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         Buddy Harman: Drummer at the heart of 'the Nashville Sound'

 Before the advent of drum machines and Pro Tools, a steady, reliable and versatile drummer was a prerequisite of any successful recording session.Buddy Harman was one such, providing the beat for an estimated 18,000 sessions, including Elvis Presley's "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame" and "Little Sister", both in 1961.

Harman's distinctive and imaginative drumming also propelled the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" and "Cathy's Clown" and Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" into the charts, though the consummate musician was equally at ease backing country stars, playing with Patsy Cline on "Crazy", Johnny Cash on "Ring Of Fire" and Tammy Wynette on "Stand By Your Man". Harman helped to develop the role of drums in country music, switching from snare and brushes to a full kit as he created the shuffle which became part of "the Nashville Sound" of the mid- to late Fifties. He was also the first drummer to play at the Grand Ole Opry, though in the early days he remained behind the curtain as his instrument wasn't part of the traditional country music set-up.

Born Murrey Mizell Harman in 1928, he grew up in a musical household where his mother played the drums in the family band. Nicknamed Buddy after the jazz drummer Buddy Rich, he played in marching bands during his time in the US Navy, then enrolled at the Roy Knapp School of Percussion in Chicago. In 1951, he played on his first session, for Moon Mullican, and the following year he joined the country singer Carl Smith for live appearances.

By the mid-Fifties, Harman had become part of Nashville's "A-Team" of session players. Working for the producers Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, the musicians would fit several four-hour sessions into a day on Nashville's Music Row. They were often so busy they would get their hair cut in the studio to save time. Harman played on numerous country and pop classics including Orbison's "Crying" and "Only The Lonely"' and Roger Miller's "King Of The Road", Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John", Loretta Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter", "I'm Sorry" and "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee and "Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson.

Harman recorded television and film soundtracks as well radio jingles, and worked with everyone from Ann- Margret to Dolly Parton. One of Harman's more unusual sessions involved him and DJ Fontana, Presley's original drummer, in the recording of Ringo Starr's second solo album, the country-tinged Beaucoups of Blues (1970) though the "Nashville Jam", credited to all the participants, only appeared on the CD reissue of the album in 1995.

Harman was a Nashville resident more or less all his working life but in the Eighties he joined Jerry Lee Lewis's touring band for a change of pace and to see the world. Later, he returned to the Grand Ole Opry and he became a stalwart of the Nashville Association of Musicians, helping former colleagues track down royalties for the sessions they had done. Over the years, Harman performed in front of four US presidents, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan – which he described as "one of the highlights of my career".

Paying tribute, the bassist Bob Moore said that Harman "had such a great musical mind, but he was also such a kind, nice person. Buddy was funny in the studio, and he kept everybody feeling good."

Pierre Perrone

Murrey Mizell Harman (Buddy Harman), drummer: born Nashville, Tennessee 23 December 1928; married Marsha Marvell Irby (three sons, two daughters); died Nashville 21 August 2008.