Episode 43 | Kayleigh Moyer
First up for the “Chicks with Sticks” month is Nashville drummer, Kayleigh Moyer. The idea to do this series came from my friend Kenton Bell who had recommended that I check out Kayleigh and Elie Bertrand for podcasts. It started off as that only, until I started to consider the fact that I had not had a series in quite some time and the times I ran a series I really enjoyed having a common theme throughout. So with that I decided that I would put together a month of female drummers only and I decided to call it “Chicks with Sticks”.
Kayleigh has quite a history with drums as it turns out. She studied with Chester Thompson since she was twelve years old and maintains the relationship to this day. Kayleigh shares her stories about what it was like to have him as his instructor, how it played a tremendous part in her moving to Nashville and even how he supported her outside of drumming as a true genuine friend as well. Chester Thompson is one of those drummers that I personally quite admire, for his playing abilities but also his storied career. For Kayleigh to have the opportunity to study with him for so many years is instrumental in her growth as a player and she attributes who she is on drums to his influence and direct tutelage.
At 24 years old, Kayleigh carries a very solid career and she is a true musician in every sense of the word. After speaking with her, it seems that her focus with playing drums, is what I personally feel they do best and what makes the biggest impact overall, is supporting a band. It isn’t to say that she can’t blow chops and play flashy stuff, it is just that she doesn’t see that as being the main purpose for the instrument and it’s role musically. She has a great deal of sensitivity and wisdom with how she carries her playing and it makes sense that it is due to Chester’s great teaching and Kayleigh’s willingness and openness to grow into the player she is today.
This interview also wanders into current events with passion projects and her current gig for hire in China. It turns out that she is quite enamoured by stringed instruments and finds herself in this musical landscape more times than not. She is also classically trained, so she has no issues with performing in an opera pit either. Overall, she is very well balanced in her knowledge and approach and it lead to some very interesting conversation.
This is a fine first instalment of what will be a very exciting series for the podcast. Music provided for the special intro is performed by Oli Bernatchez.
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