Yurt Rock Clyde Stubblefield The Funky Drummer

By the time Clyde Stubblefield recorded these tracks in 2001, he was already legendary. His recordings with James Brown were considered to be some of the standard-bearers for funk drumming, including the singles "Cold Sweat", "There Was a Time", "I Got the Feelin'", "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Ain't It Funky Now", "Mother Popcorn", "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose", and the album Sex Machine. He was known as “the world’s most sampled drummer”, and his playing had influenced generations of musicians and producers who came after him.

But he was also something of a mystery to most of the world. Having settled in Madison, Wisconsin in the early 1970s, he avoided touring and recorded infrequently. He established himself as something of a local legend in Madison and settled into the scene there, playing in all kinds of bar bands (country, blues, jazz, etc.).

When Clyde went into Smart Studios, the best studio in town at the time (owned by producer Butch Vig) for a casual afternoon of recording, there was no real plan. I asked him to play some of his most memorable beats and he obliged. He had no click, no song form, nothing but Clyde. He played each groove for a few minutes, naturally and instinctively. The tracks would ultimately form the basis of the record Clyde Stubblefield: The Original, an album based completely on his drumming.

What you have here are those same performances, the ones that were used on his record. It’s a rare opportunity for so many who have been inspired by Clyde’s playing to finally come into contact with The Original for their own projects.

Clyde left us in 2017, but his groove lives on.