AJ Newton is a Nashville Recording Artist, Drummer for the award winning band Rusty Shipp and the Artist Relations Manager for Outlaw Drums.  He has been drumming for over 30 years who started out at the age of 7. First learning basic rudiments from his older neighbor friend, John Yarber AJ couldn’t get enough.  He got his first snare around the age of 11 and started his formal education in Waldron Elementary School band in 5th grade.  AJ formed his style for years to come in his hometown of Waldron, Indiana by participating in marching band, pep band and concert band.  But it was his first set of drums at age 15 that helped him get into his first garage band and start seriously working on his chops.  He would go on to perform for church bands and garage bands throughout the years.  After high school he got to continue this passion while attending college at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, I.U.P.U.I. He performed in a cover band called State Secret around central Indiana as often as he could.  After college AJ and his wife, Maraysa, decided to chase their dreams together and move to Nashville, TN.  Within the first month, AJ met Russ T. Shipp, who was searching for a new drummer at the beginning of 2017.  The two became instant friends and after one audition AJ was aboard the Nautical Rock ’N’ Roll band Rusty Shipp.  Since then Rusty Shipp has gone on to win numerous awards including 2018 and 2020 Artist of the year, Album of the year and many more.  They charted on Billboard for Christian Rock Most Added, have had numerous singles off their new album "Liquid Exorcist" chart on the top 100 for Christian Music Weekly.  They have toured across America and the biggest of these accomplishments in AJ’s eyes was the opportunity to become an Outlaw Drums Artist.  He stumbled across them via Youtube videos back in 2017 and struck up some conversations with Michael Outlaw.  He was amazed at Michael’s craftsmanship, dedication and passion for making the best sounding and looking drums around.  In January of 2019 AJ became an endorsed member of the Outlaw family and commissioned Michael to build him a brand new kit made out of all cypress wood drug out of the Okefenokee swamp near the Florida/Georgia line over 80 years ago.  When he heard the story about this being swamp wood it fit him perfectly since he is in a Nautical Rock ’N” Roll band.  He requested it to be segmented together and to have a natural finish with all black hardware.  The drum dimensions of his kit are as follows:  22”x18” kick drum, 13”x9” rack tom, 16”x16” floor tom, and an 18”x18” floor tom.  He also plays a custom 14”X 7” matching cypress snare drum with the words “Rusty Shipp” and compasses stenciled on the snare.  AJ wanted a big rock kit and that’s exactly what Outlaw Drums delivered.  He gets compliments everywhere he goes on how beautiful looking and sounding the kit is and he can often be found grinning from ear to ear while playing it.  To stay in touch with AJ or even see and hear these beautiful drums live, please follow him at rustyshipp.com, @rustyshippband on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep updated on their upcoming shows.  You can also follow Rusty Shipp on Youtube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and numerous other streaming services.