Brother Dave Gardner

David Gardner (June 11, 1926 – September 22, 1983), known as Brother Dave Gardner, was a U.S. comedian, professional drummer and singer.
A Tennessee native, Gardner studied drumming, beginning at age 13. After a one-semester term as a Southern Baptist ministerial student at Union University in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, he began a musical career as a drummer and occasional vocalist. After a pair of demo singles for Decca Records around 1956, he had a 1957 Top-20 hit on OJ Records with "White Silver Sands".
It was his comedic routines between songs, however, that brought him to the attention of RCA Records artist and producer Chet Atkins. The eventual result was a comedy album interspersed with a couple of songs – Rejoice, Dear Hearts! (1959), which propelled Brother Dave into the national eye, along with the first of several appearances on national television talk/variety shows such as The Tonight Show.
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==Links to Peel==
Peel would sometimes mention on his shows that when he was hosting the programme Kat's Karavan on WRR in Dallas, he would often play comedy tracks from Brother Dave Gardner (although, in view of the fact that his stint on the show didn't last long, how often he did so is uncertain). He would later play a few tracks by the comedian on his BBC Radio One shows. 
These Radio One plays may have been Brother Dave's only appearances on UK radio, as despite his renown in the US he was little-known elsewhere. In Margrave Of The Marshes (p.151) Peel, writing of his time as a listener to Kat's Karavan, hints at this, describing how one of the factors that made the show "galvanising" listening was how blues and R&B records were "interspersed with comedy tracks from Jonathan Winters, Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart or Brother Dave Gardner (a big local favourite)". While WInters, Newhart and Berman were all famous enough in the 1960s to appear on TV shows and have albums released in the UK, only an early single (in 1957) and one album by Brother Dave Gardner (not the one featured by Peel) were issued in Britain. 
==Shows Played==
;thumb|220x220px1986
*17 February 1986: Part I (LP - Kick Thy Own Self) RCA Victor
;1995
*08 December 1995: unknown (LP - Kick Thy Own Self) RCA Victor
;2002
*04 July 2002: 'Brother Dave Gardner (LP - Kick Thy Own Self)' (RCA Victor)
== See Also ==
*Disc & Music Echo: Peel Columns
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists