Lands Creek Studios - Media Mentions

Lands Creek Studios - the Smoky Mountain's newest full service audio recording facility

The following is an article reprinted from the October 9, 2003 edition of "The Smoky Mountain Times":
*'It's all about the groove'*
Fronraths, Floor making music in the mountains By Kyle Dixon Publisher Secluded on the far end of 56 green acres, past several solidly-built, well-maintained log cabins, past relaxing waters of Lands Creek sits a fairly common, simple barn-like structure. New and modern, but nothing fancy. Downstairs is a workout room for the guests who stay at Lands Creek Log Cabins. It’s a fairly typical setup for the mountains: log cabins, beautiful scenery, a place visitors come to relax and unwind and forget about their hopelessly hectic lives. The whole scene belies the fact that upstairs houses a recording studio normally reserved for a big city like New York, Detroit, Atlanta or Miami. But perhaps the best part about the whole scenario is an artist looking for a recording studio this decked out would have to travel into the heart of a big city; here, they can make the drive into the heart of serenity, where the pressure to perform is dissipated by the scene, cool mountain breezes and a relaxing creek that dares the visitor to hang on to tension. And that’s the whole point. It’s the vision of Robin and Sue Fronrath, who opened Lands Creek Studios in January of this year. The couple moved from south Florida three years a go to develop Lands Creek Log Cabins. So far, 12 cabins have been meticulously constructed, accented by Sue’s artistic touches. The recording studio wasn’t in the original plans when the Fronraths began developing Lands Creek. But after over 10 years in the family's successful car dealership in south Florida, plus getting the cabins built and open, it was time to get back to the original passion. “I always wanted a way to get back in music,” said Robin, 46, grew up with a love of all genres of music, toured with several bands and currently plays the drums for this studio band, Lands Creek Rhythm Section. “ The studio came as an idea to offer artists an alternative to the traditional recording process with a peaceful, creative, non-threatening atmosphere.” What the Fronraths offer is a state-of-the-art production studio, plus a place to relax and even bring along the family for recording and lodging for about the same cost as big-city studio time. Plus, they have Johnny Floor, Lands Creek Studios’ manager and studio engineer. While the Fronraths outfitted the place to hum with top-of-the-line equipment, Floor makes it work with his “musician's feel for the recording process and ‘keen sense’ for the strength of the project.” Floor moved up to Bryson City with his wife and blues vocalist, Karen, this year to head up the studio. The move also reunites Floor and Fronrath, good friends for 35 years.
	Local musical group Lilting Banshees, above, produced a CD called "Celtic Ensemble Bean Sidhe" at the recording studio of Robin and Sue Fronrath, which was orchestrated and produced by Johnny Floor, below-right, and Robin Fronrath. At bottom is the new studio which houses everything an individual or band would need to produce a top-quality album or CD.


	“Johnny understands what needs to be done. He’s the guy that makes it all happen,” said Fronrath. The crew envisions one day having artists coming in from across the country to record. The retreat-type setup, without missing the quality production, will likely be an easy sell when word gets out. But, for the local artists in western North Carolina, the opportunity to record is unprecedented. “What we’re able to provide to the local artists they would never be able to get this type of venue,” Fronrath said. Local bands and artists who have recorded at Lands Creek Studios are The Trinity Band (Christian Rock); Sawmill Creek Porch Band (Bluegrass-Progressive); Lilting Banshees (Traditional Scottish-Celtic); Shady Creek (Traditional Bluegrass); and Frank Lee (Southern Bluegrass).