Country Music Drummer Bryan Keeling, Who Played on Tracks With Waylon and Shooter Jennings, Dead at 59

Bryan Keeling has died. The drummer, best known for playing with Shooter Jennings’ The .357s, died on died on Dec. 6 in Nashville, Tennessee, amid a cancer battle. He was 59.

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Keeling’s brother, Brad Keeling, confirmed his death in a statement to Saving Country Music.

“My amazing and talented big-hearted little brother Bryan Keeling passed away peacefully in Nashville,” he said. “He truly was one of the most talented drummers I’ve ever heard. What a great legacy.”

Jennings posted a lengthy message on Instagram following Keeling’s death.

“My immediate reaction to his playing was that he was a ‘real professional rock and roll drummer’… the best I’d ever played with,” Jennings wrote in part. “I asked him to join my band for my ‘solo’ endeavor. That band would become the .357’s and he was the first member.”

“Bryan was the pure heart of the band. We, as a band, were all wild and figuring out our own ways, but Bryan’s pure heart and love for the music was our North Star,” he added. “I would say I’m not sure we would have made it through some intense moments if it hadn’t been for Bryan Keeling.”

Ted Russell Kamp, with whom Keeling played in The .357s, likewise posted a social media tribute to the late drummer.

“We lost a dear friend as well as a powerful and soulful musician today, the great Bryan Keeling,” Kamp wrote on Facebook. “Bryan and I met in late 2003 on my first night of auditioning/jamming with Shooter Jennings. He was already playing with Shooter and right from our first note of playing together I knew we had something really special.”

“Bryan was a true powerhouse and when he believed in something – whether it was a song, a friendship or a night out on the town – he gave it everything he had,” he continued. “I’m honored to have know him and play with him for as many shows as we did. We played about 200 shows a year together between 2005 to 2012.”

Bryan Keeling’s Life and Career

Keeling played with The .357s between 2003 and 2012. After the group disbanded, Keeling briefly toured with Fuel and Eric Sardinas and Big Motor.

Keeling also worked as a session musician, drumming with acts including Jessie Colter, Pink, Macy Gray, and Dionne Warwick. Additionally, Keeling appeared on the Waylon Forever album in 2008.

Saving Country Music reported that, in recent years, Keeling had been working as a for-hire studio musician in Nashville.

Photo by Frank Mullen/WireImage