RCA Studio B (Home of a Thousand Hits)

RCA Studio B opened in 1957 on what was then a quiet residential block that would become the heart of Nashville's recording industry. It was designed and built at the direction of guitarist and producer Chet Atkins and RCA executive Steve Sholes, who wanted a facility that could compete with what New York and Los Angeles were producing and do so on Music Row's terms. Over the following two decades it produced a volume and concentration of hit records that has never been matched by any single studio in American music history — more than a thousand charted recordings emerged from this room, earning it the name "Home of a Thousand Hits."

Elvis Presley recorded at Studio B more than anywhere else, returning repeatedly between 1958 and 1971. The sessions produced some of his most beloved work: "Are You Lonesome Tonight," "It's Now or Never," "Return to Sender," "Little Sister," "She's Not You," and dozens more. Roy Orbison recorded "Oh, Pretty Woman" in this room. The Everly Brothers worked here. So did Dolly Parton in her early sessions, Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Willie Nelson in his pre-Texas incarnation, and Floyd Cramer, whose distinctive piano style was partly shaped by the room's acoustic character. The list of artists runs to hundreds; the list of hit songs runs off the page.

The studio closed for commercial recording in 1977. Country Music Hall of Fame later acquired and restored it, operating it today as a museum and occasional recording venue. Visitors can stand on the studio floor and in the original control room, with the vintage Steinway piano and the original recording equipment still in place. It is one of the few surviving first-generation Music Row recording rooms and one of the most historically significant music buildings in the world.