Jody Stephens (born October 4, 1952) is an American

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, who has played in

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a ne ...

(with

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...

of the

Box Tops The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis in 1967. They are best known for the hits " The Letter", " Cry Like a Baby", "Choo Choo Train," and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They perfo ...

) and

Golden Smog Golden Smog is an alternative country- rock supergroup of loosely connected musicians mostly from the Minneapolis area. At various times, members of Soul Asylum, The Replacements, Wilco, The Jayhawks, Run Westy Run, The Honeydogs and Big Star ...

(with members of the Jayhawks and

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

). After the deaths of Chris Bell in 1978, and both

and

Andy Hummel John Andrew Hummel (January 26, 1951 – July 19, 2010) was an American bassist and singer-songwriter best known as the bass player of Big Star.

in 2010, Stephens is the last surviving original member of Big Star. Stephens also performs and records with Luther Russell as Those Pretty Wrongs. Their debut 7" was released in 2015 on

Burger Records Burger Records was an American independent record label and record store in Fullerton, California, United States. The label was founded in 2007 by Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard, members of the power pop band Thee Makeout Party. The record/video s ...

, and their debut LP released May 13, 2016 on the Ardent Music label. Stephens most recently contributed drums to "The Student Becomes the Teacher", a 2018 song by New York band

The Lemon Twigs The Lemon Twigs are an American rock music, rock band from Long Island, New York, fronted by brothers Brian (b. March 21, 1997) and Michael D'Addario (b. March 3, 1999). Both brothers are vocalists, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists. Hist ...

, who have cited Big Star as an influence.

Discography

With Big Star

;Studio albums * '' #1 Record'' ( Ardent/

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface ( API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read i ...

, 1972) * '' Radio City'' (Ardent/Stax, 1974) * ''

Third/Sister Lovers ''Third'' (reissued in 1985 as ''Third/Sister Lovers'') is the third album by American rock band Big Star. Sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 197 ...

'' (PVC, 1978) * ''

In Space ''In Space'' is the fourth and final studio album by American rock group Big Star, released in 2005. It was the first new studio recording by the band since '' Third/Sister Lovers'', which was recorded in 1974. The album featured original Big ...

'' (

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

, 2005)

With Golden Smog

;Studio albums * ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

'' (Rykodisc, 1998) * ''

Another Fine Day ''Another Fine Day'' is Golden Smog's third full-length album. It was released on July 18, 2006. It reached number 95 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Background Golden Smog's lineup was chiefly made up of Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Dan Murph ...

'' ( Lost Highway, 2006)

With Those Pretty Wrongs

;Studio albums * ''Those Pretty Wrongs'' ( Ardent, 2016) * ''Zed for Zulu'' (

, 2019)

With The Lemon Twigs

;Studio albums * '' Go To School'' ( 4AD, 2018)

With The Reputations

;Studio albums * ''

Electric Power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions o ...

'' ( Nine Mile Records, 2018)

Notes

References

* Jovanovic, Rob (2004). ''Big Star: The Story of Rock's Forgotten Band''. London: Fourth Estate. .

External links

Jody Stephens Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2017) 1952 births Living people American rock drummers Big Star members Musicians from Tennessee Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee Power pop musicians 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Golden Smog members {{US-rock-drummer-stub