Jon Randall on how Circle Network's 'Landmarks' series preserves country music's legacies

Jon Randall is an Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association and Grammy Award-winning Texas-born "cosmic cowboy"-inspired singer/songwriter and producer with an outlaw spirit. Within that statement exists what has allowed his three-decade Nashville career to stretch from Emmylou Harris to Miranda Lambert, "Whisperin'" Bill Anderson to Dierks Bentley and beyond.

More than most, he's an ideal subject returning for the third season of the Circle Network's series, "Landmarks: The Stages of Country Music."

Notable in Randall's catalog are songwriting credits on 2005's Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss-recorded "Whiskey Lullaby" (2005 CMA Song of the Year), “Tin Man” by Miranda Lambert (2018 Song of the Year), plus an appearance on guitar and mandolin for Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers' 1992 Ryman-recorded Grammy-winning live album.

Circle's "Landmarks"' concept is that more than the artists, the creative spaces and venues in which their art is crafted and highlighted have remained timeless. Thus, acts like Jelly Roll, Ernest, Elle King, Priscilla Block, Maggie Rose, Ricky Skaggs and Randall visiting places like Blackbird Studios, The Stage and Studio A in Nashville, the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Sun Studios in Memphis and Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa can focus on the magic that elevates their art.

To The Tennessean, Randall describes his work as a "lifelong musician" who, though 54, has spent four decades in recording studios. Having a childhood spent around amplifiers and mixing boards stoked a perpetual obsession forwarded by time not spent in the studio staring at the backs of vinyl album covers like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 classic "WIll The Circle Be Unbroken." There, the Dallas native saw photos of faraway spaces like Woodland Studios in East Nashville, Tennessee.

“Everything about these venues -- the look, the sound, the artists who have played there before -- bring back so many memories of important times in my life,” Randall added via a press statement.

“[Spaces like] Blackbird Studios and Studio A [are where] some of the highlights of my career have happened.”

He feels that the "honest, reverential passion" that Circle Network has for spaces now, more often than not, being lost due to economics and technology rendering them obsolete, is necessary for preserving their existence.

Randall feels the series honors the fans' attachment to the art connected to performance spaces and studios by offering behind-the-scenes stories that deepen the "spiritual" connection between art, artist and consumer.

The uniqueness of truly classic spaces being created to allow for live sound's connectivity and power to be highlighted appropriately is notable, too. Randall feels that materials and notions that are frequently regarded as "vintage" are ultimately "timeless" because they create "authentically warm vibes" that enrich the listener's experience with the music.

Moreover, for Randall, being able to now, as an adult, routinely occupy space in Music City's rooms and stages that he saw in photographs as a child offers profound inspiration.

"Emmylou Harris jokes that there's still hillbilly dust all over [Nashville] that gets on your boots," Randall says, laughing.

"Country music's history still exists in physical form and it's still possible to stand and play in the same places where all of your favorite records were made. In many ways, that's how the torch that has allowed the genre to be so great for so long gets passed."

The responsibility of passing the awe of the surroundings that maintain the passion for the work in and appreciation of country music is [something I don't take lightly]," adds Randall definitively.

“Landmarks: The Stages of Country Music” airs new episodes each Wednesday through Nov. 29 at 11:30 p.m. ET.

Circle Network is a leading home for country music-friendly entertainment news, movies, new and licensed programming, and music performances -- including live performances from the Grand Ole Opry -- and is a joint venture between Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality Properties, and Gray Television.

The network is available via numerous portals and platforms, including DISH Network, SlingTV, Spectrum Cable, Frndly, the Circle Now App, plus Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Redbox, XUMO, and VIZIO SmartCast.

For more information, visit https://www.circleallaccess.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jon Randall on how Circle Network's 'Landmarks' series preserves country music's legacies