ROOTS of Country Music

Buddy Harman

(Dec 23, 1928 ~ Aug. 21, 2008)

Buddy Harman was a prolific and influential drummer whose rhythmic signature can be heard on thousands of recordings by the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Marty Robbins, Carl Smith, Kitty Wells, Jim Reeves, Johnny Paycheck, Reba NcEntire and Faron Young.

Buddy Harman played on an estimated 18,000 recordings, many of them major hits, in a career of more than five decades. He worked most sessions with the celebrated “A Team” of studio musicians who shaped the Nashville Sound of the 1950s and ’60s, performing on Cash’s Ring of Fire, Roger Miller’s King of the Road and Tammy Wynette’s Stand by Your Man and Ray Price's City Lights.

Versatility and imagination were among Buddy’s great strengths as a musician. He could play everything from big-beat rock ’n’ roll, as demonstrated by his pile-driving 4/4 on Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman, to intimate cocktail jazz, as heard on his empathetic brushwork on Cline’s Crazy.

Murrey Mizell Harman Jr. was born in Nashville, Tennessee (TN). His mother, who played drums in the family band, was an early musical inspiration, along with jazz players like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

Mr. Harman began drumming while in his early teens and went on to perform in bands while serving in the Navy. Later, after two years of college in Nashville, TN, he enrolled in the Roy Knapp School of Percussion in Chicago.

Returning to Nashville, TN in 1951, Harman first got studio work on a Moon Mullican session. Mullican's pumping piano predated rock 'n roll and Harman's ability to play alongside him while locking in comfortably with the more experienced studio musicians established him. Not that times were initially easy for Harman; Nashville was developing as a recording center, yet drums were forbidden on many country music recordings, the more extreme of Nashville's old guard considering the instrument taboo.

Harman soon joined country singer Carl Smith's band, yet when they came to play at the Grand Ole Opry, the Nashville theater where live performances were broadcast on Saturday nights, management refused to let Harman set up his kit. Even when he became the Opry's first staff drummer a few years later, he was viewed with suspicion and for a time, had to play behind a curtain.

Drums became more acceptable in Nashville through rock 'n roll sessions recorded there and Harman's ability to play both a soft shuffle behind a crooning country singer and a thumping rock 'n roll beat, made him Nashville's most in-demand drummer.

Mr. Harman was the drummer on most of Ray Price's recording sessions from Feb. 13, 1957 (Let Me Talk to You) through April 14, 1966  (Danny Boy). The only other drummer during that was Steve Bess.

Mr. Harman was less active in the studio as the 1970s gave way to the ’80s. He eventually resumed work at the Opry, while also serving as the business agent for the Nashville chapter of the American Federation of Musicians.

Some of Harman's accolades include:

Academy of Country Music

• Drummer of the Year in 1981

Nashville NARAS Chapter (1975 & 1976)

• Super Picker Award (for drums on the most number one recordings)

Nashville Super Picker

• Nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance (1979): Live From Austin City Limits album.

Buddy Harman Session Work, Partial Listing:

• Big Bad John ~ Jimmy Dean
• City Lights ~ Ray Price
• Crazy ~ Patsy Cline
• Detroit City ~ Bobby Bare
• Distant Drums ~ Jim Reeves
• Don't Let Me Cross Over ~ Carl Butler
• Heartaches By the Number ~ Ray Price
• He'll Have to Go ~ Jim Reeves
• Hello Walls ~ Faron Young
• I’m Sorry ~ Brenda Lee
• I Fall To Pieces ~ Patsy Cline
• King of the Road ~ Roger Miller
• Night Life ~ Ray Price
• Ring Of Fire ~ Johnny Cash
• Rose Garden ~ Lynn Anderson
• She's Got You ~ Patsy Cline
• Stand by Your Man ~ Tammy Wynette
• The Battle of New Orleans ~ Johnny Horton
• The Other Woman ~ Ray Price
• Tip Of My Fingers ~ Bill Anderson
• Wine Me Up ~ Faron Young

Loretta Lynn Recording Sessions

Nov. 11, 1965

Columbia Studio; Nashville, Tennessee USA

Session Personnel: Loretta Lynn, Jordanaires (vocals), Harold Brasdley (6-stribg electric bass guitar), David Briggs (piano), Ray Edenton (acoustic guitar), Murrey "Buddy" Harman Jr. (drums), Harold Rugg (steel guitar), Thomas Grady Martin (electric guitar), Joe Zinkan (bass guitar)

1. Dear Uncle Sam -1966
2. You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man

Oct. 5, 1966

Bradley Barn; Mt. Juliet, Tennessee USA

Session Personnel: Loretta Lynn, Jordanaires (vocals), Harold Brasdley (6-stribg electric bass guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Murrey "Buddy" Harman Jr. (drums), Roy Huskey Jr. (bass guitar), Thomas Grady Martin (electric guitar), Harold Rugg (steel guitar), Johnny Russell (guitar)

1. Don't Come Home A-Drinkin'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Countrty Music, Feb. 4, 2010