Caribou Ranch

Caribou Ranch was a recording studio built by producer James William Guercio in 1972 in a converted barn on ranch property in the Rocky Mountains near Nederland, Colorado, on the road that leads to the ghost town of Caribou. The studio was in operation until it was damaged in a fire in March 1985.

History

Guercio purchased Caribou Ranch, more than in the Rocky Mountains, in 1971.

In 1972, Joe Walsh and Bill Szymczyk were starting work on Barnstorm at Walsh's home in Colorado when a mixer blew out on the first day. Szymczyk knew Guercio was building a new studio, visited the in-progress barn conversion at the ranch, and concluded that it would work for their project. They used the new studio to finish Barnstorm. Szymczyk next made Rick Derringer's All American Boy and the hit single "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo" there. Elton John's 1974 album Caribou was recorded at and named after the studio. (John also recorded the single "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" there, as well as his next two albums, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock of the Westies.)

The group Chicago, managed by Guercio, recorded five studio albums there; Chicago VI, Chicago VII, Chicago VIII, Chicago X, and Chicago XI. Earth, Wind, & Fire recorded two of their albums there as well; 1974's Open Our Eyes (Produced by Maurice White & Joe Wissert) and the 1975 Grammy winning That's the Way of the World (Produced by White and Charles Stepney). Amy Grant, who had recorded...
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