(Publisher’s Note: With the purchase of the former Wheeling Inn came a flood of memories of a spiffy hotel that was a hotspot of activity in downtown Wheeling. One of those recollections involved a recording studio, well-known musicians, and even a future country music superstar.)
There’s a few things Jamie Peck says he’ll never forget about his old Fat Cat Studio days in downtown Wheeling way back 30 or 40 years ago.
Main and Market streets in those years were crowded with retail, restaurants and bars, and most often in that order during a stroll down the street. Peck’s recording studio was on 10th Street wedged between the Wheeling Suspension Bridge and Bill’s Hamburger on the corner with Main, and it was around the corner from the Capitol Music Hall and across the road from the Best Western Wheeling Inn.
The Bridge Tavern was caddy-corner from Fat Cat’s, and to the north from that bar was the Wheeling Eagles fraternal club, so on Saturday nights for a lot of years, that downtown intersection became a country music block party.
“What was really cool for us was that the Wheeling Inn was across the street from Fat Cat and a lot of my clients stay there, and the place was hopping all of the time,” Peck recalled. “Not only was the hotel pretty full, but a lot of locals went there, too, because of the bar and restaurant that were inside. Fabulous Fannies was a very popular place back in the 1980s.
“The fact that the Wheeling Inn was a nice place then was a great benefit to us, and a great benefit for a lot of the fans who were going to the Jamboree shows. Those rooms on Friday and Saturday nights were hot tickets in town, I know that,” he reported. “There was a lot going on in downtown Wheeling back in those days.”
The hotel changed, too, between when Boury Enterprises purchased and renovated the lodge up until it was sold at auction in 2005, there was an Elby’s Family Restaurant and a small version of Young’s Cafeteria, a bar named Fabulous Fannie’s, and a popular restaurant called the Riverside.
“It was pretty common for us to go to the Riverside Restaurant at the end of the workday to wind down, and who didn’t love Elby’s back in those days? If you didn’t, there was something wrong with you,” Peck said with a chuckle. “We also had Bill’s Hamburgers, so many other places, but the Wheeling Inn was special back then. That’s where everyone wanted to stay because of the action.
“I ended up loving the fact that we moved the studios to the downtown area,” he admitted. “I was skeptical at first because there was a lot going on and not all of it was legal. Nothing was crazy or anything, but there was a lot of gambling, and let’s just say that a guy could find a friend pretty easy back in those days, too.”
It’s easy to see why he’d rather share those old studio stories even before he tells the tale about how he came to win an Emmy Award in 2012 for his score to the documentary “Pitts from the Air.”
Nope, instead, Peck recalls those late nights after the Jamboree shows when the old 1170 Band guys would just play into those infamous “wee hours,” and there was that kid, the one named Paisley, who was really good, and he recorded several songs. Oh, and there was Roger Hoard and Ron Retzer, too.
“Good times,” he said with a smile. “It’s a lot of fun to look back at those years, that’s for sure.”
In a Bridge’s Shadow
It served as the original “Gateway to the West” in the late 1880s, but back in the 1980s, the significance of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge seemed to be lost in the hubbub of emerging technology. The personal computer was introduced, and then something called the cellular telephone that even worked in your car was placed on the open market.
“It was a crazy time and it just seemed as if the Suspension Bridge wasn’t the big deal that it is today,” Peck said. “Back in those Fat Cat days, I really loved being so close to it because I walked out there to think a lot, but it was taken for granted and there were so many cars and trucks that went over it without a second thought.
“We were just as guilty because we were more worried about who was going to record next,” he said. “There was a lot of talent in the area back then, and there were a lot more bands playing around than what we have now. We still have a lot of talented musicians and performers in this area, trust me, but back then it was all about rock and roll and country.”
That’s why expanding his business to a location so close to the Capitol was vital because not only were there the Jamboree shows, but rockers like Billy Joel and ACDC were taking the stage, too.
“Oh, Fat Cat. What a place it was,” Peck fondly recalled. “In 1984, I started recording in my apartment that was over by where Miklas Meat Market is today. It was a large apartment building with six units and I lived on the second floor and it was great. I loved that place. It was great and it had a lot of mojo.
“Mary Alice Keane and her husband had the place and she was a wonderful lady with a great Irish accent. I loved our conversations and she and her family were terrific people,” he said. “I built my first studio in that apartment and it didn’t bother any of my neighbors. I asked them all and each one of them told me they loved my music.”
But then it was time to grow.
“At that time I had a guy working with me and he wanted to expand the business, and that meant we had to move. When I asked him where, he said, ‘Downtown.’ That’s when I found out that he had already leased it and we had to move,” Peck said. “It turned out to be a cool space after we renovated it, but it was also challenging because there were always people walking back and forth outside because of the bridge and you never really knew what they were up to.
“I will say, though, that a lot of great music was made there,” he insisted. “We were right next to the Capitol (Theatre) and next to the Jamboree (USA), and after the shows were over some of the guys would come in and we would cut music into the night. And I’m telling you, there was some really great stuff from back then that I’ll never forget.”
OK, But Wait. About that Kid Named Paisley?
Seriously. Go back. A kid named Paisley?
He recorded there, too?
“He did.”
You do mean Mr. “Platinum” Paisley? Mr. “12 Million Albums Sold” Paisley? Brad “From Glen Dale” Paisley?
“Yup, there were around three years or so when Brad would come into Fat Cat Studio to record, and we did a lot of demos back then that no one but me has heard.”
You worked with three-time Grammy Award-winning Brad Paisley?
“He was a great kid back then and you could tell he was going to be someone in the industry. He had a lot of talent and he’s one of the best guitar players I have ever watched play, and there were times when Brad would fill in as our session guitarist, too, and it was really cool.”
And all of this actually took place right across 10th Street from the former Wheeling Inn, right?
“Oh yeah, and people sure had a blast hanging out on those balconies and partying and doing their thing back in those days, and no one cared because everyone was having such a good time,” Peck recounted. “No one was doing anything stupid, well, by today’s standards anyway. Those folks were just hungry to see the best country music at the time, and that’s exactly what the Jamboree offered back then.
“Downtown Wheeling was a different place on the weekends than it was during the regular work week, and you would never know it if you were there to see it,” he added. “But having Fat Cat Studio right across the street from the Wheeling Inn was a blast. But yeah, that all changed and we got the heck out of there when things got really bad. It’s a shame it had to take such a negative turn, but I’m looking forward to seeing a new future on that corner becomes the new reality.”
