Jerry Carrigan
Encyclopedia
Jerry Carrigan is an American drummer
and record producer
born 13 September 1943 in Florence, Alabama
. He first achieved widespread recognition by being part of the first wave of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
and later as a session musician
in Nashville, Tennessee
for over 3 decades. He has played with Elvis Presley
, Johnny Cash
, Tony Joe White
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Dolly Parton
and many others (see list below).
, in 1943. According to his mother, Carrigan would abandon new toys as an infant and crawl to the kitchen cabinets to beat on the family’s pots and pans. Later, his father purchased Carrigan a set of drums after the young child had created his own makeshift set, which included an old banjo and brush for a snare; boxes as tom-toms; and old Edison records on sticks as cymbals.
He grew up listening to 1950's R&B, including artists such as Fats Domino
, Smiley Lewis
, Little Richard
and Larry Williams
, and Country artists such as Hank Garland
. Carrigan made his first recording session at age 13, as a member of Little Joe Allen and the Offbeats. In addition to drumming in local bands, Carrigan also played in marching bands throughout high school and college.
As a drummer his influences were Buddy Harman
and Earl Palmer
.
Carrigan began College, and while there in February 1964 he backed Tommy Roe
for a live concert in Washington, D.C.
as the opening act for The Beatles
who were playing their first ever American Concert.
in Muscle Shoals
, Alabama
.
"We laid the gorundworkfor the whole Muscle Sholas Rhythm and Blues Movement to begin" Carrigan says of himself and fellow musicians and Norbert Putnam
, who were part of the original "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" in the early sixties.
Although eclipsed by a later version of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
known as "The Swampers" consisting of Barry Beckett
, Roger Hawkins
, David Hood
, Jimmy Johnson
, Carrigan played on a number of hits including: Arthur Alexander
's "You Better Move On" (the first R&B hit out of Muscle Shoals), followed by Jimmy Hughes
' chart hit "Steal Away" and later, on numerous hits by Tommy Roe
and The Tams
, including "What Kind of Fool".
Making the most of the Muscle Shoals contacts who preceded him in going to Nashville, Carrigan soon acquired a following among producers and artists. "The first year I was in Nashville, I did about ninety percent of the sessions that were done at RCA," he recalls. "People just put me right to work." Top producers such as Felton Jarvis
, Jerry Kennedy
, Owen Bradley
, Chet Atkins
, and Billy Sherrill
all hired Carrigan for record dates. He played on hits for some of the biggest country stars of the era - Charlie Rich
, Ray Stevens
, Charley Pride
, George Jones
, Tammy Wynette
, Johnny Paycheck
, Elvis Presley
and Johnny Cash
.
The growth of Nashville into a major recording center during the Seventies and the boom in Country Music can largely be attributed to the city's session musicians, including Jerry Carrigan. Non-Country artists began recording in Nashville and Carrigan was soon recording with artists such as Elvis Presley
, Tony Joe White
, Al Hirt
, Johnny Mathis
, Andy Williams
, Tom Jones
, Henry Mancini
, Joan Baez
, and the Boston Pops. Through his association with Grammy-winning Nashville producer Larry Butler, he worked with Sammy Davis, Jr.
, Don McLean
, Nana Mouskouri, Kenny Rogers
, Paul Anka
, Bobby Vinton
, Steve and Eydie
, Debby Boone
, Wayne Newton
, and John Denver
, with whom he also toured between 1981 and 1990.
Viewed as an in-demand drummer by Nashville producers, he was by 1977 playing approximately twelve three-hour sessions per week.
He gained international attention while playing on a CBS show for Johnny Paycheck
in London
, and subsequently recorded several projects done in Nashville under the direction of Italian producer John Reverberi.
loved it. So I started experimenting with different things, different kinds of drums. I bought the first set of concert tom-toms that were in Nashville. I think that's one reason the producers liked my sound. I had a different approach."
In February 2009 Carrigan was honored in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s ongoing Nashville Cats series, which pays tribute to veteran musicians who have proven integral to the city’s role as the home of country music and one of the world’s leading recording centers.
