Dewey Martin

Dewey Martin (born Walter Milton Dwayne Midkiff, September 30, 1940 – January 31, 2009) was a Canadian rock drummer, best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Career Dewey Martin was born in Chesterville, Ontario, Canada in 1940. He was raised there and in the surrounding Smiths Falls, Ontario and Ottawa, Ontario areas. In Ottawa, he attended Glebe Collegiate Institute, where he was elected "head boy". Martin started playing drums when he was about 13 years old. His first band was a high school outfit, The Jive Rockets, which also featured guitarist Vern Craig, later a member of the Staccatos. He soon progressed and played with various dance and rockabilly groups in the Ottawa Valley area, including Bernie Early & the Early Birds. Through rock and roll singer Andy Wilson, a veteran of the Ottawa-area scene, he was allowed a short guest appearance singing "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" backed by Wilson's group, Larry Lee and the Leesures, during the Leesures' appearance as part of a package rock & roll show in Ottawa in the early 1960s. A Nashville producer was sufficiently impressed and agreed to record him in Nashville. Moves to United States and Nashville Interrupted by a brief stint in the U.S. Army, Martin's next couple of years were based out of Nashville, where he worked as a freelance (some say itinerant) drummer for many Country music legendary artists including Carl Perkins, The Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline, Charlie Rich, Faron Young and Roy Orbison, among others. In 1963, he travelled to Las Vegas with Faron Young's band and then to Los Angeles, California, where he was later quoted as having said he loved the climate and decided to stay. However, various tours also took him out of town "on the road."