I loved turning knobs. I’ve always messed with recording and music,” Maggard said. “I was always turning knobs and sometimes I didn’t know exactly why, but I knew when it sounded right. I decided I really wanted to understand it from the technical side. This (studio) was not a goal. This was not even in the plan.”
Painstakingly, he converted the metal outbuilding from a music man cave into a state-of-the-art studio. Shane Reman, Sound Biscuit’s audio engineer and jack of all trades, helped fashion the diffusers and baffles on the walls. Microphones were paired with sound booths tailored to banjo/fiddle and tenor vocals, guitar and bass frequencies. After years of experimenting, Maggard is finally happy with how each room is tuned.
“I love my rooms,” he said. “I know what my rooms do. … I’m not opposed to trying new things or finding new processes, but where I am right now sound-wise is at a level of excellence that I feel very good about. If you come in here with good instruments and you play them well, I’m going to capture them well. That in itself is a victory to get to that point.”
A Boost from Dolly
Early on, Maggard fielded a request to record Dolly Parton’s voice-over for a children’s program produced by a company in Northern Ireland. He was just starting out, and the studio was still a work in progress. He convinced the company he could handle the work.
“I was just beginning and I didn’t have the facility I have now. To take on something like that was a huge, huge deal,” he said. “Really, it turned out great and what an amazing learning experience. I convinced them I could do the job and we did it. It turned out fantastic and the show was released internationally. That was my introduction to working with Dolly.”
An autographed photo of Parton hangs in the studio above a sofa. Sound Biscuit fills a need in the busy Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, which is attracting a slew of musicians. Maggard and Reman can produce videos and record everything from commercials to full CDs. Sound Biscuit has evolved into a full-service label with its own publishing company.
The Boys
Maggard met a young bunch of traditional bluegrassers who started out playing nearby at Gatlinburg’s Ole Smoky Distillery. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys eventually transitioned into a full-time touring band after they cut their teeth at Sound Biscuit. When the Boys wanted to record a gospel album, Maggard made it happen. When mandolinist CJ Lewandowski wanted to cut an instrumental project, Maggard made it happen.
The studio’s growth and the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys career trajectory seemed to mirror each other. Maggard recorded Toil, Tears and Trouble, which was released by Rounder Records. When he and his wife, Rebecca, heard the single “Next Train South” on the radio for the first time in 2018, it was life-changing.
“That was the first song that was ever played on the radio from Sound Biscuit,” he said. “I stopped the truck and my wife got out and danced. That was a big deal to hear that. And the same thing with ‘God’s Love is So Divine.’ We came out with the single with Jereme (Brown) singing ‘I am Weary, Let Me Rest.’… I waited almost four years to hear that on the radio. I knew it was worthy of radio but to actually be patient enough to let things work their way out, to hear that was just monumental.”
Toil, Tears and Trouble was nominated for a Grammy in 2019, and Maggard and his wife accompanied the band to Los Angeles. They also went to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Boys’ debut appearance. Sound Biscuit recorded and produced their next album Never Slow Down under the Smithsonian Folkways label. “We consider them family,” he said. “Once you feed them, they become family.”
Lewandowski considers Sound Biscuit his home studio, and visits often. Although the other band members have moved away, he still lives in Sevier County. There’s a synergy between the studio and the band. “It’s cohesive. We kind of grew at a steady rate together,” he said. “Part of the growth of the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys is our relationship with Dave and our trust in him. He trusts us. Part of the growth of Sound Biscuit has happened with the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys with the Grammy nomination and all that stuff. It’s a good symbiotic relationship.”
Lewandowski appreciates the friendship with the Maggards as much as the music. He championed the band, urging the Boys to record a music video during COVID lockdowns to stay relevant. “Dave has been the guy that’s always been supporting us,” Lewandowski said. “I can call him anytime and if he can help with a situation, if I needed it, he’d be there for me. To me that’s more important than everything we’ve done in the studio. I use the studio as much as I can because it’s right here. It’s like home.”
What’s In A Name?
Maggard’s first name for the studio was “Blue Dammit,” a nod to the Gillespie family who introduced him to bluegrass as a teenager in Kentucky. That was the name of their big blue bus, christened because Doug Gillespie (owner operator) would mash his fingers and let go a “dammit” or two trying to keep the old bus on the road for the next bluegrass festival. He figured the colorful name wouldn’t fly in the Bible Belt.
Maggard was partial to “Sound Farm” but an internet search showed that name was taken by a high-dollar studio out west. One morning at breakfast, the name Sound Biscuit came to mind when he was gnawing on a bacon biscuit. It had a nice ring to it and Maggard later discovered that “cutting a biscuit” was slang for making a record back in the vinyl recording days.
