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Vance Powell is an American six-time Grammy Award winning record producer, engineer and mixer.^[1]^[2] His credits include Phish, Chris Stapleton, Jack White, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, Wolfmother, Deadly Apples, Seasick Steve, Black Prairie, The Revivalists, Tinariwen, JEFF the Brotherhood, Illiterate Light,^[3] Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes, and Martina McBride, among many others.^[4]^[5]

Life and career

Powell made his start in live sound, touring with local Missouri bands as a front of house engineer. In 1986, he conducted his first professional studio recording session as an engineer at Rick Massey's 'Massey Studio', stepping in for the main engineer who was sick at the time. That same year he became the studio's engineer.^[1] In 1990-'93 he took a position at Lou Whitney's Column One Studio in Springfield, MO. as second engineer, recording scores of regional bands and artists. Shortly after, Powell moved to Nashville, TN, accepting a position as a monitor engineer for Tammy Wynette. The position turned into Production Manager/Front of House (FOH) Engineer, which he did until 1997, when he joined global sound reinforcement company, Clair Brothers Audio.^[6]^[7]

In 1998, he started a long relationship with Jars of Clay; he took a front of house position that continued through 2002. During that time several recording projects with them emerged, including their full length 2002 release (and 2003 Grammy Award winner) "The Eleventh Hour".^[6]

In early 2002, John McBride asked him to help build and run Blackbird Studio, a single room semi-private facility for his wife, country music superstar Martina McBride.^[8] The single room semi-private facility soon became an eight-room world class facility hosting projects such as Neil Young's “Heart of Gold” motion picture soundtrack and The Dixie Chicks' six time Grammy Award-winning “Taking the Long Way”.^[6]^[9] Powell remained the Chief Engineer at Blackbird for seven years.^[2]

Projects outside of Blackbird soon beckoned, and Powell began working extensively with Jack White's groups including The Raconteurs, The White Stripes, and The Dead Weather, as well as many of White's production jobs such as Wanda Jackson's "The Party Ain't Over", as well as Jack White and Alicia Keys' production of "Another Way to Die" from the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.^[10]^[11]

Powell is the co-owner of Sputnik Sound, a recording and mixing facility he set up in 2006 together with producer/engineer Mitch Dane. Powell met White for the first time in 2006, when he worked on Danger Mouse and Daniel Luppi's Rome album, on which White guested.^[10] Recent Sputnik Sound projects include Phish, Tinariwin, Seasick Steve, Leagues, Bobby Bare, Jr., Red Fang, De Staat, Diarrhea Planet, A Thousand Horses, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Wolfmother, Arctic Monkeys and Chris Stapleton.

Awards

Powell has won four Grammy Awards for his work on the albums listed below.^[4]^[1]^[10]^[12]

Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour (Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album 2002), engineer.
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely (Best Engineered Album, non-classical 2009), engineer & mixer - shared with Joe Chiccarelli and Jack White.
Buddy Guy - Living Proof (Best Contemporary Blues Album 2011), engineer.
Chris Stapleton - "Traveller" (Best Country Album 2015), engineer & mixer.

In 2015, Chris Stapleton's album "Traveller" won three Country Music Association Awards (CMAs) including "Album of The Year" and "New Artist of The Year". The album also received Grammy nominations for Album Of The Year, Best Country Song, Best Country Album (win), Best Country Solo Performance (win). The album was engineered and mixed by Powell.^[13]^[14]^[12]

Selected discography

The production, engineering and mixing discography for Vance Powell is as follows.^[15]

