![]() As the evening started, they'd play a song, and I could see everybody going: 'Yeah, we found the guy!'. So he says: 'Hey man, is it okay if I play your drums?'. And he starts playing, and somebody says: 'Hey, that's that guy's set'. ![]() I set them up, this drummer walks in, goes to my drums and starts playing around, thinking they are a rental. So I take my drums, haul 'em on the airplane, and there I go. Can you get on a flight tomorrow night?'. We've been auditioning drummers for two weeks. So, sure enough, one Friday he called up and said: 'Ronnie, we're gonna send you a ticket. He said basically: 'I know we're gonna start auditioning drummers, and if they can't find somebody, I'll be happy to put your name in. My friend Larry Muhoberac was playing keyboards (for Elvis), and we were both running a studio in Dallas, and we both wanted to move to the West-Coast to be session-players. I was sinking slower and slower in the chair as the night went on, because I didn't even think I was going to get a chance to audition. I heard that you were competing with the staff-drummer of Motown at that audition in '69. Visually, our eyes were constantly watching eachother. Once you meet him and you understand the charisma that the man had, you just can't help but love what he does. But I was never really a big fan of his until 1969, and I met him. I told him that story later on when I met him. Two, he borrowed our guitarplayer's beautiful old Martin D-18 classic guitar after he'd already destroyed all the strings on his, and he just trashed it, marked up all the wood on it, you know. Elvis looked his typical way as he did in '56, and I didn't like him for two reasons: One, my girlfriend went crazy (laughs). And sure enough, in comes Elvis with Scotty Moore and Bill Black, no drums. One Saturday night, I had my girlfriend with me, and they told us this young guy named Elvis Presley was coming that night. They had a radio-show much like the Louisiana Hayride, so every Saturday night we'd drive over to Fort Worth. In 1956, I was playing with the western-swing band I told you about, and we were the house-band for a band that was playing at the Northside Coliseum in Forth Worth. What did you think of Elvis Presley in those days? And then I went from that to dixieland, to jazz, played classical music- I mean, I've played a lot of different kinds of music. It had some very famous American players in it, so I was very fortunate to start out with a good band. Oh, I grew up playing all kinds of pop music, and country music, the real old country & western and western-swing.The first band I ever played with was a western-swing band. What kind of music styles were you listening to? I was frustrated with playing trumpet and guitar, because I wanted to express myself rhythmically. ![]() So the rhythm of everything was more important to me than the melodic. I switched over to drums when I was 17 or 18 years old. When I started school, I started playing trumpet, and I played trumpet all the way to my senior high school. And I went from that to four-string guitar and violin. I think my first instrument was a ukelele, which is a great little instrument. My mother put me in dancing lessons right away. I started at about the age of three, singing to the record player and the radio, you know. Not only did he play drums for Elvis from 1969 to 1977, but he's also a highly regarded session-drummer that has worked with the likes of Neil Diamond and Elvis Costello.Ĭan you tell us a little about your background? 'On the drums from Dallas, Texas, is hard-working Ronnie Tutt', is how Elvis usually introduced Ronnie on stage, but I don't think that any kind of introduction is really necessary for our readers. ![]()
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