Billboard Magazine

the beat WorldMags.net “When we hit on that opening line — ‘This shit, that ice cold/Michelle Ronson recorded much of the album at Memphis’ Royal Studios, former Pfeiffer, that white gold’ — we knew that we had the seed of this really excit- haunt of Southern soul legends like Al Green. A chance encounter with ing idea,” remembers Ronson. “I pushed myself much more than I have on Mystikal led to the rapper throwing down on “Feel Right,” which, with its anything else in the past.” sweaty horn-heavy groove and call-and-response parts, is James Brown for the Indeed, during the song’s grueling seven-month creation, Ronson col- post-crunk era. Then there’s Keyone Starr, a 23-year-old unknown who sings lapsed in a London eatery. “There was all this on three songs, including a soul track that interpo- pressure because Bhasker was leaving at the lates the stutter-step drums from Soho house classic end of the day,” he recalls. “The plan was for “Hot Music.” “We wanted a young Chaka Khan on me to record my guitar by lunch. Lunchtime it, but there wasn’t anybody coming to mind,” comes and I still haven’t nailed it. We go out Ronson says. “Jeff was like, ‘We’re going to drive and in the stress of fi nishing the song I fainted to the South, we’re going to call it the Mississippi in the restaurant. I threw up three times. Jeff Mission, and go to churches.’ It was a wild idea Y IMAGES. SANTANA: AP IMAGES had to carry me back to the studio.” They that became a reality.” N/WIREIMAGE fi nally got it — on take 82. Filming the journey as they went, they Ronson specializes in uniting unexpected drove up the Mississippi River in nine days, musical partners — “Introducing the Business,” from New Orleans to Chicago, scouting from his last album, 2010’s Record Collection, singers at churches, community centers features Atlanta trap rapper Pill and the London and side rooms of bars, where auditioners Gay Men’s Chorus — but he may have outdone had to compete with “Lil Wayne blasting himself on Uptown Special, which includes through the doors,” Ronson recalls. lyrics written by Chabon, the Pulitzer- In Jackson, Miss., they found Starr, winning author of The Amazing Adventures “In the stress wearing a big spiky earring, a preach- of Kavalier & Clay. “It’s probably my er’s daughter who had been banished favorite piece of modern fi ction. I’ve of ﬁ nishing from church after getting pregnant. bought it for everybody,” Ronson says. “I “She looked so badass,” says Ronson. knew he was a huge music fan because his the song, I “She opened her mouth and she had it last book, Telegraph Avenue, has details on instantly. I’m so drawn to singers with ’50s, ’60s and ’70s jazz albums.” threw up something broken in their voice, where Chabon would fl y down from Berkeley, you really hear the rawness.” Calif., to Bhasker’s Venice Beach studio, three times.” Ronson’s description of Starr’s voice where Ronson, Andrew Wyatt from From top: Ronson and wife could also apply to his former muse, De La Baume, and in his Miike Snow, and Kevin Parker and Jay Watson from Tame Impala “would London studio in 2013. Winehouse. Her 2011 death left a void. all be jamming in the studio with Michael furiously typing in the corner,” says “I’m going to think about her for the rest STUDIO: GRAHAM. PAT DE LA BAUME: M. DAVID BENETT/GETTY IMAGES. BALLARD: FREDERICK BREEDON IV/WIREIMAGE.SEGER: GARY KID GERSHOFF/GETTY ROCK: CHELSEA IMAGES. LAURE MELLENCAMP: NATKIN/WIREIMAGE. PAUL EARLE: STEVE SNOWDEN/GETTY IMAGES. TOP: FERDY DAMMAN/GETT Ronson, who returned to Bhasker’s spot this fall to score the upcoming Johnny of my life,” he says, as the psychedelic strains of “Daff odils,” a trippy col- Depp-Ewan McGregor fi lm Mortdecai. laboration with Tame Impala, waft from the speakers. “There are things on It was a learning curve for both Ronson and Chabon. The creepy, Leonard this record that I think she’d like, and others she’d f—ing hate.” Cohen-infl uenced “Summer Breaking” — sung by Parker and featuring the lyr- Another big change in Ronson’s life? The ring on his fi nger. He wed French ics “Avenues empty as 44 clips/Cargo ships and teen zombie ships riding their actress-model-singer Josephine de La Baume in 2011. “I feel less like f— whips” — took four drafts to get right. “He’s one of the great living American ing around at this point,” he says, when asked how marriage has aff ected novelists and it’s tough to be like, ‘Uh, we don’t really like this one, could we try his sound. “With this record, I needed to be fi ring on all cylinders.” it again?’ ” Ronson says. But Ronson, whose retro-soul sounds for Winehouse helped set a sonic He need not have worried, according to Bhasker. “Mark’s a total master of template for Adele and others, says he was careful not to merely make bringing people together and getting the best out of them,” says the producer, a period piece with Uptown Special, despite citing Earth, Wind & Fire likening Ronson to Quincy Jones, “who just shoots love and positivity out of and Steely Dan as infl uences. “This is the most progressive record him. Mark has that too.” I’ve ever done,” he says. “When I play my last album next to some- But despite Chabon’s big contributions, it’s the American South that looms thing contemporary it’s obvious we recorded all of our drums with largest over the record. “The music that we love has its roots in the South,” one mic. This time around, I wanted that shit to sound tough, Ronson says. “Whether rock or gospel, that’s where all our shit comes from.” crisp — and f—ing massive.” PLAYLIST John Mellencamp, went to FYE after school and it hadn’t “Jack & Diane” come out yet. I had to wait until [1998 “Battle Creek had a album] Devil Without a Cause came out balloon festival on the to get it.” FRANKIE 4th of July and they would always play ‘Jack & Diane.’ When Bob Seger, “Mainstreet” I hear it, I get snapped back to 12 “I can really relate BALLARD years old, feeling like I could take to the emotions he was over the world.” feeling; he was trying The Battle Creek, Mich., native, 31, to find who he was. He brought a “Detroit country” vibe to Kid Rock, “Cowboy” also does that in ‘Like a Rock’ — he the rising-hit title track from his “Even though it’s a lot reaches back to those tender years. Warner Music Nashville LP Sunshine & more rock’n’roll, it I love thinking back to me as an Whiskey (No. 2 on the Nov. 22 Country has that same groove as 18-year-old.” Airplay chart), so it’s no surprise ‘Sunshine & Whiskey.’ that the music of his early years was The first time I heard it I was like, ZZ Top, “Heard It on the X” his biggest inspiration. ‘This is going to be a huge hit. ‘I “Billy Gibbons is my favorite guitar Ballard 38 BILLBOARD | NOVEMBER 22, 2014 WorldMags.net.

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