Chuck Morris in his rare Caribou Ranch Studios t-shirt – and snazzy glasses!
Chuck Morris: My latest rock T shirt and glasses. What I can say about the legendary Caribou Ranch studios built and run by Chicago implant and multi brilliant music man Jim Guercio.(he has been a great friend for years). Built and run by Jimmie – his background is amazing. A Chicago musician and producer. The producer of the early Chicago albums, The Buckinghams and Blood Sweat and Tears as well as managing The Beach Boys, occasionally playing with them (remember him playing bass with them on the 2 shows Fey and I did in Denver and Salt Lake – blown away by his playing). Caribou, in my opinion, was The Abby Road of the U.S. Above Nederland, Colorado, this secluded studio had beautiful cabins for artists. One of the best studios in the world which was available 24 hours a day with a first class chef, horses for the artists to use, a lake to swim and fish, etc., etc.
Some of the artists who recorded there were Joe Walsh and Barnstorm (first band to record there), Elton John, who recorded several records including his record called Caribou, Dan Fogelberg (who did a bunch of records there), Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, The Beach Boys (who actually lived there for a while), Amy Grant, Carole King, Stephen Stills, etc., etc.
[I] spent a ton of time up there watching friends record, taking some artists friends to see the studio who were considering recording there.Best little stories: Billy Joel, who had played my club Ebbets Field on The Piano Man tour, was recording at the ranch and wanted to try out the songs he was recording and called with a week’s notice to play the club . He was much bigger then and we sold out the club in 5 minutes. Amazing night!
Went and hung out with my Dirt Band when they were mixing a record there. Best story when we did the famed U2 red rocks show (Under A Blood Red Sky) at Red Rocks. I actually was invested in the video along with Fey and a bunch of others. Band didn’t have enough money to do video without help. Band was not that big then and that video and record were responsible for making them superstars. Went the next day to hang with band and producer Steve Lillywhite mix the recording at Caribou.
In a special edition of Rolling Stone with the 50greatest moments in Rock and Roll they mention that event and mention a few years before when the band played their first show in Denver at The Rainbow Music Hall. They mentioned I took the band in the back of my open Jeep up to Red Rocks and told them some day they would play there(they weren’t that big yet). Rick Werple and his company TTS produced the video and did an amazing job.
Guercio sometimes produced the albums at his ranch and sometimes other producers produced some of the records The studio burned down in 1986 and was never rebuilt. Jimmie continued to live there and in the last few years sold the property. Jimmie and his son are on The Colorado Music Hall of Fame Board.
Comments:
John Carsello: Caribou Ranch was the best destination studio in the world. Elton said much classier then the Chateau. Yes, it was! Elton, three albums, also hit single, Philadelphia Freedom! Chicago, six albums! The list goes on! I spent eleven wonderful years there, working with Jimmy, also booking the studio, with an awesome staff of employees and engineers. Thanks, Chuck, for this post! The glasses and shirt – can’t be beat!!!
Caroline Hogue: Michael [Murphy] and I loved Caribou when he was recording there. That studio is where Michael recorded “Wildfire” and the rest of the album “Blue Sky, Night Thunder”. We had Ryan with us at that time, and I think he was 5 years old. Michael was in the studio recording, and I was walking with Ryan from our cabin down to the studio, and a huge bird of prey flew through the almost-dark sky and landed on the top of the studio roof and sat there. It was hard to see what bird it was, but in Native American culture it’s an incredibly good sign. It was exciting for all of us!
(Reprinted with Mr. Morris’ permission. Thank you so much, Chuck!)