James Lee Keltner was born on April 27,1942 and is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work.
45 Facts About Jim Keltner
2.
Jim Keltner was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".
3.
Jim Keltner's earliest credited performances on record were with Gabor Szabo on the 1968 album Bacchanal.
4.
Jim Keltner is well known for his session work on solo recordings by three members of the Beatles, working with George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr.
5.
Jim Keltner played on many key former Beatle solo releases, including Harrison's 1973 album Living in the Material World and Lennon's 1974 album Walls and Bridges.
6.
When Ringo Starr recorded his first full-fledged pop album, Ringo, Jim Keltner was featured on several tracks.
7.
In 1974, Jim Keltner played on the Lennon-produced Harry Nilsson album Pussy Cats alongside Ringo on "Rock Around the Clock".
8.
Jim Keltner was featured on the Nilsson albums Son of Schmilsson with Harrison, Starr and Beatles associate Klaus Voormann as well as Duit on Mon Dei with Starr and Voormann.
9.
Early that year, McCartney, the only Beatle not to have worked with Jim Keltner, included a note on the back cover of his Red Rose Speedway album, encouraging fans to join the "Wings Fun Club" by sending a "stamped addressed envelope" to an address in London.
10.
Jim Keltner played the role of the judge in the music video for George Harrison's 1976 Top 30 hit, "This Song".
11.
Jim Keltner played drums on both albums released by the 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, playing under the pseudonym "Buster Sidebury".
12.
Jim Keltner became Ry Cooder's go-to drummer, recording with him on many of his albums for over 40 years, including the following, as well as playing with him in Little Village.
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Jim Keltner recorded two albums with his band Attitudes for George Harrison's Dark Horse label.
14.
Jim Keltner is featured on Carly Simon's 1971 album, Anticipation.
15.
Jim Keltner played drums on the Bee Gees 1973 album Life in a Tin Can.
16.
Jim Keltner described that session as "a monumental session for me because it was such a touching song, it was the first time I actually cried when I was playing".
17.
Jim Keltner is the drummer on the Steely Dan tune "Josie".
18.
Jim Keltner is credited as the drummer on the 1979 album by Roy Clark and Gatemouth Brown, Makin' Music.
19.
Jim Keltner is said to have influenced Jeff Porcaro and Danny Seraphine of Chicago.
20.
Jim Keltner played on the Saved and Shot of Love albums by Bob Dylan.
21.
Jim Keltner performed on many classic recordings by JJ Cale and often worked with bassist Tim Drummond.
22.
Jim Keltner played on most of the tracks on Roy Orbison's swansong Mystery Girl.
23.
Jim Keltner played drums on the song "Now We're Getting Somewhere" from the hit album Crowded House.
24.
Jim Keltner played on Brian Wilson's 1995 album, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times.
25.
Jim Keltner guested on Sheryl Crow's 1996 self-titled album, on the track "The Book".
26.
Jim Keltner played on Gillian Welch's album Revival, on the track "The Only One and Only".
27.
Jim Keltner played on the 1997 Bill Frisell album Gone, Just Like a Train with Viktor Krauss and toured as a member of the trio in support of the album.
28.
Jim Keltner played on the 1999 Frisell album Good Dog, Happy Man and is pictured in the CD leaflet and back cover.
29.
Watts played drums for each track, while Jim Keltner contributed sequenced sounds and percussion.
30.
Later in the year, Jim Keltner played in Concert For George, a tribute to George Harrison a year following his death.
31.
Jim Keltner played on Mavis Staples's album We'll Never Turn Back, produced by Ry Cooder.
32.
Jim Keltner lent his drumming skills to the tracks on Richard Shapero's full-length album entitled Wild Animus: The Ram, recorded the same year.
33.
Jim Keltner played on Phish keyboardist's self titled debut album Page McConnell, released in 2007.
34.
Also in 2008, Jim Keltner participated in the production of the album Psalngs, the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre.
35.
In 2010, Jim Keltner produced Jerry Lee Lewis's Mean Old Man duets CD.
36.
Jim Keltner played drums on Fistful of Mercy's debut album, As I Call You Down, which one of the band's members, Dhani Harrison, described in an interview as the first project of his that he felt worthy to bring to Keltner, who was an old family friend.
37.
Jim Keltner played on The Union by Leon Russell and Elton John, produced by T-Bone Burnett and released on October 10,2010.
38.
Jim Keltner appeared on the eponymous Eric Clapton album, on 8 of the 14 tracks.
39.
In 2013, Jim Keltner appears on the track "If I Were Me" from Sound City: Real to Reel with Dave Grohl, Jessy Greene and Rami Jaffee.
40.
In 2014, Jim Keltner played on Peter Himmelman's album The Boat That Carries Us.
41.
In 2016, Jim Keltner recorded drums for Neil Young's thirty-seventh studio album, Peace Trail.
42.
In 2017, Jim Keltner played drums and percussion as well as co-producing Conor Oberst's Salutations album.
43.
In 2019, Jim Keltner played drums along with bassist Mike Watt for guitarist Mike Baggetta's Wall of Flowers album released in March.
44.
Jim Keltner played drums on the original soundtrack for the movie "The Irishman".
45.
Jim Keltner plays drums on the song "Kanashiki LA Tengoku" included on Mike Viola's 2020 album The Best of Mike Viola.