Session drummer and producer extraordinaire, Russ Kunkel’s playing is so densely woven into the music of the 70s and 80s that even the most casual exposure to that era’s artists yields masterwork after masterwork of song-perfect drumming. From James Taylor to Carole King to Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Carly Simon, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Joe Walsh and more, his impeccable choices and spot-on technique are unmistakable.

 

Russ Kunkel’s partial discography also includes Herb Alpert, The Bee Gees, Jimmy Buffett, J.J. Cale, Neil Diamond, Art Garfunkel, Barbra Streisand, Emmylou Harris, B.B. King, Bob Seger, Warren Zevon, Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell, and that’s not the

half of it. It’s an amazing output of iconic music from a who’s-who of master songsmiths and performers. But Mr. Kunkel’s musical legacy isn’t just a twentieth century phenomenon, from 2000 to present he’s recorded with the likes of Crosby and Nash, Lyle Lovett, Kate Markowitz, Graham Nash, Shawna Russell, Wilson Philips and many more.

 

Perhaps Carole King said it best when she referred to Russ as “a singer-songwriter’s drummer”.