Music

David Kershenbaum remembers the first time he heard Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” The Grammy-nominated producer, who was well regarded for his work with such acts as Joe Jackson, Cat Stevens and Joan Baez, had been asked to meet with Chapman at music executive Charles Koppelman’s New York office to discuss producing her debut album after Koppelman’s son, Brian, had discovered her while in college in Boston. 

“I had already been sent six or seven songs, most of them which ended up on [Chapman’s 1988 self-titled debut album on Elektra Records], but ‘Fast Car’ wasn’t one of them,” he recalls. “The second day we met, she said ‘I’ve got this other song I’m just finishing. Can I play it for you?’ What are you going to do when you hear something like that? I knew it could be so touching and massive and huge. But this wasn’t the necessarily the time for this kind of music. The things that were happening around that time were something totally different. Acts like Whitney Houston, Aerosmith and Terence Trent Darby were topping the charts. So, I felt if people had a chance to listen to it and hear it, it was going to touch them, but whether that would be possible or not. I didn’t know at that time.”

Kershenbaum’s instincts were right. The acoustic song, released in April 1988, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Chapman’s impassioned delivery on the gritty tale about a young woman looking for a better life but finding herself stuck in destructive family patterns earned the singer/songwriter a Grammy Award for best female pop vocal performance and MTV Video Music Award for best female video. Kershenbaum and Chapman also received Grammy nominations for record of the year and album of the year. 

A number of other artists have cut “Fast Car” since then, but none with more fanfare than country superstar Luke Combs, who included his faithful rendition on 2023’s Gettin’ Old. His version, not originally intended to be a single, connected with fans and became a massive smash, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart, making it the first song ever written by a solo black woman to top that chart. Chapman and Combs performed the song on the Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, marking Chapman’s first live television appearance since 2015. Kershenbaum was there.

 In his first interview since the Grammy Awards, Kershenbaum talks about making the landmark album and seeing their classic song come to life again. (He and the reclusive Chapman have remained in touch through the decades: “She’s a dear friend,” he says. “And besides the wonderful success we’ve had together, I love her as a person. We talk all the time.”)

You weren’t the first producer to work with her on the self-titled album, were you? 

That’s a little bit of a funny story, because we recorded the first whole week. I don’t know if people realize that, but those vocals and the playing on those tracks was live. She didn’t go back and punch in and fix things. I mean, that’s Tracy. I think that’s where a lot of the emotion came from. But at the end of the first week, we’d recorded three songs a day and we really didn’t talk a whole lot. She was very polite, but kind of shy. I said, “Well, Tracy, would did you think? Are you happy with the way it’s going?” And she said, “Well, it’s so much better this time.” I said, “This time?” I didn’t know there had been another time. 

You didn’t know there had been two previous producers? 

No. It was a magical session. Everything came together. “Fast Car” was one of the only records I have produced in my career that when it was finished and mixed, I listened back, and it was as perfect as I could ever remember a record being. Something so complex, yet so simple. As a producer, I would not have changed anything. 

Acoustic folk songs weren’t in vogue then. Was there a pivotal point that drove the song? 

The Nelson Mandela 70^th birthday tribute concert [in June 1998 in London] changed everything. She had played “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution,” but then something happened to Stevie Wonder’s equipment and he couldn’t play. So, she basically filled in the slot, because it was just her and guitar, and she played “Fast Car.” That’s where everything really kind of took off.

Why do you think the song resonated so much with people? 

To this day people will come up to me and tell me they know exactly where they were and who they were with when they first heard it. Even what they were wearing because it touched them at such a deep level. Tracy’s got just an emotion in her voice and when she sings, it’s very commanding.

But if you couple that with the lyrics, I think one of the reasons that it connected with Luke — and it could connect 20 years from now again — is that everybody has been in a situation at one time in their life that was impossible. At some sort of a crossroads, a roadblock, and they had to make a decision whether to stay in that or leave. Get in a fast car and drive away. That emotion in that situation [is] timeless. And then, of course, Tracy’s vocals were just magnificent. I still hear that song as I heard it the first time and it never wears out on me. 

What did you think when you heard Tracy and Luke together at Grammy rehearsals?

