Longtime Billy Joel drummer headed to MU

For three decades, Liberty DeVitto toured the world as the drummer for superstar singer-songwriter Billy Joel. Next week, he'll visit Marshall University to give the public an up-close look at his drumming skills, which are more accustomed to rocking arenas than classrooms.

Inspired by The Beatles to start playing drums in 1964, DeVitto took up backing Joel in the mid-1970s, playing on several of his classic albums like "The Stranger," "52nd Street" and "Glass Houses." He's also set the beat for the piano man all over the world. Joel's current tour is the first known not to include DeVitto since the two began working together.

Now he's looking to share some of that experience with the younger set, a tool that the completely self-taught DeVitto never had in his musical gestation.

"When I was younger, I wanted to learn how to play like Ringo Starr, I wanted to learn how to play rock 'n' roll music, but it was just coming out of the jazz phase," DeVitto said. "The instructors at the time were a lot of jazz snobs, they didn't want to know about rock 'n' roll. It's totally different today, because rock 'n' roll is absolutely an accepted form of music."

DeVitto has not only managed to learn how to play rock music, but to become an innovator of the genre, said Ben Miller, a Marshall music professor instrumental in bringing the drummer to the campus.

"If you listen to the Billy Joel recordings, and there certainly are many of them over a large period of time, you really don't hear too much of the same thing from song to song or album to album. And that takes a great deal of creativity for a drummer not to just go into 'Well, here's my standard drum beat number one' and play that on every song," Miller said.

"So Liberty has had the creativity and musicianship to fit the many different tunes Billy Joel has had over his career."

DeVitto will be lecturing at Marshall on Monday and Tuesday at several music appreciation classes at the school. He'll also be opening the lessons up to the public at 7 on Monday night in the Choir Room of Smith Music Hall. He'll be playing along with some of his most well-known tracks, giving an intimate look at how he created the rhythm for some of the most beloved pop songs in history.

"Instead of being in the 300th row of a civic center somewhere, folks will just be 10 feet away," Miller said. "They'll be able to watch his hands and watch his feet, and see exactly how he makes the sounds he makes."

An admission of $5 will be charged at the door of the public drum clinic.