Julian King is a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

mix engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

, record producer and musician based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. In one capacity or another, he has been involved with records that have sold more than 100 million units (see listing below). King has worked with some of the most notable artists in country music, such as

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

and

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

. Other artists he has worked with include

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

Charlie Daniels Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Dev ...

Hank Williams, Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

Clint Black Clint Patrick Black (born February 4, 1962) is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 1989, Black's debut album '' Killin' Time'' produced four straight number one singles on the ...

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocat ...

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...

Brooks & Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were solo ...

, Toby Keith, Alabama and The Judds. His credits also extend to some of the hottest young acts in country music today, such as

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

, Chris Young, Kellie Pickler, Lauren Alaina and Casey James. King earned a Grammy as the recording engineer of Faith Hill's multi-million-selling, pop-crossover album ''Breathe''.

History

Raised by school principal parents in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

, King attended nearby James Madison University as a music major, with a plan to become a session trumpet player, but his true calling was tied to using technology to reproduce music. In 1987, during his junior year at college, he landed an internship working as "an assistant to the assistant" engineer at recording sessions for producer Jimmy Bowen. King learned quickly and was told a job would be there for him when he graduated the following year. Working under producer Bowen, King was instantly in sessions with such country superstars as

. While working on an album with

, King was teased by the star for being a trumpeter. Eventually, Daniels not only asked King to play trumpet on the record, he paid for King to join the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

union. In time, King became a favorite of top producers James Stroud and

Byron Gallimore Byron Gallimore (born in Puryear, Tennessee) is an American record producer known for more than two decades of work in the field of country music. He has worked with artists Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sugarland, Lee Ann Womack, and Jo Dee Messina. F ...

. Some of the earliest Number One hits King engineered were the career-launching singles by Tracy Lawrence and Clay Walker. One of his favorite projects from those early years is the 1992

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

CD ''

Seminole Wind ''For the song see Seminole Wind (song)'' ''Seminole Wind'' is the twelfth studio album by American country music artist John Anderson, released on February 11, 1992. This is also known as his comeback album. It features the singles: "Who Got ...

''. In 1993, he was tapped to engineer the disc debut of the then-unknown

. King has engineered every Tim McGraw album since that time. He also helped create the sound that kick-started Toby Keith's career. King was behind the board for '' Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles'', an album that won the CMA Award as Album of the Year for 1994. Stroud brought him on board as a co-producer in 1998, and King delivered "I'm Yours" as a hit for Grammy-winning singer Linda Davis. In the following year came Faith Hill's ''Breathe'', which earned King his own Grammy Award. Noting his increasing prominence, ''Mix'' magazine profiled Julian King in 2001. Since then, King has produced "

I Should Be Sleeping "I Should Be Sleeping" is a song written by Shaye Smith and Lisa Drew, and recorded by Canadian country music group Emerson Drive. It was released in October 2001 as their first single from their debut self-titled album, '' Emerson Drive''. The s ...

" and "Only God (Could Stop Me Loving You)" as 2001–2002 hits for Emerson Drive. In 2007, King reunited with Tracy Lawrence and co-produced the star's CMA Award-winning hit "

Find Out Who Your Friends Are "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" is a song written by Casey Beathard and Ed Hill, and recorded by American country music artist Tracy Lawrence. It was the lead-off single for his album ''For the Love'', which was released in early 2007 on Rocky Com ...

". He has also continued to work constantly as an engineer, notably on Lee Ann Womack's 2005 CMA Album of the Year ''

There's More Where That Came From ''There's More Where That Came From'' is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Lee Ann Womack, released in 2005. It received numerous awards and critical acclaim and was also Womack's highest selling album since 2000's ''I Hope Y ...

'' and on the multi-million selling discs of two-time CMA Group of the Year,

. King engineered the two most recent albums by Chris Young which produced a string of five consecutive #1 hits, as well as albums by Kix Brooks (formerly of

) and '' American Idol'' finalists Kellie Pickler, Lauren Alaina and Casey James.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julian-King-Music/285140874926953?sk=info Most recently, King has been involved in producing Tyler Farr's debut album for Sony/BNA.

Awards

*1999 – Grammy Award – Best Country Album for Faith Hill's ''Breathe'' *2007 – CMA Award – Musical Event of the Year for Tracy Lawrence's ''

'', with

and Kenny Chesney

Credits

Production

Engineering/Mixing

References

External links

Discography at AllMusic.com

Discography at AlbumCredits.com

Julian King Feature in Mix Magazine, 2001

Grammy Awards winners
at Grammy.com (searchable database) {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Julian Year of birth missing (living people) Living people James Madison University alumni American audio engineers American country record producers Businesspeople from Charlottesville, Virginia Engineers from Virginia