The Business of Music

Hello again Steve and congratulations on the recording studio!  Great idea - wish there was something like that here in my hometown (Starkville, Mississippi). 

Regarding soundproofing - I have no practical suggestions, but I do have an anecdote:  A friend of mine is a high-energy acoustics engineer (he specializes in the properties and uses of sound frequencies way way way above audible range - very amazing stuff).

At his research facility there is an anechoic chamber (a super sound-absorbant & soundproofed room) that they use for various experiments.  All surfaces of the chamber are covered in the sound absorbing/proofing materials.  The floor that you walk on is wire mesh suspended above the proofing materials on the floor.

Once you are in the chamber and the access door is closed, it is the creepiest thing in the world.  There is absolutely no resonence - no ambient sound - no 'sonic presence' in the space.  Even your own voice sounds completely different in there - it is as if your ears and brain have been rewired.  It was an eerie and memorable experience just to spend a few minutes alone in that chamber . . .

Yes!  "Starkville City Jail" is about when Mr. Cash spent a night in out local slammer for public drunkeness, disturbing the peace, and general misbehavior in the wee hours of the morning.

Of course, this was back in his hell-raising years (long before he became the stoic elder statesman and icon of grizzled wisdom).  Apparently, he was passed out drunk in the front-yard flower bed of a stately home occupied by a respectable member of the community.

They found it somewhat disturbing to have a drunken stranger in their yard and called the cops - hence the song.  There is also an Indigo Girls song that mentions our quaint little community, but I can't recall the title.