Following years of uplifting spirits as a musician and as an educator, Jim Donovan finally developed a method that brings his two worlds together while simultaneously satisfying his creative soul.
As the founding drummer in Rusted Root, Donovan was around for the countless van rides around North America when the Pittsburgh act brought African rhythms, jamming tendencies and undeniable melodic hooks to audiences at a time when the nascent H.O.R.D.E. festival was spreading the jamband aesthetic in the face of alternative rock’s mainstream acceptance. Fueled by the catchy single, “Send Me on My Way,” the band found itself opening gigs for the Grateful Dead, Santana, Dave Matthews Band and Page and Plant. More than two decades later the song’s appeal garners placements in commercials plus film and television soundtracks.
With a growing family, Donovan turned his back on rock ‘n’ roll. Instead he taught at St. Francis University and continued his work using drumming and the voice as a means to assist in healing, personal growth and creating community. His training program teaches medical professionals, parents and teachers how to use rhythmic techniques to complement work done with children who have autism or other disabilities. He has also led annual weekend retreats (Great Rhythm Revival and Summer Rhythm Renewal).
Although he stopped regretting what he once had as a recording and performing artist, the desire for a creative outlet for songs old and new gnawed at him. Keeping the process pure, he recorded his original material without instituting an endgame. When Donovan felt he had enough material for a full-length album he finally made plans for any subsequent steps—crowdfunding, distribution and supporting the release.
That brought Sun King Warriors from merely an album title to the names of his backing band. With six musician friends they continue develop the self-described “groove-rock and Americana with two tons of drums” where the highly danceable tunes roam from the urgency of rock to tribal world rhythms.
The slow rollout of Sun King Warriors is fine by him. The overall purpose of the project is meant to blur the lines between artist and audience and builds on the personal growth ideas of the past 15 years rather than become a nonstop nationwide touring juggernaut.
That intention played itself out when a hometown show celebrating the album’s release found Donovan sharing the stage with the Sun King Warriors and being joined by his former Rusted Root bandmates—Liz Berlin, Patrick Norman, Jenn Wertz and John Buynak—as well as local musician Paul Berkobin, artist Chuck Olson and his three children.
JPG: Was there a learning curve or adjustment made because rather than being in the back of the stage and drumming you are now going to be the frontman in a band and playing guitar and singing?
JD: Yes. Any time I’ve tried something new, especially something like this that really pops me out of my comfort zone there’s definitely an adjustment period. What a lot of people don’t know is that I’ve always sung and wrote songs and played guitar. I’ve been playing guitar since I was a teenager.
When I joined Rusted Root I took that role as drum set player. It was what I was the best at of all the different things that I did. I really relished that role. I love drumming, of course. Then, as the years go by, those other parts of what I’ve always done, I never really gave them enough time. The big work of the project was to commit myself—I had some of the skill sets but not all of them—so I had to systematically build them up, practice them and throw myself into the fire when I wasn’t comfortable. Still, doing that, too. It was definitely an adjustment and I was conscious of how it’s important to give time for adjustment and not spend any time beating oneself up.
JPG: Even redeveloping the calluses on your fingers in order to play guitar and being comfortable playing chords again because you said that the guitar sat around without being played for at least 10 years.
JD: Yeah, it sat for a good 10 years. I had the muscle memory but there’s strength involved and it’s a whole other series of processes in my brain; trying to sing at the same time and play. It took a couple years of just sitting with it and letting myself be frustrated – putting it down and coming back. Finally, this last year-and-a-half it’s come back. Now, I’m where I was originally and starting to grow out from there, which is a good feeling.
JPG: I would think that all of your years being a teacher and facilitator at workshops would make the transition to being a frontman much easier.
JD: All these years of being in front of lots of different groups and having to hold the space was incredible training for this. Before I had done all this, I had done 2,700 events in the last 15 years. Having not done that, I really didn’t understand and didn’t have as much of an appreciation as I do now for people that stand out in the front and put themselves out there. They don’t have a whole lot of protection. Doing all that has been great training. For me the next step is how do I add the songs and the intention and the message to that mix? And that’s where I am right now.
JPG: On the Sun King Warriors website there was a statement on how this project brought everything together from your days in Rusted Root to your days teaching and everything else.
