I caught up with Ed Muirhead – Dundee singer-songwriter/composer about his new album ‘People Like Us’ and the trip he took to the USA to record.
What made you go to USA for recording?
I had been planning a road-trip along Route 66 for years, (I’ve been in the USA 15 times previously due to work) – and just got round to booking flights, etc, to celebrate my 50th birthday this year – plus 2026 is the 100th anniversary of Route 66 – so I reckoned I would have a musical adventure at the same time! I visited Chicago, St Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Clarksdale, Muscle Shoals and much more, popping in to iconic studios, museums and landmarks along the way. I’ve always been inspired by American music, too many names to list here – but I thought I’d see if it was possible to record in the US while I was travelling through…
How did you find the right producer/studio to work with?
I struck it lucky first time – I emailed Derek at Prime Recording in Nashville, asked to book in for a couple of hours, and he got straight back and said that would be cool. He is so down-to-earth and friendly, it was easy to get things organised. I found out later his credits include several Taylor Swift albums, when she recorded all her own versions, plus many other artists from Nashville and further afield.
How was your experience?
The road-trip overall was fantastic, so many good things to see and do, cool people and great memories – and the recording session was the highlight – an amazing experience! I went there with 13 songs I’d written, thinking I’d do a few in the time I had booked. After everything was set up, we ended up recording vocals and piano for all 13 tracks within 2.5 hours. Most of them were one take, a few times I re-sang a verse or chorus if needed. It was a very efficient way to record, getting them all in one session, rather than taking days to record… Plus, paying for a top Nashville studio & engineer really focused my mind!
What should people know about this album?
This is my ninth vocal album – and the second half of a pair – last year I released “Lucky for so long” (07.07.25) – with 13 songs starting with letters A-M – and this one comes out exactly a year later (07.07.26) with songs N-Z. These song titles began as a fun project while walking my dogs – I was coming up with random sentences and ideas, and spotted part of an alphabetical series – so continued this until I had three alphabets of titles. Then I picked my favourites for each letter and put together songs for them. A couple came from my notebooks – eg: “Time to change” is from 1995/6, I’d never performed or recorded it yet, and “Riots, riots” is from 2011 – all the rest were written especially for this project.
Is there any tracks you are particularly proud of?
“Open your mind” is great – it’s so optimistic and forward-looking, and it’s an encouragement to me and anyone else listening to broaden horizons. “See what you can do” is a jazz track along similar lines, I love the lyrics, and improvised a piano solo on the first take – plus I was delighted to have a guest musician on this: the wonderful Seth Bennett plays upright double bass on this. I recorded all the additional instruments back home in Dundee, that was a fun process, weaving new sounds alongside the Nashville vocals and piano.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to travel abroad to record?
Go for it! In this case, as part of a bigger trip it really raised the enjoyment level up a few notches. I run my own wee recording studio (2nd hand studio), and it was a great learning experience on that side too, soaking up as much as I could from such an experienced engineer. It’s got me considering another trip elsewhere for a future album, though I’ve yet to find one that’s as accessible or laid-back as Prime.
