NASHVILLE, TENN.- Ronnie Tutt, the prolific and versatile drummer who accompanied both Elvises — Presley and Costello — as well as other major figures in rock and pop such as Jerry Garcia and Neil Diamond, died Oct. 16 at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. He was 83.
His death was confirmed by his wife, Donna, who said he had lived with chronic heart problems.
Tutt was singing jingles and drumming in local bands in Dallas when, in his early 30s, he was hired to play drums in Presley’s band TCB (Taking Care of Business) for a series of historic engagements at the International Hotel outside Las Vegas in 1969.
Presley’s four-week residency there marked his triumphant return to the stage after an eight-year hiatus, reviving a career hampered by uninspired movie roles and an image that had lost relevance in the face of the ’60s counterculture.
The comeback — a transformation that also invigorated Las Vegas’ nightclub scene — was due in no small part to the strength of Presley’s rhythm section, a dozen of whose performances were documented on the live portion of the 1969 album “From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis.” Foremost among them was a racing take, nearly 8 minutes long, of “Suspicious Minds” featuring Tutt’s hyperkinetic, barely controlled drumming.
Tutt’s powerful yet nuanced style enlivened many of Presley’s studio recordings from this period as well, including “Burning Love,” a Top 10 pop hit in 1972 that lives up to its incendiary title. Admired for his use of cymbals, Tutt was known for his ability to anticipate Presley’s moves onstage and accentuate them on the drums.
“Elvis always bragged how you intuitively could keep up with his stage moves, even when he tried to trick you,” Presley’s ex-wife, Priscilla, wrote in a tribute addressed to Tutt on Instagram.
Tutt did studio work for other artists while in Presley’s employ. He provided empathetic support to Billy Joel’s 1974 Top 40 hit “Piano Man.” He contributed propulsive cymbal and snare rhythms to Gram Parsons’ “Ooh Las Vegas,” a 1974 recording that featured Emmylou Harris on vocals. In the 1970s, Tutt played in both Harris’ Hot Band and the Jerry Garcia Band.
Working concurrently with Presley and Garcia, the Grateful Dead founder and lead guitarist, proved a study in contrasts, Tutt said: His work with Presley was meticulously rehearsed, his sessions with Garcia more impromptu and improvisational, akin to jazz.
“Elvis’ music was a lot more in your face; you could never play enough,” he recalled in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone. “With Jerry we never talked about it, but I just knew that my role with that band, no matter what configuration it was, was to help keep it together. We weren’t there to do flashy solos.”
Ronald Ellis Tutt was born March 12, 1938, in Dallas, the only child of Frank and Gladys Tutt. His father owned a dry-cleaning business; his mother was a homemaker.
Young Ronnie took dance lessons at an early age. His first instrument was ukulele, followed by guitar, violin and trumpet. He did not begin playing the drums until his senior year in high school.
“When I was 3, I started dancing, so the rhythm of everything was more important to me than the melodic,” Tutt said, discussing his affinity for the drums in a 2016 interview with the website Elvis Australia. “I was frustrated with playing trumpet and guitar because I wanted to express myself rhythmically. It was a very easy transition.”
He worked as a drummer with Presley until Presley’s death in 1977. He then played on recordings by the Carpenters, Mink DeVille and others before joining Diamond’s band, as a drummer and background singer, in 1981. Onstage, Tutt routinely drew ovations for his drum crescendos during performances of Diamond’s 1969 pop hit “Holly Holy.”
He remained with Diamond until 2018, while continuing to do studio work on projects such as Costello’s “King of America” (1986) and Los Lobos’ “By the Light of the Moon” (1987). From 1997 to the mid-2010s, he also appeared in “Elvis: The Concert,” a touring extravaganza that featured video footage of Presley performing, with new live backing by members of the TCB band and other musicians.
In addition to his wife, Tutt is survived by seven daughters, Cindy Rutter, Tina Dempsey, Christine Edson, Terie Tutt, Rhonda Henderson, Elisia Notermann and Rachael Dodson; two sons, Ron Jr. and Jared; 16 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Another son, Nathan, died 10 years ago.
Although he was not known as a producer, Tutt served in that role, albeit uncredited, on “Burning Love” while Felton Jarvis, Presley’s regular producer, was recovering from a kidney transplant.
“He was lying on his back in the control room at RCA,” Tutt said of Jarvis in his interview with Elvis Australia. “Emery Gordy came up with the bass line, and I produced the record for Felton — you know, the whole session.”
“It more described the kind of music that we were trying to get Elvis to do at the time,” he said of “Burning Love” and the aspirations that he and other members of Presley’s Nashville rhythm section had for the session. “So I take a little pride in that.”
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
