In this episode of The Bandwich Tapes, I sit down with legendary session drummer Paul Leim, whose six-decade career quietly powers a staggering piece of the soundtrack to our lives. Paul has played on more than 12,000 songs across over 2,000 releases, with 1,400+ silver/gold/platinum certifications, and global sales topping 540 million units. His discography encompasses over 150 combined GRAMMY nominations and wins, as well as 40+ major film/TV awards, and credits on more than 150 films and 100 television specials and series. If you’ve heard Lionel Richie, Shania Twain, Lyle Lovett, Kenny Chesney, Whitney Houston—or cues from Dirty Dancing, Smokey and the Bandit II, The River, or even Return of the Jedi, you’ve likely heard Paul.

We trace the arc from East Texas clubs and Dallas jingle mills to late-’70s Los Angeles, where a “typical” week meant two complete drum rigs leapfrogging between Lionel Richie sessions, network TV soundstages, film dates, and award shows. Paul talks mentors and “angels” (band director Neil Grant, Robin Hood Brians, Doc Severinsen), lifelong friendships with the TCB family (Ron Tutt, Jerry Scheff), and lessons that still anchor his playing—especially dynamic control and “letting the mics work.” We get inside the high-wire reality of studio life. Paul calls it “95% boredom and 5% sheer terror”, including how to read conductors, when to lead the time, and when to ride it, and what it’s like to move from live kit to orchestral percussion with John Williams.

There are great shop-floor stories: cutting Lionel’s “Truly” and counseling Lionel at the fork-in-the-road moment of leaving the Commodores; discovering that Lyle Lovett’s “The Blues Walk” was gloriously vocal-free; and a deep dive into the precision world of Mutt Lange and Shania, ending bass notes just before the snare for mix “air,” the chrome-over-brass “important” snare, and the on-the-fly invention of tom “Mutt flaps” for short, open fills. Paul also shares a personal fork he chose differently: turning down a James Taylor tour to be home with his young family, only to hand JT the final serial-numbered Leim signature snare decades later at the White House.

Today, Paul is still very much in motion: bandleading the TCB Band in Europe, steering The Tennessee Four with Thomas Gabriel to carry the Cash legacy, and jumping into Million Dollar Quartet shows—proof that the hang, the humility, and the groove endure. It’s a conversation about craft, friendship, stewardship of a gift, and the choices that shape both a career and a life.

Music from the Episode:
Pick it Apart (Mark O'Connor)
Truly (Lionel Richie)
The Blues Walk (Lyle Lovett)

Thank you for listening. If you have questions, feedback, or ideas for the show, please email me at brad@thebandwichtapes.com.

Theme music: "Playcation" by Mark Mundy