JD: That’s been a big piece of my life. I’m 48 and I’ve always compartmentalized. Here’s the music over here. Here’s my family here. Here’s the way I think about things over here. Teaching is over here. I realized that works but it’s not as satisfying as it could be. I always thought it would be too complicated if I try to bring all these things and put them under one roof. That’s exactly what I tasked myself with. If I’m going to do it I’m not going to leave my kids out of it. I’m not going to abandon teaching. How can it all live together? I’m just starting to see how that’s possible. I really didn’t believe that it was early on.
JPG: You’ve been recording on and off since 2011. Were you developing the songs before that?
JD: The thought of bringing all the different parts of life under one roof that happened recently, maybe in the last two years. When I was developing what became the record, at first I didn’t know what it was going to be and even made a pact with myself that I wouldn’t allow myself to think about what it was going to be because I know myself and I know that if I start to think that way I’m going to spend a lot of energy in planning, “Here’s what it’s going to be. Here’s what I’ll do with it. Here’s who I’ll call and show it to…” on and on and on.
What I knew was that if I did that I wouldn’t spend that energy in just creation and making something that was as beautiful as I could. Honestly, I didn’t allow myself to think about what I was going to do with it until last June or July when I realized, “Okay, this is gonna be finished, and it’s good enough to release.” That was the other question. “Is this even worth releasing?” I didn’t even know. It wasn’t until, maybe, the middle of 2014 that I started to think, “Okay, I think we might have something here.”
JPG: Is that one of the great things about bankrolling this yourself because, while there is the danger of using your own funds, you’re not thinking about owing this person or that company money?
JD: When I got back into the studio and started that process again, every time I left, even if I didn’t get anything, even on those days I felt very right with myself in a way I hadn’t felt since I had been recording years ago. I knew that regardless of if anybody ever hears it, I loved this. And to me it’s worth the expense of having that feeling of, “Alright, I did something today and I can listen back to it and enjoy it.” And even if it’s just my kids hear it and I hear it I was already good with that. So, for me it was a win. Yeah, it’s an expensive win but I’ve spent money on much more ridiculous things than creativity. I know to invest in that part of myself because of the good headspace it puts me in.
JPG: You said you’ve done 2,700 teaching events. That was over the past 15 years. So, you were teaching before you left Rusted Root?
JD: Yes. We had a breakup in 1999. I knew that my time there was going to be limited as early as 1999. I needed to figure out what’s next. I hadn’t even considered that I would ever have to think about what’s next. I thought I had what was next forever. I started experimenting with doing the workshops and things like that. I didn’t know how to do it and I had never taught before, but my wife and I were having our first child so I got real good at it real quick. [laughs]
JPG: When you left for good in 2005 was there a moment or series of moments where you sensed that the band was committed to playing but you wanted out?
JD: When I decided to extract myself, I had a meeting with them and told them, “Please, keep going. Don’t stop on my account but I’m missing things at home that I can’t get back, birthdays, etc. For me it’s not worth it.” The big problem was that I didn’t have a net. I didn’t have a big nest egg. There was no cushy job waiting. It was just me and the drums and my van. It was definitely a frightening thing and I definitely grieved it for a good three years, not that I wanted to go back, but I had identified myself as, “I’m Jim Donovan, drummer from Rusted Root.” That was always the tag line. It took a long time to even understand who am I besides that? Who am I underneath that role? Because other than me it’s just a role.
JPG: During all the teaching events you were still Jim Donovan, the drummer, and you put out eight releases.
JD: Yep. Instructional or meditation. I’ve always loved recording and I had the songs but I wasn’t confident enough to show anybody. I at least wanted to have something I was making, whether it was instructional or some sort of relaxation piece. It was always the drums because in my mind people know this about me, they like it, so I’m just gonna go with that. I’m gonna take the easy way.
JPG: Sure, the easy way may get you in a rut but it also helps pay the bills.
JD: Yeah, it all helps out. It was all very functional and I still love the recordings. It’s not like I don’t like them. And I knew underneath those choices was, “You’ve got this body of work, why not record this?” For whatever reason it was not time to do that. I still had to have other experiences first.
