The left handed drummer was born in Nashville on December 23, 1928 as Murrey Mizell Harman Jr. His mother, who played drums in the family band, was an early musical inspiration, along with jazz players like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

Buddy Harman grew out to Nashville\'s best-known and most-recorded drummer. He played drums on more than 18,000 recordings, including Roy Orbison\'s Pretty Woman, Patsy Cline\'s Crazy, Johnny Cash\'s Ring of Fire, Tammy Wynette\'s Stand By Your Man, and Elvis Presley\'s Little Sister.

Buddy played on a four-ply Pearl maple Masters Custom drum kit and Ziljan A cymbals plus Mastersound hi-hats, with Remo Coated Ambassador skins on his snare and Coated Emperors on his toms. He used Pro-Mark 5a sticks with nylon tips.

Buddy Harman, a master of the country shuffle, was an extremely skilled all-around drummer. He was also a talented percussionist. He is featured playing percussion on Simon and Garfunkel\'s The Boxer.