Buddy Harman, the Nashville-based drummer who played on over 18,000 recordings, passed away Thursday of congestive heart failure at the age of 79.
It was Harman's drum that struck the beat on Roy Orbison's Oh Pretty Woman, shuffled along on Patsy Cline's Crazy and rocked out Elvis Presley on Little Sister. In a forty year career, Harman played at least once with the vast majority of artists that recorded in the southern U.S.A.
Harman learned drums at an early age and studied in Chicago under Roy Knapp. Upon returning to Nashville, he initially found it a slow go as country was yet to fully integrate drumming into it's sound, but early recordings with the likes of Ray Price, Patsy Cline and Marty Robbins allowed him to develop a distinct style that would see him as being credited as one of the developers of the Nashville Sound.
As a session musician in Nashville, Harman was part of the Nashville A-Team which also included Harold Bradley, Hank Garland, Grady Martin, Boots Randolph, Charlie McCoy, Floyd Cramer, Hargus "Pig" Robbins and Bob Moore, among others. Harman also has the distinction of having played on the soundtrack to all 33 of Elvis Presley's movies.
In his book Heartaches By The Number: Country Music's Greatest Singles, author David Cantwell wrote "Buddy Harman set the standard, both quantitatively and qualitatively, for what a great country drummer should be. The mind boggles at the number of musically distinctive and emotionally fitting ways Harman found to lay down a beat."
WSM radio personality Eddie Stubbs commented, "If anybody could be called the father of modern country drumming, it would be Buddy. He defined the role of the drums in country music. No matter the song, he knew what to play. More importantly, he knew what not to play. Always."
In 1959, Harman became the first house drummer at the Grand Ole Opry, a position to which he would return in the early-90's. Among his accolades are the award for Drummer of the Year from the ACM in 1981 and the "Super Picker" Award from NARAS for drumming in 1975 and 1976.
Among Harman's 18,000 recordings are these gems:
• Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
• Crying - Roy Orbison
• Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers
• Little Sister - Elvis Presley
• King of the Road - Roger Miller
• Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
• Crazy - Patsy Cline
• Big Bad John - Jimmy Dean
• Bye Bye Love - Everly Brothers
• Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison
• Crazy Arms - Ray Price
• Walking After Midnight - Patsy Cline
• Night Life - Ray Price
• Rose Garden - Lynn Anderson
• I'm Sorry - Brenda Lee
• Stand By Your Man - Tammy Wynette
• Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn
• The Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton
• Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley
• Heartaches By the Numbers - Ray Price
Source: http://winkscollectibles.blogspot.com
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