Working Drummer

Johnny Radelat has been touring and recording with Gary Clark Jr. since 2012. Born to Cuban immigrants in Jersey City N.J., Johnny came of age in Miami, FL, and currently resides in Austin TX. Prior to teaming up with Gary Clark Jr, he honed the skills and subtleties of playing/touring with reggae, R&B, soul, and Funk bands, while still embracing a bombastic/caveman-ish approach to drumming. In th...

Rick Brothers has performed with over 40 artists at events such as the GRAMMYs, Billboard Music Awards, CMT Music Awards, the AMAs and the Super Bowl XXXIX pregame show.  During his decade and a half in Nashville Tennessee, Rick worked with various national artists including Ty Herndon, Jo-El Sonnier, Sarah Johns, Doug Stone, Gretchen Wilson, Colt Ford and most recently Bad Company’s former lead s...

A professional musician for over twenty five years, Chad Gamble grew up in Tuscumbia, AL in the Muscle Shoals Area. Upon graduating from the University of Alabama, he made moves to Shreveport, LA and Memphis, TN gaining valuable experience along the way, including being nominated twice as “Premier Drummer” by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Memphis Chapter. He has toured inter...

Megan Jane brings a simple stylistic philosophy to her playing – “less is more.”   After attending Berklee College of Music for two years, Megan moved to Southern California and began getting as much experience playing live and working with varied artists as possible.  She decided to make the move to Nashville in order to gain more opportunities in her musical career. Since moving to Nashville, Me...

Clayton Craddock’s drumming career spans decades and numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals. Clayton is currently the drummer of the Broadway Show Ain’t Too Proud-The Life AndTimes Of the Temptations now playing at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. Clayton has also held the drum chair and recorded the cast albums for the musicals Altar Boyz, tick…tick… BOOM!, Memphis the Musical and Lady Day...

Harry McCarthy has offered his technical skills­­ on the road and in the studio for major artists such as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, Carly Simon, Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, Madonna, Toto, James Taylor, Keith Urban and numerous others. He was raised in the same metro New York neighborhood as successful drummers, Rick and Jerry...

Mathieu Gramoli is a French-American drummer, composer, teacher and producer, who is best known for recording and touring with the band Her. Born in Paris, his musical talent became apparent at the age of fifteen when he picked up drumming during high school to play rock and funk with some friends. After high school he went to the Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III to study Applied Foreign Languages for...

After his thoughtful move to Nashville from his home state of California in 2012, Jarred Pope has found strong and steady work in the heavy rock world. Throughout his career, Jarred has and continues to earn respect among a highly reputable group of musicians within many genres that includes rock, hard rock, country and pop. Jarred has worked with Gene Simmons, Whiskey Falls, Hannah/McCuen, Julian...

Dame Drummer lives in Oakland, tours with Fantastic Negrito, and is about to release his latest original project, a double-length album called Loveolution. Dame grew up in Cleveland where he cut his teeth on the local scene playing funk, R&B, and whatever else came along. He moved to Oakland in 2012 at the urging of some friends who already lived there. His Rust Belt work ethic quickly and creativ...

For the last few years, Derek Mixon has been the drummer for country singer and songwriter Chris Stapleton. Derek played drums on all of Chris’s award winning solo albums to date. Originally from West Monroe, Louisiana, Derek drew inspiration from his surroundings that included his father who was a professional musician. The musical sensibilities he learned early in life as well as his time in Nas...

Damian Erskine is known for his ability to fit into most any musical situation, extraordinary reading and improvising skills as well as being an educator and columnist. He has played in the studio or on the stage with Peter Erskine, Gino Vannelli, The Jaco Pastorius Big Band, Bob Sheppard, John Beasley, Jeff Lorber, The Buddy Rich Alumni All-Star Band, Antonio Hart, Charmaine Neville, and many oth...

Rick Marotta is known for his recordings and touring with such luminaries as James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Larry Carlton, Warren Zevon and Bette Midler. Rick began playing drums at 19 when a friend went into the army and left his set of drums to Rick. It wasn’t long before Rick began playing with R&B bands in the New York area, r...

Once a year, we get together with our buddy Nick Ruffini of Drummer’s Resource to catch up on developments in our lives, podcasts, and careers. In this episode, Zack, Matt, and Nick talk about: * Los Angeles: Nick’s first impressions, Zack’s memories, the good, the bad and the ugly * Nick’s new company, Revoice Media * Playing drums vs. other music-related jobs, and how ego and identity plays into...