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
born 13 September 1943 in Florence, Alabama
Florence, Alabama
Florence is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state.According to the 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 36,721....
. He first achieved widespread recognition by being part of the first wave of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers, are a group of American soul, R&B, and country studio musicians based in the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama...
and later as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
for over 3 decades. He has played with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie"; "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970; and "Steamy Windows", a hit for Tina Turner in 1989...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and many others (see list below).
Early Years
Jerry Carrigan was born in Florence, AlabamaFlorence, Alabama
Florence is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state.According to the 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 36,721....
, in 1943. According to his mother, Carrigan would abandon new toys as an infant and crawl to the kitchen cabinets to beat on the family’s pots and pans. Later, his father purchased Carrigan a set of drums after the young child had created his own makeshift set, which included an old banjo and brush for a snare; boxes as tom-toms; and old Edison records on sticks as cymbals.
He grew up listening to 1950's R&B, including artists such as Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
, Smiley Lewis
Smiley Lewis
Smiley Lewis was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues musician. The journalist, Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
and Larry Williams
Larry Williams
Larry Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana...
, and Country artists such as Hank Garland
Hank Garland
Walter Louis Garland , better known as Hank Garland, was a Nashville studio musician who performed with Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison and many others.-Biography:...
. Carrigan made his first recording session at age 13, as a member of Little Joe Allen and the Offbeats. In addition to drumming in local bands, Carrigan also played in marching bands throughout high school and college.
As a drummer his influences were Buddy Harman
Buddy Harman
Buddy Harman was an American session musician.-Career:Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Brenda Lee, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, Connie Francis, Chet Atkins, Marty Robbins, Roger Miller,...
and Earl Palmer
Earl Palmer
Earl Cyril Palmer was an American rock & roll and rhythm and blues drummer, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
.
Carrigan began College, and while there in February 1964 he backed Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe is an American pop music singer-songwriter.Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" and "Dizzy" , critic Bill Dahl wrote that Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late 1960s, but Roe cut some pretty decent rockers along the way, especially early in his...
for a live concert in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
as the opening act for The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
who were playing their first ever American Concert.
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Carrigan left college after two years to concentrate on his work as a session musician at FAME StudiosFAME Studios
FAME Studios are located at 603 East Avalon in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have been an integral part of American popular music from the late 1950s to the present...
in Muscle Shoals
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the city to be 12,846. The city is included in The Shoals MSA. It is famous for its contributions to American popular music.-Geography:Muscle Shoals is located...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
"We laid the gorundworkfor the whole Muscle Sholas Rhythm and Blues Movement to begin" Carrigan says of himself and fellow musicians and Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam is an American record producer and musician. He grew up near Florence, Alabama and was part of the Muscle Shoals musicians brought to Nashville to play for Elvis Presley in 1965. Putnam worked there as a bassist on recording sessions with Presley, Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry...
, who were part of the original "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" in the early sixties.
Although eclipsed by a later version of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers, are a group of American soul, R&B, and country studio musicians based in the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama...
known as "The Swampers" consisting of Barry Beckett
Barry Beckett
Barry Edward Beckett was a keyboardist who worked as a session musician with several notable artists on their studio albums...
, Roger Hawkins
Roger Hawkins
Roger G Hawkins , is an American drummer best known for playing as part of the studio backing band known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section of Alabama...
, David Hood
David Hood
David Hood , is a bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone and is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame....
, Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson (musician)
Jimmy Johnson is an American a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section that was attached to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama for a period in the 1960s and 1970s, and later was the a founder of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio located at first on 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama and at...
, Carrigan played on a number of hits including: Arthur Alexander
Arthur Alexander
Arthur Alexander was an American country soul singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for Allmusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his...
's "You Better Move On" (the first R&B hit out of Muscle Shoals), followed by Jimmy Hughes
Jimmy Hughes (singer)
Jimmy Hughes is an American former rhythm and blues singer, whose biggest successes in the mid 1960s, notably his hit "Steal Away", were important in the early development of the Muscle Shoals music industry.-Life and career:...
