Bill Bottrell

Bill Bottrell has made contributions to many fine records as an engineer, songwriter, musician and producer. He engineered ELO's Secret Messages in 1983 and has engineered, mixed, produced, wrote or played on records by Tom Petty, Madonna, Traveling Wilburys, Tomas Dolby, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Kim Richey, Rosanne Cash, and many more. One of his first producing credits was on Madonna's I'm Breathless in 1990. Also in 1990, he produced the eponymous (and only) record by Toy Matinee, a mostly unheard release that remains interesting today. He then produced, engineered and played on three songs on Michael Jackson's Dangerous album in 1991. He produced Rusted Roots' breakout When I Woke in 1994.

In 1993 Bottrell wrote, played guitar and produced Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club. Bottrell and Crow won Grammys for Song of the Year for All I Wanna Do from that album. He returned to work with Crow on Detours in in 2008, where he wrote, played multiple instruments and produced. The record was considered a successful return to Crow's earlier sound. He mixed, co-produced and played on Rosanne Cash's Black Cadillac in 2006. He stayed busy thought the 2000s.

But it was in 1999 that Bottrell make his piece de resistance, producing, mixing, writing, and playing multiple instruments on Shelby Lynne's I Am Shelby Lynne. It isn't just Bottrell's greatest moment, it is also Shelby Lynne's. The songs are really great, Lynne's performance on vocals and backup vocals is astounding, the super clean recording and the massively dynamic mixing make for not only a wonderful listening experience, but a record worthy of helping to evaluate any stereo system no matter the cost. Remarkably, when it was reissued on vinyl in 2024, the dynamic range of the record was maintained.

Bill Bottrell won a Grammy and had eleven nominations during a long and successful career, and made several very memorable records. He's retired now, and I hope he is well and happy.