200 – Chris McHugh, “Best Of” Roundtable: Seth Rausch, Harry Miree, Travis McNabb & Hubert Payne

by Zack Albetta · Published January 16, 2019 · Updated January 15, 2019

To celebrate our 200th episode, we invited four of our favorite past guests – Seth Rausch, Travis McNabb, Hubert Payne, and Harry Miree – to participate in a roundtable discussion. We then did an extended interview with Chris McHugh. The show was recorded and filmed at The Drum Pad in Nashville at Drum Paradise.

Seth Rausch is a skillful drummer currently working as the touring drummer for Keith Urban. Other artists he’s worked for include Gary Allan, Joe Nichols, Phil Vassar, and Little Big Town. While he was with Little Big Town, he had the opportunity to record on two of their records and work with producer Jay Joyce. He continues to collaborate and record with some of Nashville’s top writers, musicians, and producers.

Travis McNabb is best known as a longtime member of the band Better Than Ezra, and brings his style and integrity to every situation. In mid-2007, He became the full-time touring and recording drummer with Grammy-award winning act Sugarland. He puts his years of recording and engineering experience to use in his own home studio and in recent years he’s been the drummer for country artist, Frankie Ballard.

Hubert Payne excelled at football in high school and college and won two State Championships. His athletic skills as well as superb drumming skills continue to inspire. He has worked with many nationally-touring country artists that include Love & Theft, David Nail, Casey James, and since early 2015, Little Big Town.

Harry Miree has built a successful YouTube channel where he covers many topics like “The True Life of a Side Musician, Open Handed Techniques, alternatives to playing a Cajon and many other useful videos. He has over 76,000 subscribers and is currently the touring drummer for LoCash.

In this podcast, the roundtable panel talks about:

Goals and intentions for 2019
Physical and psychological challenges
What listening means to them
Memorable mistakes and lessons learned from them

Chris McHugh is one of the most sought-after drummers in the Nashville recording scene. His playing can be heard on thousands of recordings dating back to the mid-1980s. He has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Michael Bolton, Blake Shelton, Toby Keith, LeAnn Rimes, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McIntire, Faith Hill, Kenny Rogers, Jars of Clay, Trace Adkins, Jewel, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Lionel Richie, and countless others.

In this podcast, Chris talks about:

How his playing has changed conceptually over the years
What it means for your playing to have character
Being mentored by Larry Londin, and the current state of mentorship in Nashville
The homogenization of the recording industry (Nashville vs. L.A.)