Try Hodder

Last week I sent birthday wishes to two members of the original five-piece Steely Dan band who weren't named Becker or Fagen.  Today, we celebrate the other one, drummer Jim Hodder.  (They must have had a wild time if they were on the road, with three birthdays falling inside six days.)

In the early 1970s, Hodder was invited to join just as Steely Dan was about to record its first album.  He'd been in The Bead Game, a psychedelic band that got some attention, but didn't make it.

Hodder sang as well as drummed. In fact, he sang lead on "Dallas," the Dan's now forgotten first single. It's sort of country, and fairly conventional for Becker and Fagen.  You can see why they left it off their first album, Can't Buy A Thrill.  Hodder also got to sing lead on one of the cuts on that album, "Midnite Cruiser." By the second album Fagen would take over all lead vocals.



Hodder's main contribution was as a drummer on their first two albums.



With Becker and Fagen relying on session musicians, by Steely Dan's third album, Hodder was gone as drummer. But he worked with others.  For instance, he played on Linda Ronstadt's #1 hit version of "You're No Good."



Unfortunately, Hodder is no longer with us.  He drowned in a pool in 1990, age 42.