Nick Buda (born March 26, 1974) is an American drummer and record producer based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Primarily associated with contemporary country music, Buda has been featured on recordings by

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

and

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocated to Nashville, T ...

, and has also worked with

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

, Jewel,

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This Worl ...

and more.

Early life

Born March 26, 1974 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa, Buda was enrolled in piano lessons as a child but soon gravitated toward his teacher's drum set instead. At the age of 12, he and his family moved to the United States seeking an escape from apartheid and a path to better opportunities. Buda continued to pursue drumming throughout high school, playing in several local bands and touring briefly with “

Everlasting Love "Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since covered numerous times. The most successful version in the UK was performed by Love Affair and the highest-charting version ...

” co-writer

Mac Gayden McGavock Dickinson Gayden (June 5, 1941 – April 16, 2025) was an American rock and country singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer working in Nashville during the latter half of the 20th century. As a session guitarist, Gayden was f ...

. He went on to attend Boston's

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

on the recommendation of one of his idols –

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

drummer

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...

– graduating in 1996 with a bachelor's degree focused on percussion performance.

Career

After returning to Nashville following college, Buda moved to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, in 2000 to join the touring band of jam-fusion pioneer Colonel Bruce Hampton. He performed with Hampton's group for two years, sharing the stage with high-profile acts like

The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards), as well as Dickey Betts ( ...

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Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...

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and more. Returning to Nashville again in 2002, Buda shifted his work to the country music industry, touring with mainstream artists like Cyndi Thompson,

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style has been described as a blend of rock, blues, and country. He is the son of count ...

and Emily West, among others, and performing on the historic

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

and ''

Late Night With David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the '' Late Night''. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by ...

''. However, he soon realized he was not cut out for a life solely on the road and started making inroads into Nashville's recording community.

Recording career and Taylor Swift albums

After building a small home studio, Buda was introduced to producer/songwriter/guitarist Nathan Chapman, who was in need of a drummer to track some last-minute demo sessions. Striking up a potent working partnership, the pair began recording multiple demos each week as part of a studio team which also included Tim Marks (bass) and Chad Carlson (engineer). One of those demo sessions was for a teenaged singer/songwriter and aspiring country star named Taylor Swift, who liked the group's work so much she convinced her Big Machine record label to let Chapman produce her debut album – 2006's ''

'' – joined by Buda and the others. Buda went on to play drums on all four of Swift's country albums (''Taylor Swift'', '' Fearless'', ''

Speak Now ''Speak Now'' is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 25, 2010, by Big Machine Records. Swift wrote the album entirely herself while touring in 2009–2010 to reflect on her transitio ...

'' and ''

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

''), each of which has now sold more than six million copies worldwide. In 2009, ''Fearless'' won

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

awards for Best Country Album and Album of the Year. Since then, Buda has continued to work as a recording drummer, contributing to albums by Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Martina McBride, Jewel and Michael W. Smith.

Production studio and continuing work

Buda owns and operates The Loft – a professional recording studio located in Nashville – where he continues his work as a session drummer and produces the work of other artists. He also continues to perform live with artists such as Jewel and others.

References

External links

Nick Buda’s complete discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buda, Nick 1974 births Living people Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee 21st-century American drummers American male drummers Drummers from Tennessee