Dave McAfee's Grammy Nominatons!

Dave McAfee, Toby Keith's man on the road, has been dabbling in some producing and session playing.  Dabbling to say the least!  Dave not only played on, but co-produced Jamey Johnson's album, "That Lonesome Song,"  which has garnered three Grammy nominations:
 
Best Male Vocal Country Performance
"In Color"

Best Country Song
"In Color"

Best Country Album
"That Lonesome Song"

Check out Dave's blog


Billy "Thunder" Mason Signature Stick              
         
Billy "Thunder" Mason, Tim McGraw's man in the studio and on the road, now has his own ProMark signature stick.  Check ProMark's website for availability.




EARL PALMER, 83

Noted session drummer

Earl Palmer, a New Orleans drummer who provided the distinctive backbeat for seminal rock 'n' roll songs by Fats Domino and Little Richard, then traveled west to become one of Hollywood's busiest session musicians, has died. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Mr. Palmer died Friday at his home in Banning, Calif., after a long illness, his family announced.

Often called the most-recorded drummer in music history, Mr. Palmer played in thousands of rock 'n' roll, jazz and pop music sessions, as well as on countless movie, television and commercial scores.

He set the rhythm for Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'," Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally," Richie Valens' "La Bamba" and Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" in the 1950s. Producer Phil Spector used him to build his legendary Wall of Sound in the 1960s on such songs as "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers and "River Deep, Mountain High" by Ike and Tina Turner. In more recent years he played with Randy Newman, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, among others.

Besides providing the driving backbeat on many rock 'n' roll tunes, Mr. Palmer can be heard on recordings by jazz and pop stars Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Doris Day as well as on the TV theme songs for Mission: Impossible, Green Acres and The Odd Couple, among others.

"When you're working in the studios, you're playing every genre of music," Hal Blaine, his friend and another prolific session drummer, said in an interview Saturday. "You might be playing classical music in the morning and hard rock in the afternoon and straight jazz at night. ... That's where they separate the men from the boys. If you're going to be a studio musician, it's the top of the ladder. You can't go any higher than that in the music business."

In 1999 he was the subject of a biography, Backbeat, written by Tony Scherman.

A year later, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Blaine were among the first class of previously unsung sidemen inducted into a new category of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which cited Mr. Palmer's "solid stickwork and feverish backbeat" in laying the foundation for rock 'n' roll drumming.

Mr. Palmer was married four times. In addition to his wife, Jeline, he is survived by seven children, Earl Cyril Palmer Jr., Donald Alfred Palmer, Ronald Raymond Palmer, Patricia Ann Palmer, Shelly Margaret Palmer, Pamela Teresa Palmer and Penny Yasuko Palmer; 20 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Check out more about Earl Palmer

Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun                       


Buddy Harmon-The Original Nashville Star
By Derek Wolfford

I wanted to speak on the passing of one of the pioneers of drumming, Buddy Harman. Most may not be familiar with the name (and unfortunately that includes most drummers as well) but without his contributions, there would be a massive gap in Country/Pop music. 

Although he is credited with playing on over 18,000 recordings, he'll probably be best remembered for his work on such hits as:

Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire, Walk The Line
Patsy Cline - Crazy
Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman, Only The Lonely, Crying
Elvis Presley - His Latest Flame, Now Or Never
Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man                                    
Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love, Cathy's Clow
Roger Miller - King Of The Road
Ray Price - Heartaches By The Number, Nightlife
Jerry Lee Lewis - What I Say
Brenda Lee - I'm Sorry
Jim Reeves - He'll Have To Go
Lynn Anderson - (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden
Johnny Horton - The Battle Of New Orleans
Jimmy Dean - Big Bad John

In the heyday of his session work, he's said to have been recording between 500-600 projects a year... which is an amazing feat considering this was during the infancy of the record industry. Another great story is that he used to have his hair cut at the studio because he didn't have time to visit the barber..... now that's busy!  It is certainly taken for granted that you can see and hear drums on The Grand Ole Opry stage but it wasn't always that way.  In 1958, Buddy was the first house drummer at The Opry but had to adhere to certain restrictions. Generally, they didn't allow drums or even a snare on The Opry stage, recalls Buddy.  I played a few times behind the stage curtain and also played behind hay bales when they did TV shows in the 50's.  Once he even performed on stage with brushes on a drum head that was applied to the stand-up bass... and he said he felt silly doing it! By the time he made his triumphant return as The Opry's staff drummer in 1991, drums had been a mainstay of The Opry stage plot.

During 2003, Pearl introduced a line of Masters Series drums named RetroSpec with the vintage style coverings.  Our Ad Department asked for four artists that would best represent the series.... classic drummers that made a mark on their respective genre and the music community.  Clearly, Buddy was in the first draft of names and was eventually one of the four including Billy Hart, Stix Hooper, and Ian Paice.  Once the ad was done, I called Buddy to let him know that he was to be featured in an upcoming ad and he was tickled.  He came to the office to see the ad for himself and catch up with everyone.  We went to the showroom and I had hoped to hear some classic shuffles but he did a walkthrough and said "Yeah, looks good...." like an experienced drill sergeant giving his approval to the young bucks.  Before exiting he stopped and said, "It seems since I'm in an ad with these drums, I should have a set." When history speaks... you listen... so he received a kit soon after that!  It was a great visit and as he wrapped it up, he mentioned that it was nice to be featured since he didn't receive as much adulation these days.  I reminded him that without him the Country music landscape would be completely different... and not for the best.  He shrugged his shoulders and said "Aw, we were just havin' fun."  If "having fun" means creating a genre of music and being THE architect for drumming in Nashville, then he must have had an absolute ball!!!

He was 79 years young when he passed on Thursday August 21st at his home. He left an amazing body of work and was an incredibly pleasant man... his absence will be felt within the Nashville community, the Pearl Family, and the music world.

Thanks for everything, Buddy.