Shawn Pelton

September 1, 2024

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The Ultimate Union Gig: Live from New York on a Saturday Night

Playing for the evening broadcast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) is like spending a whole day at the studio. Because that’s exactly what you do, according to Shawn Pelton of Local 802 (New York City), drummer for the show’s on-stage band since 1992. While the late-night show may only be 90 minutes long, the day starts early in the morning.

Speaking with Pelton, the thing that stands out most is his obvious love for the job, which he says requires him to bring his best to every show. When asked if this is something he saw himself doing with his life, however, he replies with characteristic pragmatism: “Back in 1981, as a jazz major in percussion at Indiana University Bloomington, I wasn’t sure how I’d make a living. I remember thinking, if I worked hard enough, somehow the stars might align and I could survive as a musician. They say the harder you work, the luckier you can be.”

Pelton adds that he was fortunate to have wide exposure fairly early to so many different approaches and styles of music. “That really helps your flexibility as a freelancer,” he says. Among those influences are legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA), with whom Pelton took private lessons while in Bloomington. “That really helped create a foundation for being able to survive in New York.”

And survive he certainly has, a long way down the road from his small-town beginnings in Warrensburg, Missouri, (around 50 miles southeast of Kansas City) with his junior high school orchestra. “Music was still required back then,” he recalls. “Our school was small, and we had to take either band or orchestra. I picked the cello because you didn’t have to commit to buying an instrument.” Drums followed soon after. “I loved drumming, so I switched after a year. Music was everything to me.”

Early Professional Start

One lightning rod moment that made him want to play for a living was seeing Duke Ellington come through Warrensburg in 1974, just a few short months before Ellington passed away. “That was life-changing, to see his band live. Everyone in the crowd was moving and grooving. I remember being really hit by that performance at a young age, and all of Duke’s orchestration choices,” says Pelton.

The Ellington show was a catalyst for Pelton to kick his drumming into high gear. “I was lucky to start young, playing in VFW halls and similar venues in the Midwest, while I was still in high school,” he says. He joined AFM Local 22 (Sedalia, MO) at age 15 so he could work in Kansas City. “Looking back, I feel fortunate to have started working in bands early, learning about keeping people on a dance floor, and all the basic foundations of being in a rhythm section.”


Pelton moved to New York City after graduating from college in 1988, traveling there with an artist named John Eddie, then signed with Columbia Records. “Eddie was dropped from Columbia, then we made a record on Elektra that never came out,” says Pelton. It was an important early lesson on survival. “When the major label deal fell apart, I started freelancing in the New York clubs.”

Pelton established a regular presence in the city’s club and studio scene, earning a reputation around town both for his rock-solid creativity and his reliability. Then, amid this successful career, in the summer of 1992, the drum chair opened up in the Saturday Night Live band.

“The night before, I had played with the band’s bass player, Paul Ossola, who is on the executive board at Local 257 (Nashville, TN). Paul passed my name on to G.E. Smith [of Local 802], who was running the SNL band at the time, and I got an audition.” That audition was held at the venerable S.I.R. Studios on 25th Street. “G.E. and Paul were there,” says Pelton. “Just them, no preset songs. G.E. started playing, and I just dove in. I had been doing a lot of blues gigs and rock, and G.E. was looking for someone with a strong feel. We also read a few charts from the SNL book.”

The book, Pelton explains, is an expansive volume of over a thousand songs. “There’s a chart for everything because the band has a five-piece horn section with specific parts. I’ve subbed with some of the other late-night house bands like Letterman and Conan, where a lot of the music is memorized from a large list of songs and relies less on reading.” Here again, Pelton shares his hallmark pragmatism: “Flexibility is a real key to survival, so I don’t think about one way being better or worse than the other. You do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

Very Long Day

Now firmly established after three decades at SNL (currently in its 50th season), Pelton enjoys the schedule and the freedom it provides. “We record around 20 to 22 live shows each season, from late September to late May,” he says. “There are also weeks off in there, with breaks for holidays.”

Notwithstanding that it’s called Saturday Night Live, Pelton says a show day typically starts early on Saturday mornings. “Sometimes we’ll rehearse as early as 10:30 a.m. for a few hours,” he says. “After that there’s usually a short break, but then the band can be involved in the comedy sketches, so we’re on call.” After, the band rehearses with the host for their monologue at the top of the show. “The audience comes in at 7:30 p.m., and the band plays a set of warm-up music.”

