One can make a case for Hawkins as the brilliant pulse behind the absolute greatest slow, medium and fast records in all of 1960s soul. Slow: Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" (1966). I was a kid who didn't care for ballads but that one--with Hawkins' popping snare drum shots and foot pedal work--hooked me good. Our family took a trip to the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula that summer and heard Sledge's aching singing on jukeboxes seemingly everywhere we stopped. It was a rarity for me: a feverish slow song.
Fast: Then came Wilson Pickett's torrid cover of "Land of a Thousand Dances" (1966). It might not even had been fully arranged yet when producer Rick Hall told the other players to drop out midsong, leaving only the drummer's fat beat while Pickett sang the famous "Na na na na na" bit. And the drum break stuck. Tough and furious, "Land of a Thousand Dances" is worth hearing again if you have half forgotten it.
Midtempo: The masterpiece of all masterpieces remains Aretha Franklin's version of Otis Redding's "Repect" (1967), with Hawkins' performance the ultimate hybrid of rock and soul--he took his cues from Al Jackson, Jr. (Stax sessions, Redding, Booker T. & the MGs), propelling one of the most inspired records of all time. The stickman's pervasive time and feel brought those three recordings in particular to another level, and his playing sounds so natural--Hawkins wasn't overtly trying to be "funky." He just was, and offered this insight into why his drum parts were so transcendent: "I would advise drummers to become good listeners."
That idea of anticipating what the other musicians will be doing is most evident on Franklin's "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" (1968), where Hawkins is putting high hat kicks and a slamming drum riff in all the right places, supporting Aretha's bluesy piano solo and most prominently, her walloping vocal. Also from 1968, the Queen of Soul's "Chain of Fools," where Hawkins moves to the bell of his cymbal, adding additional excitement.
There's more: The unique drum fills on James & Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet" (1966); the tightly controlled pulse of the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" (1972) and Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" (1973), where Hawkins sandwiches a snare accent between the words "I learned" and "in high school" that adds to the latter's kinetic flow. Wonderful records, every one of them.
Artists from all over flocked to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record with Hawkins and bassist David Hood, who is the last remaining MSRS member. Hawkins and Hood--white boys with soul--played with Traffic and Bob Seger, too, and on a world of tracks we still celebrate today. Roger Hawkins' masterful performances are a permanent fixture in my music room and they are still all over oldies radio.