“What’s funny is I was just thinking about a plain old biscuit. Who doesn’t like a biscuit?” he said. “It worked out well. The vinyl puck for making a record was actually referred to as a ‘biscuit.’ It has a connection now that it didn’t have before when I started Sound Biscuit.”
Magical Moments
In 2021, Appalachian Road Show mandolinist Darrell Webb asked if Maggard would donate studio time for a group of musicians to record a tribute to Steve Gulley after he passed away. Maggard was on board. Barry Abernathy asked his and Gulley’s former Quicksilver boss Doyle Lawson to join them and an all-star group showed up, including Dobro player Phil Leadbetter, guitarist Tim Stafford, fiddler Jim Van Cleve, writer/vocalist Mark Wheeler and bassist Jason Moore. “In the Resurrection Morning,” tied for the 2021 International Bluegrass Music Award for “Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year.”
“I’m sitting here thinking, oh my gosh, this is amazing,” Maggard said. “You could actually feel the brotherhood and connection with Steve that day. It was a joyful day and the song that came out of it was just amazing.”
During that session, IBMA Hall of Famer Lawson met Maggard and was impressed with the facility and the man. Even though Lawson lives in Tennessee, he wasn’t aware of the Sevierville studio. He decided to record Quicksilver’s last album Roundtable at Sound Biscuit. It was a high compliment from the bluegrass legend who has recorded for over 50 years in studios large and small all over the country.
“Dave is the kind of guy that when you meet him, you just instantly like him. You can tell he’s the real deal,” said Lawson, who pulled his red bus Sadie off the bluegrass touring highway at the end of 2021. “I was so impressed with the studio. It’s got sound booths to isolate for recording clarity. His equipment is all A-plus, state of the art. I suppose that had I kept recording as a band, I probably would’ve gone back there.”
Lawson said he also appreciated the large room in the back to rehearse and fine-tune songs with the band. Maggard and Reman were both congenial and easy to work with. “My experience with Dave and Shane and the Sound Biscuit Studio was nothing but positive, the whole way,” Lawson said. “Everything was top drawer. I’ve been in the big ones. I’ve been in the small ones. I’ve been where we recorded right straight to the four-track tape and you didn’t go back and mix because when you got through, you had a record. I recorded with Paul Simon in New Jersey and it’s a state-of-the-art studio. And for what Dave’s got and his heart, I’d put him right in the middle of all of them.”
Growing the Music
Sound Biscuit artist Corey Zink built a following in the Northeast where he grew up playing classic country and square dance music. Zink also loves bluegrass. “Somewhere along the way, I think I got stuck in the middle between old country and bluegrass and got trapped there,” Zink said. “I wake up some mornings and I’m all driven to play bluegrass. I wake up other mornings and I want to be playing George Jones songs and steel guitars. Dave makes sure that I follow my heart and who I am and what I’m feeling … and that I’m not doing something for the wrong reasons.”
Maggard has allowed him to straddle both genres while growing as an artist. His first release Lifetimes featured songs he had written. Zink appreciates Maggard pushing him to grow as an artist while allowing him to stay true to his heart. “That’s what is great about working with him is he makes me feel really comfortable about being myself,” Zink said. “He always makes sure that he encourages me and pushes me to do more, from songwriting to recording and even vocal coaching as I’m singing.”
As an engineer, Maggard is honest but not hurtful. Part of his goal is to help aspiring songwriters like Zink make their way in the music world. Maggard said he is not a “genre snob,” and he sees Sound Biscuit branching out to help young artists in bluegrass, Americana and beyond. Label artists include bluegrass mandolinist Jesse Brock, Americana singer Sara Collins and the Appalachian/Celtic band Tuatha Dea. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have released a number of singles on the Sound Biscuit Label as well as the gospel album, God’s Love is So Divine. The most recent addition to the label is Colby Laney who played guitar with Volume Five and is working on a solo project for release early next year.
“From the very beginning before I ever started recording anybody, my intention was to create something that people wanted to be a part of and that’s always been my philosophy,” Maggard said. “It’s just amazing what happened in a short period of time.”
Despite the accolades, Maggard remains humble and he treasures the relationships he has built with artists and songwriters. As Sound Biscuit grows into a full-fledged label, Maggard is aware of the short time window he faces after starting in the music business later in life. While he wouldn’t change his career path, he envies younger engineers and producers who already have decades of experience behind them.
“I just turned 65 in August,” he said in an interview in late 2022. “I’m thinking, I’ve got to hurry. There’s some things I want to do here and I don’t know how much time I’ve got to do this. I’d love to see this move on way past me once I’m gone. I’d love to see Sound Biscuit stay relevant…I have a time limit on how long I get to be a part of this amazing ride. I try not to waste any of it. I love where I am right now. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
