Paul Cohen (record producer)

Paul Cohen (November 10, 1908 Chicago, Illinois  – April 1, 1970 Bryan, Texas) was an American country music producer.

One of the men chiefly responsible for Nashville’s emergence as the country music recording capital and the Nashville Sound was Chicago-born Paul Cohen, long-time Decca Records executive. As President of the Country Music Association (CMA), Cohen was on hand when the Country Music Hall of Fame opened in 1967.

Cohen first entered the record business with Columbia in the late 1920s, but in 1934 joined Decca’s newly formed American operation, organized by two brothers, Jack and Dave Kapp—old Chicago friends of his. Cohen moved to Cincinnati to become Decca’s midwestern branch manager in 1935; in this role he was responsible for scouting, producing and signing new talent in addition to marketing records. During World War II, he gradually took over Decca’s hillbilly production work from Dave Kapp, and in the mid-1940s moved to New York to head that branch of the company.

With two of Decca's main country stars based on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry—Ernest Tubb and Red Foley. In August 1947, Cohen began regular recording of his country roster in Castle Recording’s new studios, located in the Tulane Hotel at Eighth Avenue North and Church Street in Nashville. Musicians Beasley Smith and Owen Bradley helped Cohen schedule his intensive, two-to-three-week Nashville visits by lining up stars, musicians, and arrangements (many of them created on the spot). Cohen is remembered for an energetic production style—as much cheerleader as executive—and a knack for spotting new artists and matching them with songs (often published by his own publishing companies). Kitty Wells, Webb Pierce, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, and Bobby Helms were among the new acts signed and produce by Cohen during his tenure, while Tubb, Foley, Jimmie Davis, and others continued to have success with the label.

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