About Kelli Rae Tubbs

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A drummer and percussionist working in the music industry for more than three decades, Kelli’s resume spans the musical spectrum, covering jazz, pop, country, bluegrass, drum corps, brass band, and children's music. Between 2017 and 2019, she served as the house percussionist at the Smoky Mountain Opry in Pigeon Forge, TN.  From 2021 through 2024, she was a part of the Entertainment Team on the beautiful American Countess, sailing America's inland waterways.  In early 2024, she shared with stage  with Jeff Hutson in Las Vegas for his production show "Dressed to the Nines" and finished out the year as the drummer for the huge production, the "Christmas in the Dells Dinner Show" in Wisconsin Dells, WI.

Kelli is always thrilled when invited to recording sessions.  Her most recent work includes three separate projects recording multiple layers of percussion tracks for today's prominent handbell choir composer/arrangers, handling everything from finger cymbals to djembe, tambourine to congas, bongos to gonkogwe, caxixi to maracas, and many other unique percussion instruments.

Kelli has developed and delivered hands-on educational clinics to beginner and advanced school-aged drummers across the country on the topics of drum set basics, percussion accessories and sound effects, improvisation, marching band, and historical drumming techniques.

Over the last decade, Kelli has established a formidable “second” career as a collector, researcher and clinician. She has presented on the preservation and restoration of antique drums as well as historical drumming methods at the Chicago Drum Show,  the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions of 2017 and 2018, the 2024 Panama Jazz Festival, the Delaware Drum Show, and the National Women's Music Festival.