John’s bread and butter comes from backing country artists in the Nashville studios. But if you ever have the chance to visit him at home, you’ll probably find him in his music room practicing drums along with recordings of Oscar Peterson, The Meters, or Tom Scott. During the week of the Country Music Association A wards, I had the good fortune to be in Nashville, where I got a chance to hear John with the Buddy Emmons Quartet. They played a set that ran the gamut from country waltzes to bebop renditions of “I’ve Got Rhythm. ” Stacey had the misfortune of having to play the house drumset, which was detuned and overmuffled to the point that it had all of the musical warmth and response of a baked potato. But Stacey played so well that no one really noticed.

– Moderndrummer.com

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