Accomplished drummer and spiritual teacher Steve Sinatra has dedicated fifteen plus years to making his living as a full time professional studio and touring musician. He’s toured and shared the stage with many nationally recognized artists such as Sarah Buxton, Pat Green, Richard Marx, Vertical Horizon, Billy Gilman, Joe Nichols, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes and many others.  After spending ten...

Accomplished drummer and spiritual teacher Steve Sinatra has dedicated fifteen plus years to making his living as a full time professional studio and touring musician. He’s toured and shared the stage with many nationally recognized artists such as Sarah Buxton, Pat Green, Richard Marx, Vertical Horizon, Billy Gilman, Joe Nichols, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes and many others.  After spending ten...

Tarik Abouzied has played and traveled with a vast array of incredible musicians. His groups have collectively produced seven original albums: two from Pocket Change, an instrumental funk septet in the vein of Tower of Power, three from Hardcoretet, a modern instrumental jazz quartet, one from McTuff, an incredible funk/jazz Hammond organ trio, and one from his current project, Happy Orchestra. Ha...

Petar Janjic was born in Kraljevo, Serbia, also known as Kingstown. At 5, his father, a well known Serbian drummer, gave him a drum set and at the age of 10, Petar began studying with legendary a Serbian drummer Slobodan Stojanovic. In high school, Petar toured all over Europe before his eventual move to the United States. In 2008 he studied Music Performance & Percussion at the McNally Smith Coll...

Jordan Manley made the move to Atlanta in 2014, after growing up and spending the early years of his career in the small town of Columbus, GA. Since moving, he has been a member of several Atlanta-based groups including Black Linen, Lightning Orchestra, and Mattiel, with who he has been touring the U.S. and Europe, opening for the likes of Jack White and St. Paul & The Broken Bones. In this podcas...

One of the premier showmen in rock, Carmine Appice became known worldwide for his astonishing live performances and a highly sought-after session drummer, He is known As the drummer for many ground breaking rock bands in the late 60’s to early 70’s like Vanilla Fudge Cactus as well as one of the first super groups with Jeff Beck, Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1976, he joined Rod Stewart’s band, tourin...

John Bryant is a drummer, percussionist, composer, educator, and music producer residing and working in Dallas, Texas. Originally from Virginia, he moved to Dallas and majored in music at the University of North Texas, where he performed and recorded with the One O’Clock Lab Band. He has recorded and/or performed with numerous artists including Ray Charles, Delbert McClinton, Joe Walsh, Lightnin’...

Danny Young (bald) and Mike McKee (bald) met a few years back while touring together and very quickly bonded over their mutual love for all things drums/percussion. Since then, they started a very nerdy friendship of developing and creating new instruments to use on their respective gigs: Mike with Delta Rae and Danny with Dan Tyminski. In 2018, the two officially joined forces and created “BaldMa...

Drummer/Percussionist Sam Wisman is a versatile fixture in Kansas City’s thriving creative music scene. He is a member of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, the Mark Lowrey Trio, Roger Wilder Quartet, Kinnor Philharmonic, Marimba Sol de Chiapas, and the People’s Liberation Big Band. He has performed with the Kansas City Symphony, the Topeka Symphony, New York Voices, Bobby Watson and more. He has wor...

For over 10 years, Dillon Napier has been the drummer for Grammy Nominated artist Margo Price. From performing at the O2 in London and Red Rocks in Colorado, to performing on multiple TV shows including Saturday Night Live, Margo’s success in recent years has afforded Dillon many unique and bucket list opportunities with many more to come. You can hear Dillon on Margo’s 2016 record, Midwest Farmer...

Bob Knight was our guest on episode 165 and was so informative and entertaining, we had to go back for more. Bob lives in London where he commands somewhat of a dual career, both as an in-demand drummer and a music agent or “fixer,” matching musicians with bands or artists who need backing. He graduated from the jazz program at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London and has gone on to wo...

In this episode we share stories and experiences of five accomplished drummers who maintain standard fitness practices as part of their daily and weekly routines. This roundtable includes Matt Iceman – (David Nail), Dave McAfee – (Toby Keith), Corbin Cagle – (indépendent), Mark Poiesz – (Tyler Farr), and helping to moderate the conversation is fitness expert and life coach Danny Elliott. Danny is...