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About George Lawrence
- Details
- Category: NSMD Staff
- Last Updated on Monday, 26 December 2011 11:51
Hailing from Jackson Mississippi, George has lived and worked in the major music centers of Los Angeles, Nashville, and Muscle Shoals Alabama, recording and touring around the world with some of the best musicians and recording artists. He is known for his "deep pocket groove" and his ability to inspire other musicians to play their best. During the nineties George gained a reputation as one of the top sub drummers in Nashville. Able to fill in with national recording artists on a moment's notice with no rehearsal, George has been working constantly as a "ringer" or "pinch hitter". He subbed a couple of gigs with POCO in 1999 which led to his becoming a member of that band in 2004. George is still playing other free lance recording sessions and gigs in and around his home of Nashville TN and around the country and the world.
A truly versatile jack of all trades and "master of all", his drumming styles range from funk, R&B, soul music, blues, country, classic rock, pop, big band jazz, be-bop jazz and jazz-rock fusion music. He has spent many years as a recording studio "session cat" and reads standard transcription and Nashville number charts flawlessly. He has played drum set in every imaginable setting including concert arenas, videos, TV, clubs, churches, symphony orchestras, and clinics. A professional sideman, George is available to work anywhere in the world for gigs large and small. His only criteria for accepting jobs are great music and great people. To contact George about playing a gig or tour or playing on your recordings (your studio or his) email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him at 330 338 6035.
George is very active in the drumming community both locally and nationally, attending drum festivals and conventions around the country as a performer and clinician. He owns and produces the Nashville Drum Show every Fall. He has taught thousands of students, many who have gone on to become professional drummers and some who have become famous drummers. Of special note is student Keith Carlock, also from Mississippi, who is now recognized as one of the top drummers in the world working with the likes of Steely Dan, Sting, John Mayer and James Taylor. Pro and aspiring pro drummers from around the country seek George out for the highest level of instruction on the drumset.
George owned and operated George's Drum Shop from 1985 through 2010 ( see about George's Drum Shop below). In 2006 George and Joe Partridge started the Famous Drum Company which manufacturers pro level snare drums and drum sets. In 2008 George bought Not So Modern Drummer magazine from Bill Ludwig III and works as editor, publisher and photographer. He is currently writing the Blue Book of Drums for Blue Books Inc. which is due for publication in 2012.
George with Poco in their 39th anniversary year 2007.
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Q. Who are you and what have you done that is so dang wonderful? :-) A. Nothing all that impressive really. I consider myself just a journeyman working drummer who graduated from the school of hard knocks. I spent thousands of six and seven nights a week gigs in night clubs during the seventies and eighties learning how to function in a rhythm section. Fortunately I found my niche with some people who like that groove and the funny little fast notes I paint the holes with. :-) I've recorded thousands and thousands of publishing and songwriter demos, hundreds of custom label and independent albums, lots of major label albums, and dozens of great album projects that never saw the light of day :-). A partial discography is posted at this site allmusic.com
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In Nashville TN and Muscle Shoals Alabama since 1993 until now I played gigs and/or recorded with:
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...and others that escape my memory at the moment. Sorry if I left anyone out.
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Timeline
| 1960-1972 |
Elementary through high school marching bands in Grenada and Jackson MS. Started teaching at age 15 and began playing professionally at age 17. Left on the road with a pro rock band after graduating high school (sound familiar?).
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| 1972-1973 |
Attended Hinds Jr. College and Milsaps College in Mississippi.
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| 1973-1974 |
Attended North Texas State University, Denton, Texas.
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| 1975-1976 |
Attended Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
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| 1977-1982 |
Session musician in San Fransisco, L.A. and Santa Barbara,
California. Major record label recording artist in Northern California Bay Area with "Uncle Rainbow" (which evolved into Bougois-Tagg) and in L.A. with "Pages" (which evolved into Mr. Mister). Funny how those bands became successful after I left :-) |
| 1983-1993 |
Based out of my hometown Jackson, MS. to raise my kids, lead my own band, "Chemistry", teach private students, operate George's Drum Shop #1, and record in the famed studios of the Deep South.
