Michael Organ (born 1953

Carlisle, Indiana Carlisle is a town in Haddon Township, Sullivan County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 692 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area. Carlisle is home to the Wabash Valley Correctional Faci ...

) is an American rock 'n' roll drummer best known for performing and recording with

Sonny Landreth Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Bre ...

and

Henry Lee Summer Henry Lee Summer (born Henry Lee Swartz; July 5, 1955) is an American rock singer and musician from Indiana. Career Born in Brazil, Indiana, Summer played basketball in high school and received a scholarship to play at a college in Montana. How ...

. Organ was a part of a number of country and bluegrass albums from the 1980s into the 1990s. He also recorded with

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

and a number of other country artists. He was an active musician as of 2009.

Career

Michael Organ played drums with pop/rock singer

from 1983 to 1992 including work on all four of Summer's album releases for

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

as well as the 1988 single Darlin' Danielle Don't, the 1989 top twenty single Hey Baby, and the 1993 single Ain't That Love. Michael later performed and recorded with legendary slide guitarist

from 1995 to 2001 including work on the 2000 release

Levee Town ''Levee Town'' is the seventh studio album by Sonny Landreth. Released on Sugar Hill Records October 17, 2000 and re-released in an Expanded Edition on Landreth's own LandFall Records April 21, 2009. Overview ''Levee Town'' expands on the them ...

Sugar Hill Records Sugar Hill Records is an American bluegrass and Americana record label. It was founded in Durham, North Carolina in 1978 by Barry Poss and David Freeman, the owner of County Records and Rebel Records. Poss acquired full control of Sugar Hil ...

was re-released in April 2009 with additional tracks from the original recording sessions. During the 1990s Michael lived in Nashville, TN working as a session musician and performing with such

Roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

artists as

Danny Flowers Daniel W. "Danny" Flowers (born 1948) is an American songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist based in Nashville. He is known for creating songs that became hits for other artists. His best-known song is "Tulsa Time" recorded by ...

Tim Krekel Tim Krekel (October 10, 1950 – June 24, 2009) was an American rock musician and country music songwriter from Louisville, Kentucky. Early life Krekel was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1950. He became interested in music early and his firs ...

Pat McLaughlin Pat McLaughlin is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Waterloo, Iowa, but moved to San Francisco, California in the early 1970s. There McLaughlin began to write songs, playing alone at open mic nights and in the ...

, Gary Nicholson, Michael Henderson, Sheila Lawrence, and Tom Ovans. During that period Michael also recorded with

, recorded and toured with the

Amazing Rhythm Aces Amazing may refer to: Music Performers * The Amazing, a Swedish indie rock band Albums * ''Amazing'' (Banaroo album), 2006 * ''Amazing'' (Elkie Brooks album), 1996 * ''Amazing'' (Marcia Hines album) or the title song, 2014 * ''Amazin'' (Tri ...

, and performed with the legendary

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

- as well as working with country music artists

Lionel Cartwright Lionel Burke Cartwright (born February 10, 1960) is an American country music artist. Between 1988 and 1992, Cartwright charted twelve singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, including a 1 single in 1991's "Leap of Fait ...

Lee Roy Parnell Lee Roy Parnell (born December 21, 1956) is an American country music and blues artist, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Active since 1990, he has recorded eight studio albums, and has charted more than twenty singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot C ...

Kevin Welch Kevin Stephen Welch (August 17, 1955) is an American country music artist. He has charted five singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts and released eight studio albums. He is also one of the cofounders of the Dead Reckoning Reco ...

Highway 101 Highway 101 was an American country music band founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. The initial lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson (lead vocals), Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone (bass guitar, vocals), and Scott "Cactus" Moser (drums) ...

Claudia Church Claudia Lorraine Church (born January 12, 1962) is an American country music singer-songwriter whose singles include "What's the Matter With You Baby" and "Home in My Heart (North Carolina)". Biography Church was the second daughter of Claude a ...

, and

Deborah Allen Deborah Allen (born Deborah Lynn Thurmond on September 30, 1953) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Since 1976, Allen has issued 12 albums and charted 14 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. She recorded the 1 ...

. Michael also recorded and performed in the mid 1990s with Canadian

Polygram Records PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

rock recording artist

Sue Medley Susan Gayle Medley (born 1962 at Courtenay, British Columbia) is a Canadian rock musician. She released her self-titled debut CD in 1990. She won a Juno Award in 1991 for Most Promising Female Vocalist. Early years A native of Vancouver Island ...

and the Toronto duo Lost & Profound (Lisa Boudreau and Terry Tompkins) playing on their 1994

Polygram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

release Memory Thief produced by Richard Bennett. In 1999 Michael began a music project with Creative Dance and Movement educator Margot Faught. Michael composed rhythmic tracks to be used in dance and movement classes which were compiled into the CD Zuni Movement. Ms. Faught utilized the CD in teaching seminars internationally, including her work for the

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...

Project Dance program as well as the New York arts organization Together In Dance. In 2004, Michael composed music for Current, a project by multidisciplinary performance group Susurrus that is still in performance.

Discography

2009 Sonny Landreth -

Expanded Edition - LandFall
2000 Sonny Landreth -

- Sugar Hill
1995 Sonny Landreth - Son of Native Stepson - Zoo/BMG EP
1996 Tom Ovans - Nuclear Sky - Demon
1995 Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville Cafe: Late Night Gumbo - Margaritaville
1994 Lost and Profound - Memory Thief - Polygram
1992 Sue Medley - I Am Alive - Polygram EP
1993 Henry Lee Summer - SlamDunk - Epic
1991 Henry Lee Summer - Way Past Midnight - Epic
1989 Henry Lee Summer - I've Got Everything - Epic
1988 Henry Lee Summer - Henry Lee Summer - Epic

Equipment

During his career Michael was an endorsing artist for

Drum Workshop Drum Workshop, Inc. (also known as DW Drums or DW) is an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Current products by DW include drum sets, snare drums, and hardware. History Drum Workshop was founded ...

Drums,

Sabian Sabian may refer to: *Sabians, name of a religious group mentioned in the Quran, historically adopted by: **Mandaeans, Gnostic sect from the marshlands of southern Iraq claiming John the Baptist as their most important prophet **Sabians of Harran, ...

Cymbals, and

Pro-Mark Promark is a Houston, Texas-based American drum stick company. Since 2011, it is part of strings company D'Addario. Promark is a widely known stick company generally played in drum set, drum and bugle corps and concert bands. History Promark was ...

drum sticks.

References

Michael Organ page at All Music

External links

Michael Organ

Sonny Landreth

Henry Lee Summer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Organ, Michael American rock drummers People from Sullivan County, Indiana Musicians from Indiana 1953 births Living people 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians