Top 10 Blues Rock Drummers

The blues rock genre is filled with incredible drummers. To be included in the list of the “Top 10 Blues Rock Drummers” the artist must have played as a blues rock drummer for a significant period during their career. There are a number of defining characteristics that a blues rock drummer has in their performance beginning with a solid and steady rhythm along with feeling a groove or focusing on the pocket. Other characteristics include the ability to create shuffle and swing rhythms along with a familiarity with the blues scale and accenting particular notes and rhythms that are associated with it. Dynamic playing that varies in volume and emotional intensity will include bluesy drum fills and improvisational elements.

10. Anton Fig

Anton Fig was born in 1952 and is a native of South Africa where at the age of four years old he began playing drums and played in Cape Town bands before he moved to Boston in the USA. He graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music prior to moving to New York as a freelance drummer where he briefly replaced Peter Criss from KISS. As a for hire freelance musician he appeared on dozens of albums by artists ranging from Bob Dylan and Booker T and the MG’s to Beth Hart and Eric Johnson. In 1986 he became the drummer and second in command of the house band for David Letterman’s late night talk shows. In 2007 he joined Joe Bonamassa’s band and toured with him as well as recording numerous albums with him.

9. Mitch Mitchell

The late Mitch Mitchell was the drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience from the time that it first formed in 1966 until Hendrix died in 1970. He was born in Ealing, Middlesex, England and was a child actor. He learned how to play drums by working in a drum shop while he was still attending school and by the early 1960s he was touring with a band and became a session musician. He played in nearly a dozen different rock, pop and R&B bands by the time that he auditioned for the “Experience.” Hendrix combined blues with psychedelic rock and Mitchell’s drums became an integral part of the band. Mitchell died after the last concert on an “Experience Hendrix” concert in Portland, Oregon in 2008 and in 2009 he was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.

8. Ginger Baker

Over the course of his career the late Ginger Baker released or played on over fifty albums both as a solo artist and with over a dozen different artists and bands. His legendary drumming first gained recognition when he was a member of Cream along with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce in the late 1960s. Cream was an early pioneer of the blues rock genre and Baker’s innovative style used a double bass drum and incorporated poly-rhythms. His impact on the evolution of drumming over the course of the past five decades is significant in both the blues rock and jazz rock genres.

7. John Bonham

John Bonham was born in 1948 and died in 1980 at the age of 32 after a night of heavy drinking while the drummer for Led Zeppelin. He began playing the drum at the age of five and graduated from a single snare drum to a full drum kit by the time he was fifteen. He was influenced by early drummers like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich along with a friendship with Carmine Appice. Led Zeppelin was a blues based band that electrified the genre in a way that hadn’t previously been done to that degree. Their sound was dependent on Bonham’s explosive drum techniques that relied heavily on the use of the bass drum, intricate drum fills and a strong driving groove.

6. Roger Earl

Roger Earl has been Foghat’s drummer since he helped to create it in 1972 with “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, Rod Price and Tony Stevens. Earl is the only surviving original member of Foghat and continues to tour with them today. He was born in London, England in 1946 and was a member of Savoy Brown for a couple of years along with Peverett and Earl before they quit the band and formed Foghat. Since that time he’s appeared on over two dozen Foghat albums where he contributed to the band’s driving and distinctive rhythm section. The band’s hard driving blues rock sound is a result of his explosively powerful drumming style and steady beat.

5. Mick Fleetwood

Mick Fleetwood was born in England in 1947 and grew up in Egypt and Norway. He began playing drums at the age of 13 and played his first professional gig in 1963. He played in different London bands until he joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1967 where he played with Peter Green on lead guitar and John McVie on bass. Fleetwood, Green and McVie left Mayall and formed the core of Fleetwood Mac. The hard blues rock group that evolved through the decades with a changing lineup continues with Fleetwood and McVie the constant. Fleetwood’s blues based rhythm and steady groove helped create and maintain the bands signature sound for over fifty years.

4. Charlie Watts

Charlie Watts was born in 1941 and died in 2021 at the age of 80 after being the drummer of the Rolling Stones for 58 years since 1963. He was born in London, England and trained to be a graphics artist. He developed an interest in jazz at an early age and joined a band called Blues Incorporated. His modest and understated ability to carry the rhythm became the foundation for the band’s sound. The band’s early albums were foundational in the establishment of the blues rock genre. His drumming kept a steady beat and wasn’t flashy or technically complex but it was the backbone of the band’s iconic sound and was rooted in blues, rock and R&B.

3. Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra

Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra was born in Mexico City in 1946 and began playing drums professionally when he was 14. He joined Canned Heat just after it released its first album in 1967 and recorded over a dozen albums with the band. During his career he played with much of the blues pantheon from Albert Collins and John Lee Hooker to Gatemouth Brown and Big Joe Turner. Canned Heat became known for its boogie influence via John Lee Hooker and Fito’s drumming created a style that was characterized by its groove, shuffle rhythms, and bluesy feel.

2. Chris Layton

Born in 1955 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Chris Layton began playing drums at the age of 13. By the late 1970s he became a member of “Double Trouble” with bass player Tommy Shannon and keyboardist Reese Wynans. They joined with Stevie Ray Vaughan until his death in 1990. During the 1990s he was part of the Archangels and Storyville and joined the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band in 2006. His iconic work with Stevie Ray Vaughan alone makes him a landmark blues rock drummer. His style blends traditional blues with the hard edged sound of rock that is characterized by its tight groove, solid backbeat and tasteful fills.

1. Buddy Miles

After growing up in a musical family the late Buddy Miles quit school when he was 16 to become a professional musician. He became part of the then current R&B bands and toured with artists like Ruby and the Romantics and Wilson Pickett. He met Jimi Hendrix while on tour when he was only 16 and in 1967 with Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites formed the Electric Flag, a seminal blues rock band that produced two albums. After the band disbanded during a short period when Mitch Mitchell was unavailable, Hendrix used Miles during the period when the live album Band of Gypsy’s was recorded at the Filmore East in New York City on New Year day 1970. He recorded two-dozen solo albums and appeared on ten Hendrix albums and nine collaborations including Electric Flag and Muddy Waters.