From the NY Times:
Buddy Harman, 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 and Simon and Garfunkel, died on Thursday at his home in Nashville. He was 79.
He had been suffering from congestive heart failure, said his daughter Summer Harman, who confirmed his death.
Mr. 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,” along with scores of hits by Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Ray Price and others.
Mr. Harman also made his mark on the pop charts, making distinctive contributions to records like the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love,” Presley’s “Little Sister,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Boxer” (as a percussionist) and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” He played — bass, not drums — on Ringo Starr’s 1970 country album, “Beaucoups of Blues.”
Versatility and imagination were among Mr. Harman’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.”
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