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He never wondered why he got interested in music, "it was just always there," he said. "My dad's a drummer, I'm a drummer and now my little brother is a drummer. It's like, if you come to my house, you bring some earplugs." His mother realized that he was going to follow in his dad's footsteps when friend, Joe Erkman (Sawyer Brown), came over, heard him playing drums and thought it was his dad playing. Donnie was 10
Naturally, one of Donnie's favorite singers is Merle Haggard since "The Hag" has been played at his home since before he was even born, but he says his very favorite music is the old classic Motown sound and of course old classic country
Donnie knows "you don't change horses in the middle of the stream," but he has fleeting memories of his high school days when he was kicker for an all-state football team and rethinks his all-time goal "to be the historical winning football coach for the University of Memphis Tigers"
When Gabby Johnson plays benefit concerts at area schools, he advises the students who want to go into music to go to college and have something they can fall back on. But his mother, Judy, a schoolteacher, says she did that and that Donnie is probably doing better financially than she is
Donnie's a solid drummer with a lot of good, funky rhythms, never playing too much, never playing too little. His dad taught him this style because a musician long ago wrote KISS on his drumhead because Dad was young, trying to play too much. Donnie's dad asked what KISS meant, and the seasoned player said, "Keep It Simple Stupid."
Donnie's been lucky. He's been exposed to professional musicians all his life and spent many an hour backstage with the stars. This is the only kind of life he knows. It has it valleys and it has its mountains. Donnie says you have to stay strong and try not to worry about things you can't control
When he's not playing drums he's watching sports TV, cracking jokes, playing golf and sky diving. Sky diving? You see, with Donnie, one never knows when he's serious and when he's not. Most the time he's not. He can be playing drums one minute and up front singing Funky Cold Medina the next. It depends on his mood. Some of the girls say he's a cute little Teddy Bear that keeps them laughing. For Christmas one of them made him a stuffed bear, dressed in Donnie attire: shorts, sandals and surely a University of Memphis hat
 Donnie Marrs Drummer |
