Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story

Gene Seymour

Terse, shapely and evocative. In pushing the spotlight onto Palmer's life and work, Scherman performs a valuable service to the cultural legacy of this nation..."Backbeat" is a book you listen to as much as read. Palmer's narrative voice goes through you like a straight shot of smooth, strong whiskey.
— Newsday

Library Journal

From his show business debut at the age of five, tap dancing with his mother and aunt in the last days of black vaudeville, Earl Palmer grew up to become the beat of popular American musical culture. After a stretch in the service during World War II, Palmer returned to his native New Orleans and began drumming with Dave Bartholomew's legendary band. By the time the rock'n'roll era was in full swing, Palmer was right there, playing with Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Sam Cook. In the 1960s he made a comfortable living as one of Los Angeles's top studio musicians. His behind-the-scenes influence continued to be felt through his work with the musician's union--he was instrumental in seeing to it that musicians received royalties when Hollywood started using oldies as a standard part of the soundtracks of the 1980s. Music writer Scherman's "as told to" style is rich with anecdotes and stories, some of the most amusing being the ledgers from Palmer's session work with acts from Jimmy Durante to Bonnie Raitt. Entertaining and informative; recommended for all public libraries.--Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Carlo Wolff

Tony Scherman's fascinating biography traces the charismatic Palmer from his days as a show-biz kid of uncertain parentage to his semi-retirement in Los Angeles, where he made his mark in the 1950s and '60s... The meticulous biographer has freed Palmer's voice. By editing his story down from 125 hours of tape-recorded conversations with Palmer, then backing Palmer's memory with primary research, Scherman has made a valuable historical contribution. In so doing, he has brought rock's original backbeat to the front, where it belongs.
—Cleveland Plain Dealer,July 21, 1999

Charles Braxton

Tony Scherman has taken the time to listen to the life-beat of Earl Palmer. Scherman takes Palmer's words and weaves them into a powerful first-person narrative. The book is filled with wonderful anecdotes. It is the sheer eloquence of Earl Palmer's words-which at times pack the emotional power of a bluesman's growl-that makes this book so impressive.
—Washington Post

Don McLeese

It isn't until nearly the end of the book that Earl Palmer makes passing reference to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yet by that point in Tony Scherman's "Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story," the reader has long since been convinced that the exclusion of rock and roll's pioneering percussionist renders inclusion an empty honor—that his impact, influence, and accomplishment are far greater than those of the vast majority enshrined....Though Palmer's voice dominates "Backbeat," Scherman is more than his subject's transcriber, and it's the shaping, depth, and annotation he brings to the project that makes this Scherman's book. Rarely has the process through which musical regionalism went from the margins to the mainstream been described so succinctly
—Austin American-Statesman, August 5, 1999

Joel Selvin

An important story that presents telling details of how our culture works...A gem.
—San Francisco Chronicle, July 25, 1999

Jonny Whiteside

A vast adventure that parallels many of this century's most crucial musical and cultural moments.... Recounted almost exclusively via firsthand oral history, Palmer's tale unwinds with the easygoing flow of a between-sets session out back of a New Orleans nightclub... [H]is languorous, salty storytelling style, peppered with some of the most unruly vernacular you will ever encounter, is thoroughly engaging, and by the book's end, the reader seems to be on an intimate basis with Palmer—the greatest friend you may never actually meet.... Backbeat reveals a great deal of previously unknown information, and is loaded with hysterically funny episodes (involving everyone from Pat Nixon to Angela Davis) as well as intensely personal and deeply touching moments.
—Los Angeles Weekly, July 23-29, 1999

Times-Picayune New Orleans

"...Tony Scherman combines Earl Palmer's autobiographical narrative with historical context, giving us a picture of a fascinating American life... Scherman's introductions, placing Palmer's life in the context of larger historical events and the history of American race relations, are eloquent and informative.... [T]he concluding appendix of 'Selected Singles, Albums, and Film and Television Soundtracks Featuring Earl Palmer' is a treasure trove, the real monument to his musical stature."

Susan Larson, April 25, 1999

Kirkus Reviews

Music critic Scherman (editor, The Rock Musician, not reviewed, etc.) presents the story of drummer Earl Palmer, one of the foundational figures in rock, who witnessed the changes in race relations and the world of popular music from the vaudeville days to the present. Scherman provides the introduction to each chapter of this biography, and then presents transcriptions from his 125 hours of taped interviews with Palmer. This allows Palmer's particular blend of New Orleans black dialect and vaudevillian wordplay to take center stage in the story of his life. Recounting everything from his very earliest memories of New Orleans's Treme neighborhood in the 1920s and '30s up through the rock scene of the 1980s, Palmer presents a very personal overview of the century. While his worthiness as a biographical figure rests largely on his work with such notables as Ritchie Valens, the Righteous Brothers, Tina Turner, the Beach Boys, and dozens of other rock musicians, he also worked with jazz luminaries like Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, and Dizzy Gillespie, and thus is able to offer a look at the intersection of these musical realms. Unfortunately, nearly half the book is spent on the minor details of his early life, prior to his arrival in the halls of fame. The oral style also doesn't serve the book well: Palmer has a tendency to ramble (reading occasionally to a page containing two and three short, vaguely related anecdotes). Palmer's speech is also far from G-rated; among many crudities are such recollections as "I got bombed off homemade vodka and fucked one of the only chicks that wasn't big and fat." Somehow, this fails to seem charming. The final sections detailing his work with majormusicians are more engaging and funny, as when he says incredibly of a recording session with rock superstar Neil Young, "I'm telling you, man, I don't remember it." While the discussions of rock's formative years make for interesting reading, Palmer's personal story does not, and this book will probably appeal most to rock history completists. (32 b&w photos)