PARSONSFIELD, Maine — The Great North Sound Society is a retreat-style recording studio, which is a polite way of saying there’s not much else to do in these parts of southern Maine. It’s awfully quiet where Sam Kassirer purchased an old farmhouse five years ago and has gradually turned it into a factory that has shaped some of the finest records in contemporary Americana music.

After finding a listing online, Kassirer bought the house, which dates to 1790, “on a touring musician’s salary.” At the time he didn’t envision it being a studio, but rather a place to store his growing collection of instruments. It’s a bewildering warren of rooms, some of which are devoted for sleeping quarters and most all of which have been used at some point for recording an instrument or a singer in an isolated room.