The band performs Lee’s newest single “A Woman Like You” which reached #1 last month. (Below is a clip of the entire episode, can’t find the performance clip just yet. Just advance to the final marked segment.)

Lee Brice “A Woman Like You” – Tonight Show with Jay Leno 5/1/12

The performance features a custom drum head logo that Michal also uses on tour with Lee. Here’s a closer look:

Lee Brice had Billboard’s Top Country Song of 2010 with “Love Like Crazy”, the title track to his 2010 debut album; the song spent 56 weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart, peaking at #3 and setting a record for the longest run in the chart’s history. Besides his own material, the South Carolina native has co-written singles for Garth Brooks, Adam Gregory, and Tim McGraw.

Ever wonder exactly what heads, cymbals, sticks, drum mics and even the sidekick Tracy Broussard brings on the road?

Take a walk with Tracy as he discusses his gear for the Blake Shelton 2012 “Well Lit & Amplified” tour!

Tracy Broussard – Blake Shelton – Gear Rundown 2012

Here’s a closer look of the Woodshed custom drum head artwork Tracy’s using on tour:

Photo by Sayre Berman - sayrejoanphotography.com

This Louisiana native and father of 2 has been a Woodshed client for Blake Shelton tours dating back to 2008.

Steve Bowman may not yet be a household name as far as drummers go, but he has certainly paid his dues.

For starters, the San Francisco Bay-Area native was the original drummer in the rock band Counting Crows, playing drums on their massively successful debut album “August and Everything After”>. The band’s seemingly overnight burst into stardom led to performances on late-night TV circuit on shows like Letterman and SNL when the band first gained widespread national popularity.



Counting Crows – “Round Here” – 1993

Touring with the Crows brought him to sold-out venues across the county, opening for such legacy acts as The Rolling Stones to name a few, getting two Grammy nominations and an American Music Award win, and making the cover of Rolling Stone magazine…all while in his early twenties.

Following his time with the Counting Crows, Steve took a stint with then -burgeoning pop-rockers Third Eye Blind, cutting the early demos that would eventually become their hit debut album. After Third Eye Blind, Steve went on to tour and record with a variety of acts including Luce, who’s hit single “Buy a Dog” was featured in the movies How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and 13 Going on 30.

Luce “Buy a Dog” – Live at the Little Fox (2006)

“Recording is my favorite way to play music. I love finding the tones, parts, and feel to catch the spirit and vibe of a song,” Steve says.

His love for the studio brought him and his family to the Recording Capital of the Universe, Nashville, where he’s maintained a steady diet of singer-songwriter recording sessions around town between tours.

Steve has also toured and/or recorded with Penelope Huston, John Wesley Harding, Big Kenny, Tori Sparks, Tremolo and The Bittersweets to name just a few. Steve is often called at the drop of a hat to fill-in for drummers on tour, as he did recently for several dates with country duo Big & Rich.

“Groove Control” is Steve’s latest extension of his teaching. This 148 page book ($24.95) features a 99-track play-along CD to accompanying the challenging, time-focused material. Visit Steve’s website (SteveTheDrummer.com) to purchase a copy.

See Steve Bowman in person, playing and telling his story at this year’s SHEDFEST. This free event held each summer in Cleveland brings together three drummers for an afternoon of inspiration and motivation (and a few chops thrown in for good measure!). 2012 Shedfest is Saturday June 16 at 1pm. Visit woodshedpercussion.com/shedfest for more info or to register!



Luce “Good Day” Live at the Little Fox – 2006

Lots! Sold-out arenas with Jason Aldean, tons of studio work leading to tons and tons of radio airplay, C.R.A.S.H. Course clinics around the country, a live performance on the Grammys, new business ventures…aw, never mind – let’s hear it from the man himself!

Rich Redmond – Year In Review (DrumHang.com)

Rich Redmond was the first of three artists announced this year for Shedfest – a FREE, all-ages music edutainment event in Cleveland this summer. This is one event you won’t want to miss! Register at woodshedpercussion.com/shedfest today!

Pop-country superstars Rascal Flatts are releasing a new album. But far be it from them to mail it in with the typical album release press…go big or go home, right? How big? They filmed a live concert event which will be shown on Thursday, April 5 in 650 theaters nation-wide.

