Listening for the B String: Eric Uglum, New Wine Studios, and the Sound of Bluegrass That Breathes

There are studios where the red light comes on and the air tightens like a courtroom. Then there are studios where someone calmly leans into the talkback mic and says, “Do you guys want to check tuning really quick? I think your B string has gone south a little.” The second kind tends to make the records that last.

That quiet moment lives at the center of Eric Uglum’s philosophy at New Wine Studios, a studio that began in Southern California in 1994 and now sits in Watertown, Tennessee, just outside Nashville. It also explains how a lifetime spent onstage became the foundation of a career spent helping other musicians sound like themselves.

A life that started onstage

Eric Uglum’s path into bluegrass began long before New Wine Studios existed. Born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and raised in Huntington Beach, California, he came up through the Southern California bluegrass scene at a time when the genre’s West Coast community was both tight-knit and ambitious. In 1982, he won the West Coast Flatpicking Guitar Championship, an early marker of a career defined by musicianship as much as technical curiosity.

Through the 1980s and ’90s, Uglum built a résumé that reads like a map of modern bluegrass connections. He performed with Weary Hearts alongside Ron Block, Mike Bub, Butch Baldassari, and Chris Jones, and later helped form New Wine with Ron and Sandra Block and Rob Ickes. He played in Copperline and toured internationally with Lost Highway, whose recordings included Ralph Stanley. Later collaborations included Chris Stuart & Backcountry and the family group Eric Uglum & Sons.

His solo album Shenandoah Wind featured Alison Krauss, Stuart Duncan, and Rob Ickes, names that signal just how deeply embedded he is in the genre’s musical community.

New Wine Studios began in Southern California in 1994 and eventually relocated to Tennessee, where it operates today as a recording, mixing, and mastering studio serving bluegrass, folk, and Americana artists.

The advantage of a producer who plays

Uglum’s dual identity as musician and engineer shapes the studio environment in ways artists immediately feel.

“The main asset of being an engineer who plays is the ear training that a player experiences is applicable to the production environment,” Uglum explained. “Being able to resolve small pitch and tuning issues will help the artist create a better product and save time in the studio.”

It’s a philosophy rooted in empathy. When the producer has been the person holding the instrument, the studio becomes a collaborative space instead of a technical proving ground.

From California beginnings to Tennessee home

New Wine Studios’ move to Tennessee reflects both personal and professional motivations.

“I always had the goal of moving out here,” Uglum said.

“While the business opportunities are great in Nashville, it was being closer to family, friends and grandkids that was the main motivator.

Of course, the general musicality of the players out here is very high and lots of fun to work with!”

Today, New Wine Studios serves a wide range of artists across bluegrass, folk, and Americana, with Uglum working as a recording, mixing, and mastering engineer and producer.

The danger of attempting perfection

Ask Uglum what defines a great modern bluegrass recording and the answer arrives quickly – and carefully.

“In bluegrass in particular and folk music in general, one must be careful not to over-produce,” Uglum deduced. “Modern recording technology allows editing forever and many projects end up having a perfect antiseptic sheen that doesn't really exist in the real world. All of my favorite historic recordings, The Stanley Brothers, Paul Brady, Tony Rice, James Taylor, etc. have some technical timing and pitch inconsistencies that don't affect the end product at all! Music should make you feel something and all those artists have done that regardless of the production process they used.”

Even the click track isn’t the standard, but a tool, and only when needed.

“The decision to use a click track can be a big problem for a bluegrass band that hasn't trained with it. 4/4 bluegrass will often have a strange feel if played to a click. This seems to be a result of the subdivisions in the banjo roll. The effect seems less in waltz ¾ time. The more the band can breathe rhythmically the better.”

Uglum feels that producing across generations offers a front-row seat to bluegrass evolution.

“The players just keep getting better and better. A young student has an incredible amount of instructional material and recordings to listen to that has really increased the state of the art. Sierra’s accurate and buttery mandolin tone is unique, Alison's vocal tone and pitch is amazing!”

Technology will continue to assist recording, but Uglum sees a steady center that won’t move.

“Traditional music will always be about the artist who actually plays and sings with good tone! No amount of studio tricks can replace that!”

At New Wine Studios, the microphones sit ready, the room holds quiet, and somewhere between the tuning check and the final take, we hear what recording was meant to do: capture a performance that feels alive.

https://ericuglum.com/