tostadosunidos---It was in ’69 I saw and heard Dewey live. Buffalo Springfield in parenthesis was to identify Dewey as the drummer in that group, not to say I saw them in ’69. The group in ’69 was named The New Buffalo, and Dewey was the only remaining original member. Neil Young was working on his first album, Stephen Stills on the first C,S,& Nash, and Richie Furay was starting Poco (along with late-Buffalo Springfield bassist Jim Messina).
In The New Buffalo playing bass and singing harmony was Randy Fuller, Bobby’s brother. My teen combo got the gig opening for them at a local San Jose High School, with the proviso Dewey---who traveled with only a snare drum, bass drum pedal, and stick bag---could use my drumset. Oh, okay ;-).
For an excellent example of playing in the less-is-more style, give a listen to Levon Helm in "Chest Fever" on Music From Big Pink. Hear how in the bridge he switches from playing the snare drum backbeat on 2 and 4 (in the verses) to playing all four beats on the snare drum? At least, that’s what you THINK he’s doing; listen again, and you’ll notice that by playing the 1, 2, and 3 on snare, he has lead you to assume he will also play the 4 (as Charlie Watts does all throughout "Satisfaction). He instead rests (doesn’t play) the fourth beat on snare drum, playing his bass drum on that beat instead. It sounds SO cool! Most drummers would play the 4 on snare drum, then crash a cymbal on the downbeat (the 1 of the next bar), which results in the release of tension, ala Keith Moon. Levon, by instead leaving out the 4 on snare and not crashing on the 1, CREATES tension. Brilliant! Music From Big Pink is full of that kind of playing---very, very rare in Rock ’n’ Roll. That’s why everyone from Ringo, to Jim Keltner, to Richie Hayward (Little feat), to songwriters like Nick Lowe and John Hiatt, consider Levon amongst the handful of best drummers in R & R’s history.
