Roger Hawkins

The name Roger Hawkins doesn't mean much to most music fans, but practically anyone who loved rock, pop, or soul from the mid-'60s to the 1980s has heard and enjoyed his music. Hawkins was a remarkably successful and celebrated session drummer, part of the studio crew known as the Swampers (aka the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), who made their name working with soul legends such as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Percy Sledge before playing with rock legends like Paul Simon, Bob Seger, and Linda Ronstadt. Hawkins' style wasn't busy, but his timing and sense of groove were...