Dewey Martin, the drummer for Buffalo Springfield, passed away from natural causes last week in his apartment in Van Nuys, California.  He was 68.  In addition to providing the rhythm section for all of Springfield’s songs, he also sang the little snippet of Neil Young’s “Mr Soul” for the introduction to Young’s “Broken Arrow” and sang backing vocals on the band’s biggest hit, “For What It’s Worth”.

Martin began his career as a session musicians in Nashville, playing on records by Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and Patsy Cline before moving to Los Angeles and joining Buffalo Sprinfield in 1966.  He was one of three Canadians in the seminal country and folk influenced rock band, along with Neil Young and Bruce Palmer. While other members of the band, particularly Stephen Stills and Neil Young, went on to achieve great fame, Martin continued to record with other groups though never achieved the same level of success that he had during the Springield years.

Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth (Monterey 1967)

Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay issued the following statement on Sunday regarding Martin’s death:

“Dewey wasn’t intimidated by any of us; he was the older guy in the group and helped glue the band together. He had that strength. The rest of us were all still babies, and just starting out in a band. We had a lot to figure out. But Dewey had been around, playing on sessions and working with a lot of great singers. Plus he was one hell of a drummer.” RIP Martin!