469 - Brandon Combs: Playing with Leon Bridges, Studying with Ndugu Chancler, Nashville vs. LA

Working Drummer

Brandon Combs is a drummer, programmer, and producer hailing from Lansing, Michigan. Destined to be a great musician, Brandon has been involved with the Grammy Foundation since the young age of 15, attending their Grammy Camp programs in 2009 and 2010 via full ride scholarship. Now living in Nashville, Brandon recently obtained his BM in Popular Music Studies from the University of Southern California (2015). Currently on tour with Grammy Award-winning artist Leon Bridges, Brandon’s skill, versatility, and professionalism have also allowed him to work with many different world-renown artists across multiple genres such as Keith Urban, Raphael Saadiq, Moses Sumney, Lupe Fiasco, NIIA, Gallant, Chris Bullock of Snarky Puppy, and many more. Some of his most recently completed projects include recording drums on John Legend’s A Legendary Christmas album (2019) and the entirety of jazz-pianist Mark De Clive Lowe’s double album Heritage (2019). He’s also put his hands into music production, co-producing the song “Famous” off of The Internet’s Grammy-nominated album Ego Death (2016).

In this episode, Brandon talks about:

• Covering the many vibes and sonic palates in Leon Bridges' evolving catalogue
• Getting on the same page about drum sounds with FOH sound people
• Archiving snare sounds in his studio
• Organic relationships leading to his best and biggest opportunities
• Studying with Ndugu Chancler and others at USC
• What it means to know a whole song
• His thoughts on Nashville vs. LA
• His outlook as he's about to become a dad