Pioneers of The Rockabilly Era (1954-1960)
Bobby Crafford
Drummer for Sonny Burgess and the Pacers, legendary Sun Records band, and one of the few Sun artists still touring on a regular basis. Bobby was one of the guys I interviewed as part of the Rockabilly Drummers Roundtable feature published in the August ’08 issue of Modern Drummer.
D.J. Fontana
Best known for his work with Elvis Presley in the 1950s and ’60s. That’s him playing the thunderous triplet breaks on “Hound Dog.” D.J. also appeared in the famous “’69 Comeback” television special, and – along with Buddy Harman – played on the soundtrack to most of Elvis’ 33 films from the 1960s.
Buddy Harman
Buddy was the father of country drumming, and the undisputed king of the Nashville studios, Buddy played on over 18,000 sessions from the 1950s-1980s. Buddy was a dear friend who shared a lot of incredible history with about the dawn of the “Nashville Sound.” For more on Buddy’s legacy and career, check out the Drum History Minute on this website.
Roy Harte
Session musician and co-owner (along with Remo Belli) of Drum City, a onetime influential music store in Los Angeles. Although Harte played on many pivotal bebop sessions in the 1950s, he was also a fixture on the West coast rockabilly scene, recording with everyone from Tennessee Ernie Ford to the Collins Kids.
WS “Fluke” Holland
Holland was Carl Perkins’ original drummer (he’s on all the Perkins classics including “Blue Suede Shoes”). Starting in 1960, Fluke spent almost four decades backing up Johnny Cash. He’s on the famous “Fulsom Prison” album, and can be seen backing up “the man in black” on the Johnny Cash Show, which aired in the late 1960s.
Slim Jim Phantom
Legendary drummer for the Stray Cats, and owner of the Cat Club on the Sunset Strip (the Daniel Glass trio did its CD release party there). Jim’s signature “stand up” drumming style was a big influence on a lot of guys when the Stray Cats first burst on the scene in 1982.
J.M. Van Eaton
J.M. played on more than 2/3 of all the recordings ever made at Sun Records, including such classics as “Great Balls of Fire,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” and “Red Hot.” Sun is still a functioning studio, and it was a real thrill for me to be able to hang out with J.M. and watch him record there just as he did more than 50 years ago!
Pioneers of the Rhythm and Blues Era (1942-1960)
Harold Chang
Harold is a Hawaii-based drummer and percussionist who helped to create the “Exotica” sound of the 1950s with Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. In fact, he toured with Lyman until 1975. You can read much more about Exotica music in the The Commandments of Early Rhythm and Blues Drumming (see pp. 109-110). I grew up in Hawaii, and Harold was my very first drumset teacher, way back in 1979.
Francis Clay
Legendary Chicago blues drummer and songwriter whose credits include Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and James Cotton. Clay is the creator of the fabled double-time “mojo” beat, which has become a staple on blues tunes like “Got My Mojo Workin'” and many others.
Charles Connor
Charles was the original drummer in Little Richard’s group, The Upsetters, and spent many years touring the globe with Mr. Tutti Frutti. His opening groove on Richard’s “Keep a’ Knockin’,” is the influence behind John Bonham’s famous intro to Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.” Other credits include Fats Domino and Lloyd Price.
Billy Higgins
Legendary jazz and bop drummer who emerged out of the West coast jazz scene in the late 1950s. Although Higgins is known as a straight ahead jazz drummer, he came up in L.A.’s Central Avenue scene, which would spawn many of the great West Coast R&B drummers. He was also mentored by Roy Porter and Johnny Kirkwood, both of whom are discussed in detail in The Commandments of Early Rhythm and Blues Drumming.
Johnny Kirkwood
Drummer who played with Louis Jordan from 1950-1955. Became a fixture on the West coast jazz scene thereafter, recording and performing with Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith and many others. He was the first drumer that I interviewed for what would become The Commandments of Early R&B Drumming book, and we became great pals. I wrote a cover story about Johnny for Stick It magazine in 2000.
Bobby Morris
– Las Vegas based jazz drummer best known for his work with Louis Prima in the 1950s. A veteran of the 52nd St. swing scene in New York, Morris transplanted to Las Vegas in 1950, just as the town was really starting to take off. After working with Prima at the height of his popularity (1954-1960), Morris became the musical director at the International Casino (now the L.V. Hilton) and started his own booking agency. Check out Morris and the band clowning around with Prima and Keely Smith in this cool video clip. Awesome!
Earl Palmer
Legendary session drummer whose credits range from New Orleans greats Little Richard and Fats Domino to more mainstream artists like Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees, the Righteous Brothers and the Beach Boys. Earl was a pioneering figure in both R&B and rock’n’roll. The aggressive grooves he laid down in New Orleans from 1949-57 defined the R&B style, and introduced many of the elements that we take for granted in rock drumming today: backbeats, straight eighth grooves, 16th-note fills, funky bass drum patterns, heavy cymbal crashes after a fill, etc. After moving to Los Angeles in 1957, Earl played with many of the seminal rock artists of the period: Eddie Cochran, Richie Valens, Sam Cooke and Ricky Nelson to name just a few. His playing heavily impacted the drummers of the British Invasion (Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Dave Clark, John Bonham, etc), and he was a major influence on the pioneers of the 1960s L.A. recording scene (Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, etc.).