The New York Times - by BILL FRISKICS-WARREN - Published: August 22, 2008

Buddy Harman, a profilic and influential drummer whose rhythmic signature can be heard on thousands of recordings by the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Simon and Garfunkel, died on Thursday at his home in Nashville. He was 79.

He had been suffering from congestive heart failure, said his daughter Summer Harman, who confirmed his death.

Mr. Harman played on an estimated 18,000 recordings, many of them major hits, in a career of more than five decades. He worked most sessions with the celebrated “A Team” of studio musicians who shaped the Nashville Sound of the 1950s and ’60s, performing on Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” and Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man,” along with scores of hits by Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Ray Price and others.

Mr. Harman also made his mark on the pop charts, making distinctive contributions to records like the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love,” Presley’s “Little Sister,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Boxer” (as a percussionist) and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” He played — bass, not drums — on Ringo Starr’s 1970 country album, “Beaucoups of Blues.”

Versatility and imagination were among Mr. Harman’s great strengths as a musician. He could play everything from big-beat rock ’n’ roll, as demonstrated by his pile-driving 4/4 on Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” to intimate cocktail jazz, as heard on his empathetic brushwork on Cline’s “Crazy.”

Drums were not commonly used in country music when Mr. Harman started working sessions in Nashville in the early 1950s. Later that decade, when he became the first house drummer for the Grand Ole Opry, he had to play behind a curtain because drums were not allowed on the show’s stage at the time. Before long, though, Mr. Harman had established his instrument as an integral voice in modern country music.

Murrey Mizell Harman Jr. was born Dec. 23, 1928, in Nashville. His mother, who played drums in the family band, was an early musical inspiration, along with jazz players like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

Mr. Harman began drumming while in his early teens and went on to perform in bands while serving in the Navy. Later, after two years of college in Nashville, he enrolled in the Roy Knapp School of Percussion in Chicago. On returning to Nashville in 1952 he played in the band of Carl Smith, a future member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and began doing studio work. By the mid-’50s, Mr. Harman had become the first-call drummer for recording sessions that were being booked on what became known as Nashville’s Music Row.

He was less active in the studio as the 1970s gave way to the ’80s. He eventually resumed work at the Opry, while also serving as the business agent for the Nashville chapter of the American Federation of Musicians.

Besides his daughter Summer, of Mount Juliet, Tenn., Mr. Harman is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Marsha Harman; his sons Mark, of Franklin, Tenn., and Stanley and Murrey M. III, both of Nashville; another daughter, Autumn, also of Nashville; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Another son, Richard, died in 2007.

“I just went into Dad’s room,” Summer Harman said in a telephone conversation in June, when her father’s health had been declining, “and he was playing drums in his sleep. He had a smile on his face and was tapping on his chest.”