Changed: One Night Exclusive Movie Theatre Event, filmed at the historic Franklin Theater outside of Nashville, TN, features songs from the new album (entitled “Change”) as well as some of their biggest hits. (Here’s a link for tickets.)

Rascal Flatts: Changed

The concert film features drummer Jim Riley, armed with a custom Woodshed drum head. Jim came to us with an idea for a traditional vintage-inspired pinstripe crest. We surprised him with a modern version in an iridescent finish that dances in the lights and compliments his new Ludwig glass glitter wrap.

Here’s a closer look at Jim’s new Woodshed drum head artwork:

Rascal Flatts will also perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (ABC) on Thursday April 5 and Good Morning America (CBS) on Friday, April 6. The band also performed this week on Dancing With The Stars and performed on the 47th ACM Awards with Steve Martin appropriately playing banjo on the band’s latest single, “Banjo.”

The band will appear with another legendary Woodshed client Lionel Richie on his prime-time TV special airing April 13, which includes the band’s duet with Richie “Dancin’ On The Ceiling.”

Jim Riley is a regular contributor to Modern Drummer Magazine, presented a clinic at last year’s PASIC and wrote a book on the Nashville Number System. When he’s not touring the country performing to sold-out arenas with Rascal Flatts, Jim also teaches private lessons and plays recording sessions in Nashville. In 2007, he opened up “Drum Dojo,” his percussion studio teaching 6th-12th grade students in a weekly masterclass format.

Jake Owen “Alone With You” – Tonight Show 3/26/2012

Here’s a closer look at Myron Howell’s custom drum head logo artwork. (Jake also travels with one of our arena-sized fabric backdrop, too.

Jake performed the song “Alone With You”, his second consecutive #1 single. The Florida native also had considerable success with his hits “8 Second Ride”, “Yee Haw”, “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You” and “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”.

Here’s a link to Jake performing on Jimmy Kimmel and Chelsea Handler.

To make sure he’s ready for anything, Flatts drummer Jim Riley wrote this chart below for the B2M hit “Water Runs Dry”…you know, just in case

To many drummers, this chart seems like Greek. Once you know the code (and some basic music theory), it can be a quick way to learn a song, write a chart, and whip it out to sight-read while playing.

Here’s some insight from Jim Riley himself on the chart:

The chords [in this song] for the most part are changing twice in a measure. A single number standing alone represents a major chord that will be played for one measure. When there is more than one chord change per measure you underline them. You could put four in a measure then each would get one beat.

The fractions are chord inversions with the bass note on the bottom. 5/7 is a 5 chord over the 7th scale degree, which in C is a G chord with a B in the bass. In C a 1/3 is a C with an E in the bass.

The diamond shapes around some numbers are like a whole note “stop”.

The ones with the arrow thing? That’s called a “push”. It places the chord change on the and of four instead of the usual beat 1. There were so many pushes that they will dictate the drum pattern for me…I’m also not planning on playing it exactly like the recording so that’s the other reason for no drum pattern notation here.

I wrote the above chart last night, and we played it today with them with no run through…

OK…But TONS of drummers use a “cheat sheet”, which is a simplified version of the Number System, except with numbers representing measures instead of chord changes. Since drummers don’t play chords, why should we bother learning music theory and writing Number charts?

It’s powerful info, and knowledge is power. You must be able to communicate with the rest of the band in their language!

2 reasons why I stopped writing simpler “drummer cheat sheets”:
1) I wrote the chart and used it but the keyboard player and guitarist also used the same chart.
2) What else are my options? If I write a chart that says “play 8 bars” then what am I doing? Counting bars…BUT, if I read a number chart then instead of counting bars I’m listening to changes…listening for me is a better option.

In Nashville we don’t have the luxury of getting comfortable with the tune, then recording it. We play it through, and go “red” by the time you could play it by memory, then we go on to the next chart.

It’s not hard if you break it down. The form of the song couldn’t be clearer than in this format….assuming you know the major scale and some basic music theory.

It’s the only kind of chart that one member of the band could write, pass that same chart out to the rest of the band a play the song. I mean, that’s a whole song charted on a half a piece of paper that the whole band can read, and is transposable to all 12 keys! No “drummer cheat sheet” could do that…

Jim Riley wrote the book on the Nashville Number System…quite literally, in fact. All the info you need to know is right there in his book Song Charting Made Easy: A Play-Along Guide to the Nashville Number System.