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| 1993-2001 |
Worked out of Nashville touring with pop country acts. Long stints with Larry Stewart, the lead singer from Restless Heart during his solo career, McBride and the Ride, T. Graham Browne, the Kinleys and the Wilkinsons. Lots of subs, one-offs, and short tours with many country recording artists listed above. Recorded albums and publishing demos in Nashville, Muscle Shoals, Memphis, Atlanta and L.A. I was also associated with Fork's Drum Closet in Nashville as a private instructor and wrote a couple of instruction books that have been reviewed in Modern Drummer and sold steadily.
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| 2002-2010 |
Operated George's Drum Shop #2 in the Akron / Cleveland, Ohio region. Joined Poco in 2004 playing gigs with Poco around the world. I moved back to Nashville in early 2011.
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The history of George's Drum Shop
George's Drum Shop was in business almost constantly in one form or another since 1985 but it actually started in my bedroom when I was in high school. I was always buying drum sets and refinishing and refurbishing them, reselling or horse trading them mainly just to satisfy my jones for the next great new drum set I thought I had to have. During my late teens and twenties I used to visit, hang out, teach and work in drum shops and music departments all around the country as I moved and traveled from place to place. I was involved with the B&S drum shop in Dallas, and Mike's Drum Shop in Santa Barbara California. I also frequented Frank's Drum Shop in Chicago, Skip's Music in Sacramento, the original Guitar Center in LA., The Pro Drum Shop in Hollywood, Brook Mays Music in Dallas and many others. I was always in love with drum shops. I think a drum shop is a romantic business because creative people are involved as staff and customers. I enjoyed hanging out with the other drummers and talking about playing drums, checking out the latest gear, our music careers, etc. My mother and I talked often about opening a drum shop and after my stint in the California music business, George's Drum Shop was started in earnest in 1985 when I settled down in my hometown of Jackson Mississippi. My mother put up a couple of rental houses for the collateral for a business loan.
Jackson 1985: The first George's Drum shop was located in an old house on the edge of the large Meadowbrook Mart shopping center in North Jackson. This enterprise lasted three years and thanks to Reaganomics and the poor economy of the state there just wasn't enough drummer business in the area to sustain a stand alone drum shop. I closed that location down in 1987 and operated out of a building in back of my home teaching students, repairing and building drums and selling them to students on the side. I also published a mail order catalog for a while.
I moved to Nashville in 1993 where I worked briefly at the now defunct Pro Drum Shop, taught and sold at Sam's Music in Brentwood, and starting in 1996 taught at Fork's Drum Closet, one of the premier drum shops in the country. I started my online drum retail business DrumGuru.com in 2000 selling just a handful of brands.
I moved to Akron Ohio (my ex-wife's hometown) in 2002 where I resurrected George's Drum Shop and GeorgesDrumShop.com in the funky and eclectic Walterville Warehouse complex (Walterville isn't really a place, it's a state of mind :-) In 2004, I moved the store to neighboring downtown Cuyahoga Falls Ohio when my friend Jim Mothersbaugh offered me cheap rent in the big storefront building his family owned. Jim's brother is Mark Mothersbaugh and cousin Bob Mothersbaugh of the Devo band and they all used to practice and shoot their videos in this building. It was located on a pedestrian mall next door to the downtown ampitheatre so I threw three yearly drum festivals there which reached an attendance of 10,000 in 2006. I also joined Poco in 2004 playing 50 dates a year with them AND running the shop full time. Whew!
In 2007 the economy started going south so I downsized the business back to the small Walterville warehouse quarters and ran it as a primarily internet sales operation with one full time employee. I closed the shop in December 2010 when the recession and unemployment made it impossible to sell enough to stay in business. I had a good run with George's Drum Shop. It was very successful and people have fond memories of this great little traditional drum shop. It was "home" for a lot of professionals drummers and students. I have no regrets and wouldn't trade the experience for all the tea in China. I still dabble in selling vintage instruments on Ebay from here in Nashville, but will probably never have another retail shop.
George performing at the shop's 2006 Annual Drum Festival; attendance for the day; 10,000!
