Tom Markham at Warehouse Studio (2020) – photo © Bob Self
Jacksonville, FL recording engineer Tom Markham, who tracked The Stanley Brothers for three days in 1960, has died. He passed away quietly in his sleep on April 22 at 88 years of age.
Together with his partner, Tom Rose, Markham owned and operated Magnum Studios in Jacksonville. Markham was the engineering and sound guy, while Rose handled the business side of things.
The Stanley Brothers were living in north Florida in 1960, performing on radio and television shows sponsored by Jim Walter Homes. Markham and Rose approached Carter and Ralph at a live show and asked if they might be interested in recording at their new studio in Jacksonville, just a few miles from Live Oak.
Little did the young studio operators know, that The Stanley Brothers owed a number of sides to Starday Records, and were eager to satisfy the contract. Magnum was a startup project located in a garage with a concrete floor. Having worked with more professional facilities for Mercury and Columbia Records, it was a gamble to cut songs with Tom and Tom. But these were two clever young men, who managed to accommodate Carter and Ralph by experimenting with microphone placement.
The Stanleys spent three nights at Magnum Studio in the late spring of 1960, recording perhaps 15-20 songs, the 12 best of which were submitted to Starday. Among them was what was to become a classic, their recording of Rank Stranger, written by Albert Brumley. Starday released it that August, and it became perhaps the most popular Stanley Brothers song to play live, recorded in a garage in Jacksonville.
Tom Rose tells us that his partner was something of a technical wizard in the studio, going way back.
“The recording industry standard for echo in the ’50s was a system by the German company, Telefunken. It cost thousands of dollars, well beyond the Magnum budget. For less than $100, Tom designed (and we built) an echo chamber using a recycled underground fuel tank. The sound that it produced got attention from the big studios in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. The top industry engineers asked, ‘How did you get that sound?!?’ Tom was an innovative genius.”
In addition to The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys, Magnum Studio recorded music from artists as diverse as Slim Whitman, Hoot Gibson, and Red Henry of Red and Murphy & Co. Later at Warehouse Studio, Tom recorded the very first album for Lynyrd Skynyrd.
In 1975, Markham opened Warehouse Studio, which he operated until 2005.
Markham’s wife, Elsie, says that he had many other passions outside of recording.
“Tom lived a very exciting life full of many diverse adventures. These included building a working submarine with his cousin Kent … flying his J Piper Cub airplane … riding his many motorcycles … sailing on the St. John’s River on his sailboat, Huggy Bear … and last but not least, building and operating rideable live steam engines with his Steam Team buddies.”
Nancy Markham, Tom’s daughter, who loved him deeply, and current studio owner Ryan Turk, will host an informal Celebration of Life on May 18 at the old Warehouse Studio location in Jacksonville from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
R.I.P., Tom Markham.
