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He put up a good fight, but singer-songwriter Ben Folds announced on Friday he’ll be leaving his recording space at the historic Studio A in Nashville’s old RCA building after the property’s brand-new owner raised the rent 124 percent.
“Haha,” Folds says in a message to fans and supporters on Facebook, “and we’re moving out as soon as our current lease runs out. That means we will be there until end of November.”
Folds has been a tenant of the Music Row space for twelve years. In June, after it was announced it would be sold, he sounded the alarm on social media and beyond out of concern the building would be marked for demolition as part of the rapid redevelopment of the area. Tim Reynolds of Bravo Development finalized his purchase of RCA this week.
The singer reached out to musician friends like Elton John and Amanda Palmer, among others, and “Save Studio A” became a micro-cause in the larger fight among preservationists and purists to save Music Row in Nashville. “This whole #SaveStudioA and #SaveMusicRow thing was never about me (or the former owners or Tim Reynolds) and that’s why the issue has resonated with people here and around the world who are concerned about retaining Nashville’s identity, culture and music economy,” he writes.
This article first appeared on Billboard.com.
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