Inside Sacramento’s secret recording studio. ‘Here it’s all just music’

The Abridged version:

• Musicians in the Sacramento area find collaboration and community inside of Warm and Fuzzy Music.
• The discreet music studio hides in a garage behind a home in a residential Woodlake neighborhood.
• The studio thrives on combining the right atmosphere, the right people and the freedom to follow an idea somewhere unexpected.

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Pianist Christian Celis sat at a piano, working through an ascending phrase from Debussy’s “Girl with the Flaxen Hair.” The dreamy composition seemed out of place at Warm and Fuzzy Music, a Sacramento studio known more for soul, funk and roots music than classical repertoire.

Then studio owner Billy Thompson removed his headphones and played the full track through the speakers.

The classical melody now floated over a neo-soul groove anchored by bassist Sam Phelps and drummer Courtney Miller, both members of the band behind The Philharmonik, Sacramento’s NPR Tiny Desk-winner.

Standing in the middle of the room was guitarist and songwriter Darius Upshaw, who toured with The Philharmonik and played guitar on the group’s Tiny Desk performance. Upshaw booked the session to build on some rough tracks and enlist Thompson and Celis in the musical journey.

Upshaw described an idea to reharmonize the iconic theme. Celis, a piano teacher and Thompson’s former college roommate, tried a few chords that weren’t quite right.

Suddenly, one key on the piano stopped working. As a work-around, Celis shifted the phrase into a higher register.  “There it is,” Thompson said, nodding and smiling at the kind of creative serendipity that keeps him excited about making records.

Nicole Gentry — singer, pianist, event producer and former violist — worked quietly on a laptop while somehow missing nothing. “Play it like your fingers are dancing,” she suggested.

Nearby sat singer Kaitlyn Wiens, a recent transplant from Spokane, Washington, who said she was “getting connected to the music scene here” in real time.

The scene revealed something essential about Warm and Fuzzy Music. This wasn’t merely a room full of musicians recording a song. It was a shared exploration.

That spirit of exploration is what Thompson hoped to create when he built Warm and Fuzzy. Inspired by legendary studios such as Stax Records in Memphis and Muscle Shoals in Alabama, he envisioned a place that combined professional recording capabilities with something less tangible: the right atmosphere, the right people and the freedom to follow an idea somewhere unexpected.

“It was that pursuit of creating the right chemistry in the building itself so that the artist can get inspired and catch a feeling when they’re in there,” Thompson said.

Warm and Fuzzy sits behind Thompson’s home, tucked away in a residential Woodlake neighborhood in North Sacramento. Vintage keyboards and a sea of old effects boxes share space with modern recording technology. Instruments wait within arm’s reach. Colorful artwork and earth-toned furnishings soften the room.

The effect is part clubhouse, part laboratory and part listening room. Later in the day, the Gold Souls, for whom Thompson is the drummer, assembled to develop tracks for their next album. The vibe was like a working party — disciplined, productive but festive.

For Thompson, the atmosphere is every bit as important as the equipment.

“My favorites are definitely Stax Records and Muscle Shoals,” he said, referring to the studios that launched Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. “These studios became known for a sound and a vibe and a feeling in particular.”

He wanted Sacramento musicians to have a place that felt professional without being intimidating — a place where creativity could emerge naturally, where artists could let their minds wander and remain open to discovery.

“The room itself becomes part of the sound,” he said.

That idea traces back to Thompson’s own journey from a teenager recording bands in his parents’ garage to the owner of a vibrant professional recording studio.

“Running a studio is helping artists find their sound,” he said.

Thompson describes his love of vintage equipment simply: He likes “sounds that come from particles of air getting pushed around. Amps with tubes, wood, wire strings, drums and sticks.”

He points to one Gold Souls recording as the moment when his vision finally came into focus.

“I’d say for me, the track where I really kind of felt like I had found the sound and was arriving closer to that kind of earthy, funky sound that I wanted was a song called ‘Good as Gold.’”

The soul-gospel track became proof of concept for the studio he had been trying to build — warm, organic, collaborative and rooted in the feeling of musicians sharing a room.

A place for community

Warm and Fuzzy has become a gathering place for many Sacramento artists, including The Philharmonik, The Gold Souls, LabRats, Big Sticky Mess, Boca do Rio and others.

