Ashley Ackerson spends a lot of time talking about her late husband, Ed Ackerson, and it’s easy to understand why.
Ed was a popular Minneapolis musician who started his career in the 1980s. He died in 2019, a year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. At the time, Ashley and Ed’s daughter Annika was not even in elementary school.
Ed was known for his mod rock fashion and the various bands he formed: The Dig, The 27 Various, and Polara, which signed with Interscope Records in 1996.
There was actually a major label bidding war for Polara’s 1995 album, as was the case for many indie bands in the mid-90s. The same year Polara signed to Interscope, Ed built a recording studio in the Wedge neighborhood and named it Flowers Studio.
“Instead of giving his money to another studio to record his record,” Ashley explained, “he invested in the studio and basically used his recording money to make it here.”
Ashley has since been a central figure in carrying forward the legacy of the studio in tandem with Ed’s best friend, Kris Johnson. She has invested money and time into the studio to maintain its legacy and she continues to work on her own music.
The building Ed bought had been used by a florist until 1971 and included a greenhouse roof that is maintained to this day. After 1965, businesses included an architecture firm, a music equipment company, and a family photographer.
“It’s funny to see it as $189,000, which now it’s just…you can’t even buy, like, a tiny little box. It’s just nuts,” Ashley Ackerson said as she paged through documents and pictures from the initial sale of the building. “I’ll never let it go.”
Ashley and Ed met at a New Year’s Eve party at the studio in 1998 and were married in 2007.
Since Ed’s death, Ashley has been rehearsing her own music, producing, and recording at Flowers Studio.
She is a longtime musician and played with her late husband in BNLX and a later lineup of Polara. He once played bass in her band, The Mood Swings, which still rehearses at the studio.
“I’ve watched her really dedicate herself to writing songs,” Kris Johnson, Flowers Studio head engineer and manager, said. “I would hang with Ed and she would be at her practice space, working on stuff for hours and hours.”
Johnson took over management of the studio when Ed passed away.
Similar to Ed’s love for Brit mod rock, Ashley grew up listening to modern Brit pop like Lush and Oasis.
“I saw Oasis play at the Uptown Bar,” Ashley said. “I still have my Oasis t-shirt. 93.7 The Edge was giving them out for free.” (An audience member uploaded a live recording of the Oct. 14, 1994, show on YouTube.)
A fated trip to her car to change shirts landed her on Oasis’ tour bus.
“It was so funny because I wasn’t even pursuing it,” Ashley said. Liam and Noel Gallagher knocked on their tour bus windows and invited Ashley on. “I made Noel take a picture of me.”
A year later, she started playing in bands.
“I had played piano and stuff, but not in any bands or anything,” Ashley Ackerson said. “I didn’t even know you could be in a band when I was younger.”
Three guitar lessons later, Ashley was determined to teach herself how to play.
“I’m gonna learn it more punk rock style. I’m gonna learn it by listening,” Ashley said.
Ed and Ashley’s daughter was able to start playing music much earlier. Annika was part of an all-girl band, She’s Burgers, that formed out of Twin Town Guitars group classes. The band, at the time ages 7-11, recorded a three-song album at Flowers Studio and played a few gigs around town.
Annika has a new band, Homer’s Donuts, that performed at Open Streets Lyndale on June 9.
“Our hope is that Annika will want to one day use the studio and do her own stuff there,” Johnson said.
Flowers Studio started “pre-computers,” as Ashley put it.
“It started, all analog, and we still have all that stuff running too,” Ashley said. “Ed started out doing everything on two inch tape.”
The first album that Ed recorded at Flowers Studio after his band Polara was The Jayhawks’ “Smile” album.
The studio still has original Jayhawks studio tapes, tucked behind equipment.
“Ed’s dying wish, more than anything, was the studio didn’t fall into disrepair,” Johnson said. “Studios and equipment like that, if it doesn’t get used it atrophies and dies.”
Johnson said no one would blame Ashley for selling the studio, but it’s clear she wants the studio, too.
“I think it’s extremely brave of her to want to continue it,” Johnson said.
Flowers Studio recently underwent major renovations, ensuring its longevity.
“She was willing to do that because she wants the studio to exist,” Johnson said.
Even as new recording technology allows for people to record at home, plenty of musicians still search out what’s known as large format recording studios.
“Having a large format recording studio makes our city a more viable thing,” Johnson said. “Just having that service for the community is, I think, very valuable.”
Editor notes:
Flowers Studio does not publish its address.
Additional reporting from City Pages’ “Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Ed Ackerson” by Erik Thompson, Feb. 12-18, 2020.
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