The driving rhythmic force behind some of the most innovative and influential records in popular music history, Nashville drummer
Kenny Buttrey was born in Music City on April 1, 1945. By 12, he was already playing professionally, and he was a member of an outfit named the Escorts before fellow Nashville session legend
Charlie McCoy joined the group, which later became known as
Charlie McCoy & the Escorts.
McCoy's patronage helped
Buttrey earn his first studio gigs, and he soon scored his first notable credit backing Arthur Alexander on his 1962 R&B classic "Anna (Go to Him)." Perhaps his most significant work appears on
Bob Dylan's landmark 1966 effort
Blonde on Blonde --
Buttrey's drumming is sublime, moving seamlessly from the woozy, march-like opener "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" to the nuanced beauty of "Visions of Johanna." He would also collaborate with
Dylan on the classics
John Wesley Harding and
Nashville Skyline, which together pointed the way toward a true fusion of country and rock & roll, a path that much of
Buttrey's most significant work would follow.
In 1969 he co-founded
Area Code 615, an instrumental unit also featuring session luminaries including
McCoy, fiddler
Buddy Spicher, and steel guitarist
Weldon Myrick. Though neither of their LPs enjoyed significant commercial success, the group's self-titled debut and its 1970 follow-up,
Trip in the Country, remain notable for their flawless musicianship. The former also yielded "Stone Fox Chase," the longtime theme song for the BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test. In 1970
Buttrey inaugurated a long and fruitful partnership with
Neil Young, beginning with the classic
After the Gold Rush and resuming two years later with the chart-topping
Harvest. For a short time, he also served as a member of
Young's then-touring band the Stray Gators, and also appeared on the classic
Tonight's the Night.
Buttrey and
McCoy reunited in 1974 in the Southern rock combo
Barefoot Jerry, scoring the hit "Boogie Woogie," and three years later the drummer appeared on
Jimmy Buffett's
Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes, contributing to the singer's signature hit, "Margaritaville." After a long bout with cancer,
Buttrey died on September 12, 2004. ~ Jason Ankeny