Upshaw believes Sacramento’s strength lies not in any single genre, but in the musicians themselves.

“These different musical genres kind of operate in their own worlds,” he said. “But the thing that ties them together is that oftentimes the musicians are playing in all of them.”

The same players drift between jazz, soul, gospel, funk, folk and hip-hop projects, creating a network of relationships that crosses stylistic boundaries.

Warm and Fuzzy has become a place where those connections converge.

One reason that happens, Thompson said, is that Sacramento is not a major music-industry town with A&R executives scouting for the next hit.

“In L.A., musicians stay in their lanes to survive — you’re a hip-hop guy or a pop singer — but here it’s all just music,” he said.

Nicole Gentry occupies a unique place within that network.

A performer, producer, educator and organizer, she moves easily between Sacramento’s musical communities. Through her work with Bigger Than Us Arts and other projects, she helps connect younger artists with more established musicians.

She’s also someone people trust.

“I have a couple of different people who call me when it’s time for them to produce their music,” Gentry said. “They know how my ear is.”

For Gentry, creativity depends on more than talent.

“Alignment is everything,” she said. “It’s not just about doing the thing. It’s about being in the right place, being at the right time, having the right energy. It all works together in our creative magic.”

A safe place to create

Singer-songwriter Lizz Shine experienced that spirit firsthand while recording her recent album, “The Reckoning.”

A trans woman whose songs often explore identity and hardship, Shine said she was initially nervous about beginning the project.

“When I reached out to Billy, I was nervous,” she said. “Billy immediately responded, ‘We got you, Liz. We’re going to do this thing. Let’s make a record.'”

While tracking a song called “Sad Song,” Shine struggled to access the emotional space she needed to fully perform material dealing with transphobia and personal trauma.

Thompson and co-producer Patrick Langham recognized what was happening.

Rather than pushing harder, they changed the environment.

They set up the microphone and moved into the control room, leaving Shine alone in the recording space while continuing to support her from a distance.

“I could feel their support,” she said. “But I also felt like I was alone in the studio.”

The result was a single take that ended in tears, a moment preserved on the finished record.

For Shine, the moment captured what makes Warm and Fuzzy different.

“Warm and Fuzzy feels like home,” she said. “It feels like you’re in a safe place to create.”

She believes that atmosphere is one reason so many Sacramento artists continue to gravitate toward the studio.

“It allows us to find grooves and messages that are important to songs without pressure,” she said. “Without the intense comparison that you find in many other markets.”

More than a studio

The relationships formed at Warm and Fuzzy often extend beyond recording sessions.

When members of Boca do Rio lost their Grass Valley studio and archives in a wildfire, Thompson opened Warm and Fuzzy to them free, giving the band a place to rehearse, record and rebuild.

The gesture reflects the role the studio plays within Sacramento’s music ecosystem.

Thompson speaks enthusiastically about LabRats, whose blend of jazz, hip-hop and improvisation has helped fuel a resurgence of live-band hip-hop in Sacramento. The studio has hosted multiple projects by the group, including sessions featuring drummer and vibraphonist Jacob Swedlow.

Langham, a producer, has become another important figure in the studio’s orbit, with credits that include The Gold Souls, LabRats, Ideateam and Big Sticky Mess.

Acts as varied as Boot Juice, Ten Foot Tiger and emerging independent artists continue to move through the studio’s doors.

Finding the sound

As the afternoon session continued, Upshaw’s Debussy-inspired groove slowly took shape.

Ideas were tested and discarded. Chords shifted, phrasings were sharpened. Inspired, Upshaw wondered aloud, “Should we add a vocal track?”

Gentry responded with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah,” she said. “You could do that.”

The room laughed.

Upshaw grinned. “That’s why I asked Nicole to come,” he said. “Keep me out of trouble.”

The song remained instrumental. Knowing what to put on a track is important. Sometimes knowing what to leave off is just as important.

The resulting song won’t sound much like Memphis or Muscle Shoals. It will sound like Sacramento — with local musicians listening closely to one another and following their instincts somewhere new.

Daryl V. Rowland is a freelance writer in Sacramento.