Russ Kunkel

larryz

larryz

Platinum Member
Russ quietly made his mark on the pop rock world in the 1970s. Still at it today I'm thinking.

Heck, I was listening to Nash/Crosby debut LP from early 1970s today and loved the drumming. Look on the record sleeve (yes, as in vinyl!) and sure enough Russ is all over it. Worked with James Taylor and probably a ton of other easy rock, California type artists of the time period (Jackson Browne?)... Definitely my type of drummer.
 
Russ made his mark all right, but not so quietly! He was a staple of the L.A. studio scene back in the day.

I met him briefly on a flight to the Hurricane Relief concert in Miami in 1992. A very nice man and definitely one of my top-10 drumming heroes.

Bermuda
 
Yea, Russ Kunkel played with James Taylor and Calore King at their "Live at the Troubadour" reunion ablum in 2009. I say reunion because it was the first time they had performed their together since the early 70s when "You've Got a Friend" had its debut, so James Taylor got all the original musicians they had in their band back then to come play as well. Pretty awesome.
 
I've seen Russ play with The Section at the Roxy in L.A. (opening for Billy Cobham) and also with his sister Leah at McCabes in Santa Monica. I talked with him a bit at that show. A great drummer!

Barry
 
Had an opportunity to meet Russ at his L.A. storage locker in early 2020, right before the pandemic. Super nice guy and it was quite the experience taking in his wisdom and seeing a couple of his iconic kits (the WMP 9000 kit especially) in person.

Russ is one of probably five drummers on the soundtrack to most of my childhood and his songwriter friendly drumming approach has informed my playing greatly over the decades. I really had to focus on not being a fanboi during that brief interaction a few years ago!
 
Incredible drummer. Incredible influence on me. Incredible career . . . and still going!

Back in the early 80's I was dating my girlfriend (who became my wife). She wanted to see Dan Fogelberg in concert so I scored some decent tickets. When the band came out the crowd was cheering for Dan, but I'm like "Oh my gosh . . . it's Russ Kunkel! Russ is on drums!!!" To this day she still tells that story to our friends how I was the only one in the venue more excited to see Russ Kunkel than Dan Fogelberg.

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to watch the Immediate Family documentary.

 
Vintage Old School said:
Back in the early 80's I was dating my girlfriend (who became my wife). She wanted to see Dan Fogelberg in concert so I scored some decent tickets. When the band came out the crowd was cheering for Dan, but I'm like "Oh my gosh . . . it's Russ Kunkel! Russ is on drums!!!" To this day she still tells that story to our friends how I was the only one in the venue more excited to see Russ Kunkel than Dan Fogelberg.
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Russ was the only reason I bought tickets for Lyle Lovett when he came to our town. He's got such a unique approach to drums.
 
Vintage Old School said:
Incredible drummer. Incredible influence on me. Incredible career . . . and still going!

Back in the early 80's I was dating my girlfriend (who became my wife). She wanted to see Dan Fogelberg in concert so I scored some decent tickets. When the band came out the crowd was cheering for Dan, but I'm like "Oh my gosh . . . it's Russ Kunkel! Russ is on drums!!!" To this day she still tells that story to our friends how I was the only one in the venue more excited to see Russ Kunkel than Dan Fogelberg.

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to watch the Immediate Family documentary.

Click to expand...
Can't tell you how many concerts I've been to where I'm more interested in the drummer than the Headliner. Probably why out of the thousand or so shows I've been to The Band in 84 is number 1.
 
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Great drummer. During my youth it seemed his playing could be heard in a variety of places we'd visit.


 
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Russ was born in Pittsburgh
 
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