Dewey Martin

Dewey Martin, drummer for the short-lived but long-resonating rock band Buffalo Springfield whose career after the group split never ignited like those of his former band mates Neil Young and Stephen Stills, has died. He was 68. He was found dead Sunday by a roommate in his Van Nuys apartment, longtime friend Lisa Lenes said Thursday.

"It's a great loss," Micky Dolenz, drummer for the Monkees, said Thursday. Dolenz said he became close friends with Martin in the late '60s when both were working in and around Hollywood. "We never worked together, we just hung out a lot. We went to shows together at the Whisky and the Troubadour. He was a great drummer -- it's a well-known fact. And he was a really nice guy."

Martin was one of the founding members, along with Young, Stills, singer-songwriter-guitarist Richie Furay and bassist Bruce Palmer, of Buffalo Springfield, a key progenitor of country-rock music. The group existed for just two years and recorded only three studio albums before disbanding amid rising tensions and musical ambitions of the band's talented but explosive leaders.