The actual show run-through starts at 8 p.m. and goes till 10 p.m., with an extra half-hour of sketches. Then, there’s a one-hour break from 10–11 p.m., during which the producers decide what material they want to use live on air. “It’s interesting that the show’s cast and writers start with a read-through on Wednesday afternoon, coming up with maybe 20 or so ideas for production. The audience reaction during the run-through show often decides what makes it onto the live show.” The 11:30 p.m. broadcast goes off the air at 1 a.m.

“For a 90-minute show, it’s a very long day,” Pelton concludes. “The musicianship is so high on the bandstand, and you have to bring your A-game every Saturday.” He says he couldn’t think of a more fun place to work. “I get to play with some of the greatest musicians. Also, because it’s live TV, there aren’t any do-overs. The red light on the TV camera keeps you on your toes. Whatever situation I’m in, I’m always all in. I try to be completely present for every musical situation that I’m involved in.”

Survival Tips

The weeks off also make the job worthwhile. “It used to be the band would do a lot of recording on Fridays for the show, but things have evolved since then. Sometimes, we’ll still go in on a Friday, say if a sketch has live music, but on our off weeks, I have a lot of time to make music in New York City.”

In other words, the SNL job lets him keep his roots in a session career because he can stay in the city consistently for studio work. “The freelance scene here is an inspiring place to be,” he adds. “It’s vast and broad, with a staggeringly high level of talent.” In that way, Pelton says the steady gig at SNL was a blessing and a huge break for him. “If you’re constantly in and out of town on the road, it can be tough for people to know when you’re around.”

When not on live TV, Pelton has recorded with a wide range of well-known artists and established himself as a first-call player, working live and in the studio on everything from playing on a top 10 track by Pink, recording with jazz legend Abbey Lincoln, and laying down rhythms for icons like Bob Dylan of Local 802 and Bruce Springsteen of Locals 47 and 399 (Asbury Park, NJ). Notable AFM-covered film credits include The Pink Panther, The Departed, Sex and the City, and the TV theme for 30 Rock. He has appeared on Grammy-winning albums from Ray Charles, The Brecker Brothers, Rosanne Cash, and Shakira. 

Freelancing requires some life skills to navigate successfully. Pelton is happy to share three crucial tips to help any aspiring musician undertake the life of a session musician. “First,” he says, “the wider the range of styles you can cover as a musician, the better. You need to be adaptable, flexible, and able to take direction, while also having conviction about your own ideas.”

Second, he says, the ability to work well with others and handle stress in a high-pressure situation is mandatory. “Being easy to work with is invaluable, and that skill goes hand in hand with the third part: being realistic about the marketplace in 2024.” Television, he says, along with every other broadcast medium, is undergoing a monumental shift, as is the recording industry. “The more things you can do to survive as a musician, the broader the range of your skillset, the better chance you’ll have to pay your rent at the end of the month.”

Union Involvement

As an AFM member for many decades, Pelton firmly believes the union has an important role in how things will ultimately play out in the future of the music industry. He recently participated in the prenegotiation meetings for the AFM’s Live TV/Videotape Agreement, where he shared his valuable perspective and experiences working on live broadcasts.

“When I started at SNL in 1992, there were only the three major TV networks. Fast forward to today, where we have such a wide and fragmented media landscape. The last agreement that the AFM reached was monumental, allowing musicians to have a share in residuals for AVOD [advertising-based video-on-demand].”

AVOD is a monetization strategy used by video-on-demand platforms such as YouTube, offering viewers free access to on-demand content in exchange for watching ads. This generates ad revenue, which offsets production and hosting costs. The ad revenue was also a targeted source for negotiated residuals.

“The agreement is a real step in the right direction for platforms that are now being utilized beyond the old model of the three major networks,” Pelton says. “I was able to bring awareness to the table that an aspect of our show, like the opening musical monologue, can generate millions of views. There needed to be an avenue to get some compensation for that.” Moving forward, Pelton says it’s important that everyone working on shows like these stays informed and active. “We all need to remain unified and fight for our fair piece of the pie within these new media formats.”

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