It was so touching because I heard it in the rehearsals at SIR [Studio] and then I was in the remote truck when they were doing the dress rehearsals for the Grammys and then I was sitting down in the front when they actually did it [on the telecast]. It gave me chills every time I heard it. Luke and Tracy, the chemistry was so perfect together. He’s a very, very strong singer.

And I just loved watching his facial expressions, because of knowing how he heard the song growing up with his father playing it in the truck. This was one of the things that really influenced him to want to be in music and sing. It was beyond just the performance, there was some magic going on there. [At the Grammys], the minute they [showed] her guitar and her hand playing that riff, the whole place just exploded and it was just so exciting and gratifying. That’s the only way to describe it.

How did you get involved in the Grammy performance? 

It basically was a conversation between Tracy and I. My role was to support. I wasn’t there to change anything or make suggestions. I went in on Thursday [Feb. 1], which was one of the last rehearsals. Tracy and the guys in the rehearsal and Luke and his steel player basically did that arrangement, which I thought was great because one of the important things was to keep the integrity of the original song but add a little bit of country to it so that it was compatible with Luke’s genre. I thought that the violin and the steel did that beautifully.

I did get involved in listening to the actual broadcast audio. I was asked to do that. The rest of it was just to support and be there. I found Luke to be a marvelous person. I really respect his singing. Not everybody would blend like those guys blended. It was like they were made for each other.

Famed studio musicians drummer Denny Fongheiser and bassist Larry Klein, who played on the original “Fast Car” record, played with Tracy and Luke at the Grammys. How did they come to be on the recording? 

I realized that the record had to have space, and it had to be all about Tracy. From experience of working with acoustic artists, I know that when you add other players, it’s going to change, and it can be good or it may not be as good. I recorded Tracy and her guitar on a digital machine and I invited five studio drummers and five bass players to come play it and then I chose. I said, “Well, what about drums number one and bass player number four” and just kept going until I got to that combination.

The combination of Denny and Larry was the correct one. Many times, they are all that’s playing along with Tracy. It’s a third of the record. So, I had to be careful that they were really supporting what she was doing and not distracting because she had to be in at the forefront of this. 

Whose idea was it to have Denny and Larry on the Grammy show? 

Well, I did put them together, but Tracy wanted it to be that way. I work with them on productions even to this day. Part of this whole thing was Tracy’s reunion with these guys. She was very happy that they decided to play on the show. 

How do you think she felt about the Grammy performance? 

I don’t want to speak for Tracy, but the smile said it all. She was very fulfilled by it, I think. If you watched her when that first rift came on and the place exploded, the smile came over her face, she was so happy. And Luke, too. He looked at her a couple of times and it was just precious.

He would look over at her and just be mouthing the words, seemingly mesmerized by her. 

I know. He was. In fact, at one point, I forget who said it, they said, “Is Luke’s mic on?” This was during the dress rehearsal because he was mouthing the words, but we couldn’t hear anything. [Laughs.] It was just a moment for him and for Tracy for so many different reasons.

Have you seen the numbers since the Grammys? There were 949,000 official on-demand US streams just on Monday alone after the show. The digital song sales were up 38,400% from the week before.

I was speechless when I saw that. I could not believe it. I don’t even fathom what that means.

I think it means you’re going to get a big check.

That’s a beautiful thing [Laughs.]

Given the attention the song has gotten, are there opportunities for you to produce someone new that you may have wanted to produce? 

Yes. There has been a lot of velocity both on my Facebook page and through my website. Scott Siman, who manages Tim McGraw — his dad got me started in the music business. His dad was a music publisher, and I would go to Nashville when I was 12 and sit there with Chet Atkins and listen to Porter Wagner and Dolly Parton and all on them record and just salivate. Later, I was able to work with Chet and co-produce something with him in Nashville. So, Nashville has a really dear quality to me because it all started there for me. 

Are you hinting that there may be some Nashville stuff coming up?

I didn’t say that. [Laughs.] I grew up with country music. I was from Missouri. We had a network show when I was a kid called Country Music Jubilee, and all the stars would come through, and I used to sit there in the first row and listen to all that stuff. I really love it. For some reason, I never did it. But if you listen to my records, a lot of them all they would need is a steel guitar and could easily be country. 

Are you and Tracy going to work together again? She hasn’t put out an album since 2008. 

I can’t answer for Tracy. I would love to.