Mark Bennett: Ford brothers record in mecca of music studios, Abbey Road

On a June weekend, Mark Ford stood in Studio Two of London’s famed Abbey Road Studios holding aloft an old photograph, a symbolic gesture.

It showed Ford, his late friend Pat Kelley and their bandmates performing at Concannon Junior High School in 1969. That same year — 4,000 miles from that bygone West Terre Haute schoolhouse — The Beatles recorded their classic album “Abbey Road” in the studio of the same name.

Like countless young musicians of the 1960s, Ford and his buddies imagined emulating The Beatles.

Fifty years later, Ford and his younger brother Pete Ford recorded their own music in those same Abbey Road Studios. All but 20 of The Beatles’ 210 songs were recorded there, as well as music by generations of greats from Aretha Franklin and Pink Floyd to Ed Sheeran and Adele, and soundtracks to the “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” films. The Ford brothers — who grew up in West Terre Haute — took their turn with three 10-hour sessions June 14-16.

Mark called it “a bucket list” journey, “scratching a lifelong itch after seeing the boys on ‘Ed Sullivan’ in ‘64.” Mark was a grade-schooler when The Beatles debuted on American television. Now he’s 68.

“I wanted to express my gratitude to Abbey Road for all that wonderful music they brought to us,” he added. “I’m representing a lot of musicians I played with who are no longer here, and while I’m still here I wanted to see it.”

The London musical landmark “is kind of a mecca,” as Pete, 59, put it.

Indeed, it is a mecca.

Gramophone Company built the world’s first purpose-specific recording studio in 1931 in an English garden beside a townhouse on Abbey Road, an actual London Street. The resulting Electronic and Musical Industries (or EMI) Studios began with a taping of the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Edward Elgar, composer of the graduation staple “Pomp and Circumstance.” EMI renamed the facility Abbey Road Studios in 1976 to capitalize on the notoriety the album by its most famous client, The Beatles. It expanded in 2017, adding two contemporary studio rooms, including the Gatehouse.

“Abbey Road Studios is not only a pilgrimage for music fans across the world, but remains a pilgrimage for artists and creatives [energized] by its unique and powerful history,” the studio’s official website states.

Last month, the Fords recorded four original pieces in the Gatehouse, aided by Abbey Road Studios’ top-flight engineers, production crew and equipment. The brothers even hired a string quartet from Abbey Road’s stable of classical musicians to accompany a song Pete composed in honor of their late mother, Eleanor Ford.

Eleanor and her husband, Paul, raised their family of six children in West Terre Haute. Paul was a Rose Poly grad who worked as a broadcast engineering consultant and ran two Wabash Valley radio stations, with Eleanor. The couple was married for 70 years and became a popular faith-based broadcast duo. Paul died in 2022, two years after Eleanor.

One of her favorite songs, Mark said, was The Beatles’ evocative “Eleanor Rigby.” The catchy, sorrowful 1966 tune featured Paul McCartney’s lead vocal, backed by harmonies from John Lennon and George Harrison and an Abbey Road string ensemble.

With that inspiration, Pete wrote “Nova Scotia” in honor of his mom, whose own mother was from that Canadian province. Eleanor spent a summer living there with her grandparents.

“She always talked lovingly about Nova Scotia,” Mark recalled.

Years later, Pete wrote “Nova Scotia” and crafted a score, with instrumental parts for two violins, a viola and cello. Last month, Pete conducted a string quartet of London classical musicians through a recording of “Nova Scotia” in Abbey Road Studios. Notably, the cellist in the group had just performed with McCartney in a recording session there two days earlier. “That’s my brush with greatness,” Pete said.

Their “Nova Scotia” track also includes Pete singing — a musical expression the Fords prefer to leave to others.

Pete felt hesitant about doing the vocals throughout the session, but the Abbey Road production crew encouraged him and liked the impact.

“They said the gravitas of this coming from the composer and the life experience is more important than a perfect vocal,” Pete said.

The performances of Pete and the quartet touched Mark. “I was crying when they were done,” he said. “It was so beautiful.”

Both Fords performed on the three other original tracks, the lively “You’re So Mid” and two instrumentals, recorded at Abbey Road — Mark on bass and drums, and Pete on guitar, piano and vocals. Both are accomplished musicians.

Mark graduated from West Vigo High School in 1974, and the diverse roster of bands, musicians and singers he’s accompanied exceeds three dozen. Most recently, he’s handled bass guitar duties for the popular blues band Dicky James and the Blue Flames, as well as Terre Haute’s venerable big-band Men of Note. Mark was inducted into the Wabash Valley Musicians Hall of Fame in 2009.

Pete graduated from West Vigo in 1983 and followed up with a bachelor’s degree in music business at Indiana State University before working an internship as a jingles writer for an Indianapolis firm. He returned to ISU for a master’s degree, got it, met his future wife Shannon and moved to Toledo, Ohio, where they continue to live. Pete is a music professor at nearby Adrian College in Michigan, specializing in music theory and jazz piano. He’s performed in that area with a variety of artists, from an Elvis tribute singer to a jazz trio. Pete was selected in July for induction into the Wabash Valley Musicians Hall of Fame's 2024 class in September.

Another Ford brother, John, plays bass, just as do Pete and Mark — also known as “Ted” within the family. “We were interchangeable at gigs,” Pete said.

Surprisingly, Mark said he and Pete embarked on their 10-day “experience of a lifetime” with only a loose agenda of the music they would record. Creating in the moment appealed to them.

“I wanted to go in there blank and see what happened,” Mark said. “I know it’s irresponsible but, hey, it’s my money.” Booking a three-day session cost $7,000.

A tour of Abbey Road Studios on the Monday prior to their Friday-Saturday-Sunday recording sessions focused their mission. The tour ended with the guide asking them, “So, are you prepared?”

“We just looked at each other,” Pete said.

They promptly found a London guitar shop, bought a couple instruments and began preparing songs for their session. The resulting recordings — overseen by Abbey Road’s elite, supportive team — were so strong, the Fords intend to return.

“Next time, we’ll go in with more prepared material, have a plan with songs in our pocket,” Pete said.

Regardless, they returned to the States with memories of making music surrounded by iconic reminders of recording history. The original “Mrs. Mills” Steinway piano used in the recordings of The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” and Elton John’s “Honky Cat.” Microphones from one of the world’s most extensive equipment collections. The vast Studio Two hall where the Fab Four rockers coaxed button-down orchestral musicians to get crazy on the crescendo of “A Day in the Life.”

“There’s just so much history seeping through the walls,” Pete said, “and I feel like such a privileged being to have walked through there.”