Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Music producer makes new home in Santa Fe

SANTA FE, NM (KRQE) – A music producer based in Santa Fe is one of the minds behind the album of the year at this year’s Grammys. News 13 got a look at his new studio that he hopes will be an escape for local artists he works with.

“We were just over the moon about it and didn’t even really know what to make of it,” says Marc Whitmore. “Still don’t, necessarily.”

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Whitmore is a Grammy winner, working on Jon Batiste’s album “We Are,” which took home the coveted Album of the Year award at Sunday’s Grammys. That album took Whitmore across the country.

“For example, we went to New Orleans because we had to put choir and a few other bigger sounding instruments on a song. Things that he couldn’t really accomplish in his dressing room,” says Whitmore.

He’s now taking his skills and his Grammy to his new studio, north of Santa Fe. “I actually used these, this one, to record Jon,” adds Whitmore.

He’s been based in Nashville wearing many different hats as a producer, engineer, and mixer. “We were looking for something different from Nashville – this just seemed like a really cool place to make music,” he says.

Whitmore says the goal of moving to New Mexico was to create a destination for artists to escape and make music. “I really want it to be a place where people can come out and create, truly relax, and find something that they can’t somewhere else,” Whitmore says.

And Whitmore’s gotten positive feedback. “So far, everyone that I’ve told I’m opening a studio in Santa Fe have been very excited about it because they’re looking to get out in the middle of nowhere and just relax and record,” he says.

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While he plans on working with some big-name artists, he’s also shining a light on local talent, including one artist he saw when he first moved to New Mexico. “The one that I really worked with is John Francis and the Poor Clares,” says Whitmore. “Really great band here in town. They’re actually the first show I saw in Santa Fe and I was like, I gotta record you guys.”

Whitmore says he’s found a welcoming new home in New Mexico. “We really love it here, it’s beautiful. The people are wonderful,” he says.

Whitmore said working with Batiste was experimental, collaborative, and unforgettable.

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