JPG: I’m always trying to figure out how to describe you. Life training facilitator? Drumming facilitator? Yoga chant healing facilitator?
JD: Don’t feel bad. My kids don’t even know what to tell people when they’re asked, “What’s your daddy do?” They say, “Well…what do you do again?” Then, I start to tell ‘em all the things that I do and they’re like, “Nevermind.” [laughs]
JPG: I normally go with motivator and faculty member at St. Francis University.
JD: The way I’ve simplified it is I’m a musician and I’m an educator. Everything else falls under those two brackets. I teach and I play.
JPG: Now, at St. Francis are you a drumming professor?
JD: My official title is I’m an Assistant Professor of Music and I’m also the Chairman of the Fine Arts Department. Somehow, they let the hippie run things. I teach music and wellness, an upper level course on music and wellness, and I do African drumming. I have a big world drumming performance ensemble and a couple other classes like that.
They brought me in because I can give students hands-on interactive non-musician friendly college level courses. Most people coming out of music school don’t do what I do.
JPG: So, you’re much more than an intro to drumming guy teaching paradiddles.
JD: I don’t teach any paradiddles, not one. There’s no reading music. I teach very traditionally. I was taught by my teacher from Africa. We don’t have a music major. It’s students from all over the school. They come to me for all different things. The most popular classes are the African drumming and music and wellness classes. They’re always full.
JPG: The wellness aspect of it. When did that come in because that’s become a very popular subject recently?
JD: Since I’ve been at St. Francis I got my Master’s in Educational Leadership and really came to understand how to get any kind of information to somebody in an effective way. Another part of it is I had had some health problems, mainly revolving around anxiety that caused me to do a significant amount of research for myself to find out what do I got to do to stay on the planet because I’m heading the wrong way? And in doing that I came across so much really great information that turned my health around, that was natural, that I realized, “My God, I can integrate all of this and the students are going through a lot of the same stuff that I’m going through. I can build a three-credit course just on this stuff.”
So, we do lots with anxiety, lots with sleep patterns, all these different things that mix together, and I surround all of it in ways to use music to get to that end. The nice thing about the University is they let me develop it. They give me freedom that I’ll make them something good and everybody wins.
JPG: At one point did you realize that people outside the University were into it and you were able to do workshops around the United States and Europe?
JD: I had already started to do that early on, like in 2000. At first it wasn’t the wellness stuff, it was more of the drumming, the African music. Basically, I used my association with Rusted Root to get my foot through the door. People would at least be willing to give me a shot to come to a festival or come to their town. Over time, all these people who had come and seen it and liked it and wanted me to come back again that it gave me lots of different places to return to, and I still do.
JPG: Back on the album, on front cover, the way the type is set it looks as if it’s by Jim Donovan and called “Sun King Warriors” but elsewhere it’s listed as Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors.
JD: When it to a point where I was gonna release it I wasn’t sure, “Are we going to play this live or is it just going to be a release?” This is how little I let myself think about it. What I knew was that if it was going to be live the band was going to be called either Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors or just Sun King Warriors. That name’s got to be in there somewhere. Some of the guys in the band weren’t even on the record because I didn’t have the final lineup solidified. The drummer Joe [Marini] is not on it. Dan Murphy is only on one song with vocals. So, it’s not a Sun King Warriors record yet even though that’s what we’re playing. We’re developing who we are.
My goal was to introduce people to it. I didn’t want to just call it Jim Donovan Love On Me or something like that. You only get to release one first record like this and I wanted to make sure I at least have the opportunity to have a band do this stuff and that was gonna be exciting. I had a feeling it would be.
So, yes the name of the record is Sun King Warriors and the name of the band is Sun King Warriors. It’s a little…confusing. (laughs)
JPG: That reminds me. Is there anything behind the name, Sun King Warriors, and the image of the painted elephant?
JD: There is. The name is simply put, the ‘warrior’ part is the fight. It’s the struggle. The ‘sun’ and the ‘king’ it’s about becoming that next best version of yourself. All the times that I’ve tried to do that it’s always a struggle. There’s setbacks, challenges, reverting to old ways…all that lives in there. So, the Sun King Warriors is like, “What’s worth fighting for?” is becoming the next best version of ourselves.