Year	Artist	Album	Label	Producer	Engineer	Mixer
2022	Chris Shiflett	Long, Long Year	East Beach Records & Tapes	Y
2020	Phish	Sigma Oasis^[16]	JEMP Records	Y
2018	Clutch	Book of Bad Decisions	Weathermaker Music	Y	Y
2015	Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown	The Wayside	Vervatos/Republic	Y	Y	Y
	The Revivalists	Men Amongst Mountains	Wind-Up			Y
	Chris Stapleton	Traveller	Mercury		Y	Y
	JEFF the Brotherhood	Wasted on the Dream	Infinity Cat			Y
	Elle King	"America's Sweetheart" from Love Stuff	RCA			Y
	Seasick Steve	Sonic Soul Surfer	BMG		Y	Y
	The Whistles & The Bells	The Whistles & The Bells	+180		Y	Y
2014	Tinariwen	Emmaar	ANTI-			Y
	Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes	Kid Tiger	Deer Head		Y	Y
	Black Prairie	Fortune	Sugar Hill	Y	Y	Y
	The Dirty Guv'nahs	Hearts on Fire	Summertown			Y
	Peter Bradley Adams	The Mighty Storm	I Me Mine			Y
	Bobby Bare, Jr.	Undefeated	Bloodshot		Y	Y
	Dirk Powell	Walking Through Clay	Bloodshot		Y	Y
2013	The Almost	Fear Inside Our Bones	Tooth & Nail			Y
	Insane Clown Posse	Forgotten Freshness, Vol. 5	Psycopathic		Y	Y
	Sturgill Simpson	High Top Mountain	High Top Mountain		Y	Y
	De Staat	I Con	Cool Green Records			Y
	Seasick Steve	Hubcap Music	Third Man		Y	Y
	Moon Taxi	Mountains Beaches Cities	BMG			Y
	LeAnn Rimes	Spitfire	Curb			Y
	Kings of Leon	Live At The O2 (DVD)	RCA			Y
	Various Artists	The Great Gatsby O.S.T.	Interscope		Y	Y
	Caitlin Rose	The Stand-In	ATO			Y
	Red Fang	Whales and Leeches	Relapse			Y
	North Mississippi Allstars	World Boogie Is Coming	Songs of the South			Y
	Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown	Wild Child	Carved		Y
	Leagues	You Belong Here	Bufalatone		Y	Y
2012	Jack White	Blunderbuss	Third Man		Y	Y
	The Whigs	Enjoy the Company	New West		Y
	Keb' Mo'	Keb Mo/Keep It Simple	Sony		Y
	Andrew Osenga	Leonard, the Lonely Astronaut	1010 Distribution			Y
	Andrew Peterson	Light for the Lost Boy	Centricity			Y
	Buddy Guy	Live at Legends	RCA	Y
	The Kicks	Tonight Changes Everything	The Kicks		Y	Y
	Pujol	United States of Being	Saddle Creek			Y
2011	Red Fang	Murder the Mountains	Relapse			Y
	Deadly Apples	Petty				Y
	Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi	Rome	Rome		Y
	Chris Thile	Sleep with One Eye Open	Nonesuch		Y	Y
	Wanda Jackson	The Party Ain't Over			Y	Y
	Bobby Bare, Jr.	A Storm, A Tree, My Mother's Head	Thirty Tigers			Y
	Johnny Gimble	Celebrating with Friends	CMH		Y
2010	The Whigs	In the Dark	ATO/Red		Y	Y
	Buddy Guy	Living Proof	Jive		Y
	The Dead Weather	Sea of Cowards	Warner Bros.		Y	Y
	John Cowan	The Massenburg Sessions	Koch		Y
	Karen Elson	The Ghost Who Walks	XL		Y	Y
	Andrew Belle	The Ladder	101 Distribution			Y
	The White Stripes	Under Great White Northern Lights	Warner Bros.			Y
	Hillsong	Yahweh	EMI			Y
2009	The Dead Weather	Horehound	Independent		Y	Y
	Seasick Steve	Man from Another Time	Rykodisc			Y
	John Rich	Son of a Preacher Man	Warner Bros.		Y
	Jars of Clay	The Long Fall Back to Earth	Provident		Y
	Willie Nelson	Willie and the Wheel	Bismeaux		Y
2008	Jessica Simpson	Do You Know	Epic		Y
	Jewel	Perfectly Clear	Valory		Y
	Jack White & Alicia Keys	"Another Way to Die" from Quantum of Solace O.S.T.	Capitol		Y	Y
2007	Jars of Clay	Christmas Songs	Nettwerk		Y	Y
	The White Stripes	Conquest	Warner Bros.		Y
	Caedmon's Call	Overdressed	Ino/Columbia		Y
2006	Poor Rich Folk	Love Is A Bullet	Independent		Y	Y
2006	Matt Dusk	Back in Town	Decca		Y
2005	Big & Rich	Comin' to Your City	Warner/Reprise		Y