Devon "Stixx" Taylor | From Atlanta church to the Super Bowl

Devon “Stixx” Taylor sat down behind a drum kit at two years old, in a church in Atlanta.

The line from there to a Super Bowl stage is longer than it sounds, but it is a remarkably straight one — and it runs through the same tradition that produced most of the great American R&B drummers.

Who is Devon “Stixx” Taylor?

Devon Taylor, professionally Stixx, is an American drummer from Atlanta, Georgia.

He started at two and grew up in church rehearsals — the American gospel circuit, which remains the single most productive training ground for groove drummers anywhere in the world.

The career

Usher, Justin Bieber, Mary J. Blige, plus arena tours, Las Vegas residencies and a Super Bowl appearance.

He has also released a Jammcard Samples pack on Splice — his own drum loops and one-shots, sold as a production tool — which is a genuinely modern way for a session drummer to monetise their sound, and one more producers should copy.

He has been featured in Modern Drummer, and Drumeo’s voters gave him R&B/Hip-Hop Drummer Of The Year in 2025, citing his “precision, sense of space, and subtle dynamic shaping”.

What Devon “Stixx” Taylor actually does

Space. This is the thing the award citation got right. Modern R&B drumming is defined as much by what is not played as by what is — the gaps where the production sits, the beats deliberately left empty.

Precision. Every note lands exactly where he intends it. In a genre where the reference is a programmed beat, that is not optional.

Subtle dynamics. The difference between a ghost note and a backbeat in his playing spans a very wide range, and the shape of that range is where the groove lives.

Church chops, deployed sparingly. Like most drummers from that tradition, he can play a great deal more than he does. The restraint is the professionalism.

He thinks like a producer. The Splice pack is the giveaway: he hears his own drums as elements to be used in a mix.

Devon “Stixx” Taylor’s setup

His endorsements and specification are not documented in a form we would be comfortable printing as fact, and we would rather leave a gap than fill it with a guess.

What is verifiable is the Jammcard Samples pack on Splice — which, unusually, means you can literally buy his drum sound rather than his drum kit.

If you have his current specification and can point at a source, the Rig Vault takes suggested edits on every page and we will happily build him one.

What to take from him instead

Practise leaving beats out. Take a groove you play automatically and remove the second kick note. Then the “and” of four. Keep going until it stops working, then put one back. That is how modern R&B drum parts are actually constructed.

Then work on your ghost notes at whisper volume. The dynamic gap between a ghost and a backbeat is the entire feel. Our rudiments guide is the foundation.

And listen to the production. If a track has a programmed hat, do not double it — play around it. The Gear Guru will spec a kit that suits this style if you need one.

Where to start

• Usher live footage. The gig, at full scale.
• Justin Bieber and Mary J. Blige material. Two very different briefs.
• His Splice sample pack. His actual drum sound, as a product.
• The Modern Drummer feature. The best long-form piece on him.

Final thoughts

The Atlanta church circuit has quietly supplied a startling proportion of the world’s best groove drummers, and Taylor is one of the current generation.

What sets him apart within that tradition is the editing. Plenty of drummers from that background can play everything; the ones who last are the ones who work out what to leave out, and he worked it out early.

Read about Aaron Spears and Queen Cora Coleman — two more drummers from the same world.