Music engineers Bell, Castle continue MTSU's legacy at Grammys
Middle Tennessee State University’s friends, students and administrators gathered in Los Angeles prior to Sunday’s 65th Grammys Awards to cheer on its five former students nominated for awards and deliver honors to two of them, Grammy-winning sound engineers Brandon Bell and Tony Castle.
Bell, a 2004 recording industry graduate, earned multiple nominations in this year’s awards for his mixing work on Brandi Carlile’s “In These Silent Days.” He was up for album of the year and best Americana album, plus record of the year for “You and Me on The Rock.”
During Sunday’s ceremony, Carlile won the award for Best Americana Album. She also earned the honors for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "Broken Horses." She also gave Bell two shout-outs from the Grammy stage in accepting her awards.
Also winning a Grammy Sunday was another MTSU recording industry alumnus and engineer Tony Castle, who earned his latest Grammy for perfecting icon Willie Nelson’s new country album, “A Beautiful Time.” Castle, a 1995 MTSU alumnus, has won two Grammys for engineering Nelson’s projects featuring the songs of George Gershwin and Frank Sinatra, respectively.
He was also among the 64th annual Grammys’ best traditional pop vocal album nominees with “That’s Life,” Nelson’s second tribute collection of Frank Sinatra’s music, and in the traditional blues album category that same year for engineering Blues Traveler’s release “Traveler’s Blues.”
Pre-Grammys rooftop gathering
President Sidney A. McPhee and College of Media and Entertainment Dean Beverly Keel presented Bell with a special certificate during MTSU’s traditional pre-Grammy gathering of recording industry executives and alumni in the music business. This year’s event was held Saturday afternoon, Feb. 4, on the rooftop of the Mama Shelter hotel near Hollywood.
“Brandon has been doing important work for years, so I am delighted that he received multiple nominations for this year’s Grammy Awards,” Keel said. “He is building a body of work that is shaping popular music and will stand the test of time.
“Brandi (Carlile) is one of the most important and influential artists in popular music. She could work with anyone in the industry, so her collaboration with Brandon speaks volumes about his excellence and reputation, as well as our internationally known audio production program.”
Bell, who grew up in a small Arkansas town, said his uncle, a sound engineer for a radio program, convinced him to attend MTSU.
“It was amazing, the campus was amazing,” he said of his time at MTSU. “To get to see that the depth of music really existed around MTSU, and in Murfreesboro specifically, and to get to learn that Nashville was a lot broader than just country music, it was an easy decision.”
Bell, who’s engineered projects for artists ranging from Amythyst Kiah to The Lonely Island to the Zac Brown Band, plus Aaron Raitiere’s new album, won the bluegrass album Grammy for mixing “Nobody Knows You,” the Steep Canyon Rangers’ 2012 release.
At the 64th Grammys last year, Bells' collaboration with Carlile’s album’s lead single, “Right on Time,” earned three nominations, including Record of the Year. Bell also mixed the 2021 best country album nominee “The Marfa Tapes” by Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.
Students on the red carpet
McPhee joined students and faculty on the red carpet at Friday’s exclusive MusiCares event honoring Motown founder Berry Gordy and Grammy-winning musical giant Smokey Robinson. Students on the red carpet were Tyra Akoto, a recording industry senior from Memphis; Brady Armstrong, an audio production senior from Edenton, North Carolina; Daniel Carter, a music business senior from Helena, Montana; Stephanie Hall, a media studies sophomore from Lenoir City; and Zoe Willott, a graduate student in recording arts and technologies from St. Louis. Sarah Oppmann, a journalism and theatre senior from Murfreesboro, was there as well, covering MTSU at the Grammys for student media.
In addition to McPhee and Provost Mark Byrnes, Keel and professors Odie Blackmon, Michelle Conceison and Cosette Collier connected with students and alumni at the Los Angeles events. McPhee and Byrnes hosted a reception in Santa Monica for MTSU’s Southern California alumni from all of its colleges.
Content provided by MTSU News and Media Relations.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Music engineers Bell, Castle continue MTSU's legacy at Grammys
