Carter Beauford
Carter Anthony Beauford (born November 2, 1958) is an American drummer, percussionist, and founding member of Dave Matthews Band. He is known for his ability to adapt to a variety of genres, and both his ambidextrous and his open-handed drumming styles. He plays the drums and sings backing vocals in the band.
Also recorded as Carter Anthony Beauford
Carter Beauford

MBFreakNo41 · Flickr · CC BY 2.0
- Born
- 1957 · Charlottesville.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- drummer · musician
- Fields
- jazz · folk rock
- Education
- Shenandoah University
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Documentary summary
Carter Anthony Beauford (born November 2, 1958) is an American drummer, percussionist, and founding member of Dave Matthews Band. He is known for his ability to adapt to a variety of genres, and both his ambidextrous and his open-handed drumming styles. He plays the drums and sings backing vocals in the band.
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Note VALÉORINE
Carter Beauford (born 1957) is an American drummer and musician. The drummer was born in Charlottesville.
Carter Beauford studied at Shenandoah University. The drummer is a member of Dave Matthews Band. Genres include folk rock and jazz.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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museum · b065c2c6-92ef-40b2-a5b0-79f76b4953ec · wikidata · Q964653 · wikipedia · Carter Beauford
In this article
Background
Background
Beauford was ranked number 10 by a Rolling Stone magazine reader's poll in 2010 for the greatest drummers of all time.
Beauford was first exposed to the drums at age three. At the time, his father had bought tickets to a Buddy Rich concert and could not find someone to watch his son, so he took young Beauford along to the show. Beauford was mesmerized by Buddy Rich on stage. After that show, Beauford's father bought his son a tin drum set with paper heads, since Beauford showed so much interest in learning the instrument. Beauford began performing professionally when he was nine. Beauford explains his unusual playing style in his instructional video "Under The Table & Drumming", attributing his use of left-hand-lead on a right-handed kit to playing his own kit in front of a mirror as a child in an attempt to emulate his favorite drummers, like Buddy Rich. He unknowingly set up his drums in reverse of whichever performer and set that he had in mind, in an attempt to make the mirrored image of himself match that of the audience's perspective, as he had seen it on stage and TV. This helped him to become completely ambidextrous at a very early age, albeit by accident. Eventually, he joined Secrets, a Richmond, Virginia-based jazz fusion band. Other members included childhood friend and next-door neighbor saxophonist LeRoi Moore, trumpeter John D'earth, vocalist Dawn Thompson, bassist Keith Horne, keyboardist Butch Taylor, keyboardist Dane Bryant, saxophonist Eddie Williams and guitarist Tim Reynolds. Secrets performed throughout Virginia, at places such as The Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach, and at Miller's, the bar in Charlottesville where Dave Matthews worked as a bartender. Beauford also played jazz in Blue Indigo with LeRoi Moore, Sal Soghoian, and George Melvin. Blue Indigo performed regularly at Tokyo Rose and Miller's, and was featured at the Delaware Water Gap Jazz Festival. Eventually, Matthews approached both Beauford and Moore regarding some music he had written that he wished to record. Beauford agreed to perform on a demo, which is how he became involved with the group that was to become the Dave Matthews Band.
Collaboration
Collaboration
Beauford has also worked with other artists on jam projects, including Vertical Horizon, Carlos Santana, Rashawn Ross, John Popper (of Blues Traveler), Tim Reynolds, Béla Fleck and Victor Wooten; both alone and within Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q964653: Carter Beauford
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Carter Beauford”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Carter Beauford
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
Awards
Modern Drummer Readers Poll 2003 – Best Pop Drummer Modern Drummer Readers Poll 2003 – Best Recorded Performance: Dave Matthews Band: Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Rolling Stone magazine. Readers' Rock List: Best Drummers. February 8, 2010.
- 2.Official DMB website. Carter Beauford. 2009.
- 3.DCI Music Video / Warner Bros. Publications. Under the Table & Drumming. 1997.
- 4.Griffith, J.T. Carter Beauford. All Music review. Rovi Corporation. 2010.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Carter BeaufordMetaBrainz Foundation
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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