Working Drummer

John defines what it means to be a working drummer in Nashville Tennessee. Since his move to Nashville in 1993 from Connecticut, John has covered it all from international touring to studio work to maintaining a steady stream of work in Nashville’s lower broadway district. John’s early influences include Neil Smith, Nigel Ollsen, Jim Keltner, Hal Blaine, Billy Cobham, Bill Bruford and all the Motown drummers. Shortly after high school, John worked with a ten-piece band that played international dance music that covered every imaginable style and shared a bill with “Sun Ra and his Omniverse Arkestra”. Within the first week of moving to Nashville in 1993, John got the gig as the Grand Ole Gospel Time staff drummer, which continued for three years of weekly Friday night live radio gigs at the Grand Ole Opry House. In the proceeding years, John’s experienced a range of international touring with artists that include Becky Hobbs, The Forrester Sisters, Rhonda Vincent and Hank Williams III, Highway 101, and Tammy C