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{{short description|Role for a musician}}{{Other|Sideman (disambiguation)}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member.Hinton, Kerry. Cool Careers Without College for Music Lovers. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. p. 57 The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo or a group.WEB, Sideman {{!, Definition of Sideman by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Sideman|url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/sideman|access-date=September 30, 2020|website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English|language=en}}{{dead link|date=September 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}Sidemen and sidewomen are often well-versed in multiple styles of music, and can be hired at any level of the music industry, from playing in a cover band to backing up established artists on major tours.WEB,weblink A Guide to Being a Successful Sideman, Melvin, Gary, Musician Wages.com, December 16, 2009, Los Angeles, California,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120508011200weblink">weblink May 8, 2012, While many artists can work as sidemen or session musicians, others will only fill one role. The generally accepted difference is that a sideman performs live while a session musician is hired to perform in a recording studio.WEB, Earl Slick on Being David Bowie's Sideman and His New Documentary,weblink reverb.com, October 1, 2020, en, July 5, 2017,

Career progression

Aspiring musicians often start out as sidemen, playing rhythm guitar, comping on keyboards, playing drums in the rhythm section, or singing backing vocals for a well-known bandleader or singer.BOOK, Brown, Mel, From Zero to Sideman, 2008, Career Equity LLC, 978-0-9815706-0-0, 24,weblink 28 December 2020, en, Once sidemen have become experienced with live performance and recording with established artists, some move on to develop their own sound, a recognized name, and fans of their own, or go on to form their own groups, at which point they become bandleaders and recruit their own sidemen and sidewomen.WEB, Wake, Matt, 20 rock stars who got their start as sidemen,weblink Advance Local, en, 25 June 2020, Some examples of this are:

• James Burton and Glen Hardin, playing guitar and keyboards respectively, who performed in Elvis Presley's TCB Band, also backed Gram Parsons before joining newcomer Rodney Crowell and veteran Albert Lee in Emmylou Harris' "Hot Band".BOOK, Stanton, Scott, The Tombstone Tourist: Musicians, September 2003, Simon and Schuster, 978-0-7434-6330-0, 191,weblink en,
• Don Henley and Glenn Frey were in the initial backup band for Linda Ronstadt, which toured in support of her eponymous debut album. Afterwards, with the addition of Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, they formed the Eagles.MAGAZINE, January 18, 2016, How Glenn Frey & Don Henley Became the Eagles, As Told by Linda Ronstadt,weblink September 30, 2020, Billboard, en,

File:David Lindley.jpg|thumb|230px|David Lindley (1980) playing the pedal steel guitar]]Some sidemen become famous for their musical specialties, and become highly sought-after by pop, rock, blues, jazz and country music bands. Examples of some of these include multi-instrumentalists. David Lindley is a multi-instrumentalist who has worked with such diverse musicians as Curtis Mayfield, Dolly Parton, Jackson Browne, and Hani Naser.WEB,weblink Big little Music: The Weird and Wonderful World of String Wizard David Lindley, Kotapish, Paul, 2012, Cover Story, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, String Letter Publishing, Inc., David A. Lusterman, publisher, December 13, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090614013145weblink">weblink June 14, 2009, Waddy Wachtel's guitar licks and experience have placed him as a bandleader while on tour with Stevie Nicks, and Chuck Leavell, who has toured with The Allman Brothers Band, but more often, is onstage with The Rolling Stones on keyboards.NEWS, O'Malley Greenburg, Zach, Chuck Leavell: The Rolling Stone Who Gathers Moss,weblink January 11, 2012, Forbes, August 26, 2011, NEWS, CHUCK, LEAVELL, JOAN RAYMOND, Rolling? We're More Like the Flying Stones,weblink New York Times, January 8, 2008, January 16, 2008, Greenhaus, Mikeweblink RelixOften sidemen go on to form their own groups and/or solo careers; for instance, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best acted as sidemen to Tony Sheridan before becoming famous as The Beatles, with the addition of Ringo Starr.NEWS, Lewis, Randy, February 20, 2013, Tony Sheridan, British rocker who performed with the Beatles in the early 1960s, dies at 72,weblink September 30, 2020, Washington Post, en-US, Jimmy Page left his first attempts working in bands to hone his skills as a session player, where he met John Paul Jones; he later recruited Robert Plant and John Bonham to form Led Zeppelin.BOOK, FOGARTY, Mark, Went to See the Gypsy, August 14, 2008, 978-1-4357-5140-8, 211,weblink 28 December 2020, en, Bob Dylan's first recorded song was as a harmonica sideman on Harry Belafonte's cover of "Midnight Special".NEWS,weblink 1961: Bob Dylan Lays Down His First Track, Haaretz, WEB,weblink Dylan's early released recordings: With Belafonte, Hester & Big Joe Williams | Untold Dylan, Other musicians may take time from their own bands to tour or record as a sideman for other artists, such as punk bassist Mike Watt with J Mascis and the Fog or Iggy and the Stooges.BOOK, Callwood, Brett, The Stooges: Head On, September 2011, Wayne State University Press, 978-0-8143-3710-3, 75,weblink 28 December 2020, en, File:BAD DOG.jpg|thumb|230px|right|Bernard Fowler, backup vocalist for The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones

See also

• Session musician

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list, which also inducts sidemen