' chart hit "Steal Away" and later, on numerous hits by Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe is an American pop music singer-songwriter.Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" and "Dizzy" , critic Bill Dahl wrote that Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late 1960s, but Roe cut some pretty decent rockers along the way, especially early in his...
and The Tams
The Tams
The Tams, sometimes later billed as 'The Joe Pope Tams' are an American vocal group from Atlanta, Georgia, who enjoyed their greatest chart success in the 1960s, and the 1970s, and most improbably in the 1980s. Two separate versions of the group continue to perform and record. One version features...
, including "What Kind of Fool".
Nashville
Muscle Shoals had yet to become a world renowned Recording Studio, while Nashville's home to top session musicians was already well established. So in 1965 Carrigan, together with Briggs and Putnam, moved there together that year and worked as a rhythm section, each intending to branch out alone.Making the most of the Muscle Shoals contacts who preceded him in going to Nashville, Carrigan soon acquired a following among producers and artists. "The first year I was in Nashville, I did about ninety percent of the sessions that were done at RCA," he recalls. "People just put me right to work." Top producers such as Felton Jarvis
Felton Jarvis
Felton Jarvis, , produced most of Elvis Presley's recordings from 1966-1977.He also released several singles in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
, Jerry Kennedy
Jerry Kennedy
Jerry Glenn Kennedy is an American record producer, songwriter and guitar player.-Early years:Kennedy was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. As a child, he recalls "beating on broomsticks and other things" as his initial forays into music-making...
, Owen Bradley
Owen Bradley
Owen Bradley was an American record producer who, along with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.-Before the fame:...
, Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, and Billy Sherrill
Billy Sherrill
Billy Sherrill is a record producer and arranger who is most famous for his association with a number of country artists, most notably Tammy Wynette...
all hired Carrigan for record dates. He played on hits for some of the biggest country stars of the era - Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...
, Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
, Charley Pride
Charley Pride
Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer. His smooth baritone voice was featured on thirty-nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His greatest success came in the early- to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis...
, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....
, Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle , a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It"...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
.
The growth of Nashville into a major recording center during the Seventies and the boom in Country Music can largely be attributed to the city's session musicians, including Jerry Carrigan. Non-Country artists began recording in Nashville and Carrigan was soon recording with artists such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie"; "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970; and "Steamy Windows", a hit for Tina Turner in 1989...
, Al Hirt
Al Hirt
Al Hirt was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million selling recordings of "Java", and the accompanying album, Honey in the Horn . His nicknames included 'Jumbo' and 'The Round Mound of Sound'...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, and the Boston Pops. Through his association with Grammy-winning Nashville producer Larry Butler, he worked with Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
, Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
, Nana Mouskouri, Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
, Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...
, Steve and Eydie
Steve and Eydie
Steve and Eydie is the name of an American pop vocal duet, consisting of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé. They have been a husband and wife team since they wed in 1957. Both have also had separate careers as solo singers. The performer name on their duet releases was denoted as "Steve and Eydie",...
, Debby Boone
Debby Boone
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year...
, Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
, and John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
, with whom he also toured between 1981 and 1990.
Viewed as an in-demand drummer by Nashville producers, he was by 1977 playing approximately twelve three-hour sessions per week.
He gained international attention while playing on a CBS show for Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle , a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It"...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and subsequently recorded several projects done in Nashville under the direction of Italian producer John Reverberi.
Musical Style
Carrigan is largely responsible for establishing the "big fat drum sound" associated with Nashville recordings during the 1970s. He said: "I started playing real loose, deep-sounding snare drums on country records. Billy SherrillBilly Sherrill
Billy Sherrill is a record producer and arranger who is most famous for his association with a number of country artists, most notably Tammy Wynette...
loved it. So I started experimenting with different things, different kinds of drums. I bought the first set of concert tom-toms that were in Nashville. I think that's one reason the producers liked my sound. I had a different approach."
In February 2009 Carrigan was honored in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s ongoing Nashville Cats series, which pays tribute to veteran musicians who have proven integral to the city’s role as the home of country music and one of the world’s leading recording centers.