George Strait’s Drummer Mike Kennedy Killed in Car Crash

Michael A. Kennedy, George Strait‘s drummer, was killed in a car crash in Lebanon, Tennessee on Friday. Kennedy was 59 years old.

Tennessee Highway Patrol officials told The Tennessean Kennedy was driving his 1999 GMC on Interstate 40 just before 4 p.m. local time. The vehicle hit a tractor-trailer as it merged into another lane. The tractor-trailer hit a Chevrolet Silverado. No one else was injured in the crash.

Kennedy was not wearing a seat belt, but officials said it would not have saved him.

Kennedy, who lived in Baxter, Tennessee, was the drummer in Strait’s Ace in the Hole Band for three decades.

“The heart beat of our band is gone,” George Strait Productions manager Paul Rogers tweeted Saturday. “Not sure how we will get back on stage without him. But we must. Much love and respect my dear friend Mike Kennedy.”

“Make sure every time you depart company with friends or loved ones that you leave them with good feelings in their heart,” Rogers added in another message.

“Prayers going out to [George Strait]and his ace in the hole band! [Paul Rogers] there will never be another like Mike Kennedy. RIP,” a Strait fan tweeted.

“Not good news. Condolences to Mike Kennedy’s family and the entire [George Strait] crew,” Frank Foster tweeted.

“One of my greatest honors was to perform with the [Texas Jam Band] and the amazing drummer for George Strait, Mike Kennedy. Just learned he was taken from us in a tragic car crash yesterday. Godspeed amigo. Rest in power Mikey,” musician Haydn Vitera wrote on Instagram.

Kennedy also played with Barbara Fairchild and Ricky Skaggs.

“I played with my dad’s band from the time I was 7 to the time I was 15,” Kennedy said in a 2015 YouTube video for Zildjian Cymbals. “Then he turned me loose and said: ‘Go on out and spoil the world, son, you’re too good for my band.’ So I did that.”

Photo credit: Twitter