The elephant, I wanted an image that was powerful but also joyful. I was looking for elephants with its trunk up. I looked at so many freekin’ elephants, and I found this one by a guy from Sedona, Arizona who had been to India and he took this beautiful shot. I fell in love with it and I contacted him directly and asked him I could purchase it. He was happy.
In Hinduism the elephant, they call it Ganesh, is the remover of obstacles for those who like that kind of stuff. We have elephants all over our house. My wife loves them. The idea is that they can move anything you need to move. That’s what that’s about.
JPG: Speaking of your wife, obviously she’s been supportive during this endeavor but was there a lot of explaining and convincing before you started this?
JD: Oh yeah. The reason I married her is because she will always check me on stuff. She’s been way more supportive than anyone can ask for. She checks me on it, “What are doing that for again? I thought that was over and you’re not doing that anymore and now you’re doing this again. What is this all about?” I would just face her and say, “I don’t know what this is. I just need to do it. It makes my head right.” So, she’s like, “Alright, if you need to do it you need to do it.”
Then, when I decided I’m going to put a group of guys together and play this stuff, she’s like, “You were in Rusted Root when you did all that, what is this about? Is this your ego? Do you need people to clap for you?” So, I explain to her about how challenging at first it was for me to even sing in front of people and that I needed to get past that, I needed to conquer that and feel good about it. Also, I need to do this because it makes me feel good. I love hanging with these guys. I love the stage. It’s part of who I am. And that whatever I would I would always make sure that everything was right at home, that when making decisions the family thing is always gonna be first. What we’re gonna do works inside of that then beautiful.
What we’re not doing right now is getting on a bus and going to every club from here to California. What I want is something, a vehicle, that I can, and we, the guys, can go play when we want when it’s fun and always have this mechanism that can be the outlet for creativity and camaraderie. There’s always conversations. She never minces words. If it sucks, she’s the first one to tell me. If it’s good she tells me, too. I can trust her.
JPG: It sounds in a way like an egoless endeavor.
JD: The ego is always an endeavor. I check it. That doesn’t mean I beat it all the time. I’m aware of it. I’m aware of what out of control ego can do to an individual and also to a group of people. I’m feeling good about how all that is right now.
JPG: Not trying to pan anyone from your Rusted Root days but is that one of the lessons learned from previously being in the music world and around the music business and seeing the negative things to avoid?
JD: Oh, sure. Absolutely. It’s challenging to see the worst in people. Being on so many tours and even in myself, seeing how the lack of sleep and the unnatural environment that that can be, how it can bring out the worst in someone. I’d always thought in the last 10 years or so, “Oh, I wish I knew then what I know now. Man, I would have approached so much of this differently.” Even with just how I would take care of myself on the road. I wish I was running all these years, I would have been a different human being. You get to see some really amazing stuff out there and then there’s some really not amazing stuff. I keep my eyes open, I’m always gonna learn something about how not to be.
JPG: You’ve been releasing albums but they’ve been mainly sold at your events or online, here you’re dealing with crowdfunding and distribution. That goes back to a learning curve.
JD: Oh, God yes. It’s a completely different business than it was when I left. I understand pieces of it. I have friends who understand more of it. So, I ask them lots of questions and get some good help.
I’m not rushing. The biggest most wonderful piece is that there’s no one in the world that was waiting for this. I’ve no pressure. I own the thing. So, it’s not like a label is pressuring me to do anything. And that’s all very consciously designed.
JPG: Is the Sun King Warriors project more than just an album, more than just a group?
JD: Definitely. Going back to the idea of putting everything under one umbrella, there’s a lot of information that I am really interested to get into people’s hands — education, the wellness pieces, the community-building pieces through music. Part of my design with this project is to provide another level of a platform so that I can share what I do and what we do on a much wider level so that I can go from a regional awareness to a national and maybe even an international awareness of all the education pieces.
Included in that is this idea of service. We do a lot with feeding the hungry, work with kids who lost parents; a couple of these causes that I’ll continue to spend energy and time bringing people in, whether it’s to a show or whether it’s some educational event and connecting the attention that we get from this and helping to divert some of that to other places and really use it for all it’s worth.
