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Here’s a little about me….born and raised in Houston, Texas I started playing drums around the age of 11. Later…much later, I graduated from Stephen F. Austin with a percussion performance degree under the guidance of Dr. Barry Larkin and Dr. Lawrence Kaptain. I was also fortunate enough to study with Steve Houghton, Joel Rosenblatt, and Dom Famularo. Fast forward to 1993 when I moved to Nashville. I was a surviving, ‘jobbing’ drummer. Most of the gigs for a jobbing drummer are those kind of gigs that fall well under the radar or would take longer to explain than actually lasted but were truly a lot of fun. Here’s a few of the more memorable gigs outside of the jobbing box; David Ball (songwriter/artist), James House (songwriter/artist), Richard Bennett (producer Steve Earle), Bobby Braddock (legendary songwriter/producer).
If I were to describe my typical year in the form of a week it would go something like this….
Mon-Broadway Tues-Broadway Wed-session/showcase Thurs-Sam Moore (or someone similar) Fri-The Jordinaires (or something equally as bizarre…in a good way!) Sat- wedding /corporate party Sun-something with brushes.
My current gig is the dream gig come true for any Nashville musician. One phone call from Dierks Bentley who needed a drummer to play 50’s and 60’s shuffles and bluegrass with him downtown was all I needed to know…right up my alley, I was there. Here’s a real ‘dude’ playing real country music surrounded by some killer players like Randy Kohrs, Dennis Crouch, Jeff White, Dave Roe, Jason Carter to ‘name drop’ a few. Cool. He had just finished up his own cd which I promptly took to the head of the creative department at Sony/ ATV Publishing where I had a part time job. Cool. On its own merits, he and his record eventually landed him a deal on Capitol. Really cool! Fast forward again 5 and some years now and I’m knee deep in one of the coolest gigs in town and we’re having a blast! Dierks, myself and my other compadres Rod Janzen, Robbie Harrington and Tim Sergent have traveled to Europe, did a live DVD which was filmed at the Fillmore in Denver and was nominated for a Grammy, toured with George Strait twice , played Madison Square Garden as the opening act the second time around on the Kenny Chesney Tour. We played Bonnaroo summer 2007 and had Sam Bush and Buddy Miller as guests sitting in with us. We filmed Austin City Limits, and appeared on Leno several times. We’ve also appeared on Conan, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Today Show, Good Morning America, PBS special 4th of July 2007 in front of the Capitol building in Washington D.C., headlined at Red Rocks Colorado, played the Stone Pony in New Jersey and, of course, have done several performances on The Grand Ole Opry. As a band we have appeared in most of his videos. Also, a couple of the guys in the band with Dierks, decided to write a hit song, so they did and we recorded it. "Free and Easy" was the song and it went to number 1 and now we are in the studio working on a few tracks for the next record which should be out sometime in 2008.
While spending a lot of time in the studio with some engineering friends of mine, I’ve been able to produce a few projects, several for Sony/Tree Productions and play on others. Check out my blog as I will start to add songs and stuff. Special thanks to Promark Drumsticks, Ludwig Drums, Zildjian Cymbals and Remo Drumheads. Thanks! Steve
