Don Henley is one of my favorite drummers. That’s right, I said it.

Some people think he sucks as a drummer, but those people probably also think Ringo sucks and are truly missing the point, so I don’t care.

Of course, as one of the major contributors to the Eagles, I am tremendously inspired by his non-drumming contributions like his writing and his voice, but he’s an underrated drummer, too. His stuff is not difficult to play, but it’s very musical. Very song-oriented. 

There’s an interview with him from back in 1989—a long time after the Eagle’s prime, but still a long time ago compared to today—where he said, “Playing the drums is not my first love anymore and hasn’t been for a long time,” and the journalist indicated that “these days, Henley considers himself a singer and a songwriter. Period.”

That always disappointed me, since he’s such an important drumming figure to me. I wanted him to be more like me. And while maybe being a singer (probably) and a songwriter (definitely) are equally important to me, I want to be a drummer-singer-songwriter. That’s the package that I want to give when you get me in the mix.

It’s not so odd that a drummer (like me) would love drums. But it’s a little unusual because I’m not what you’d call a “drummer’s drummer.” I’m a song-oriented drummer. I don’t sit around working on perfecting rudiments or building my chops. I’m not that great at doing drum solos. My interest in things like drum clinics, where chopsy skilled craftsmen show off their amazing talents, is low to moderate. And, honestly, I’d rather hit a great groove and lay in the pocket than do something ostentatious and arguably more exciting. The song-stuff is what I do best, of course, but it’s sincerely what I like to do best. (And the latter is most certainly the reason for the former, since it’s largely what I’ve spent the last 30 years doing.)

And yet, despite that, I just connect with drumming in a way that I don’t connect with other instruments, despite that I have an equally “pragmatic” approach to using them to support the greater good of the song. I like pictures of drums. I like drum catalogues. I like drum hardware. I like watching people play drums on YouTube. There’s an appeal there that I get from no other instrument. I love playing anything I can get my hands on, because music is wonderful… but I am always most at home behind the drums. Even carrying them feels right.  My stick bag slung across my shoulder feels comfortable. It’s a prideful part of me, like another limb on my body. When I cary other instruments, I’m just schlepping gear. I like sticks in my hand, even if I’m just holding them while I watch TV. It’s my musical home, despite all the other stuff I am involved in.

The (relatively) recently departed Levon Helm, from The Band, is another of my favorite drummers. Like Henley, he had a voice that was envied and is one of a small handful of drummers who folks might tend to think of as a singer first. He wasn’t much of a writer, but he played mandolin and guitar and was clearly a musical guy. His approach to drumming was like his deep southern upbringing—soulful and musical.  He wasn’t a technical player, and I get the sense from watching him play over the years that he almost didn’t care about certain details as long as he had his pocket going: he’d play songs a little different each time, sometimes riding on his hats, other times on his ride, and still other times (atypically) riding out patterns on what appears to be his crash cymbal instead. But he was so darn musical.

And yet, despite his sizable skills as a “multi-instrumentalist,” unlike Henley, I always got the sense that drumming always was still his first love. Put another way, I don’t think he had to be a drummer because he had no other choice; I think he choose to be one because he wanted to, even though he wasn’t a proggy jazz-fusion cat . I identify with that a lot and will always have a soft spot for him because of it.

I can’t lie: I want to write. I want to sing. I want to sometimes sit on a stool and play guitar. 

But I certainly want to drum.

“Tonight I’m playing drums.” Of course I am.