As an 8-year-old kid, he was quickly mesmerized by the vibrations produced by the bass and drums.

“And I started to feel that in my little chest,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t know how, I don’t even know what this is, but this is the thing. Of all the things, this has got to be the thing.'”

So, Donovan’s grandmother bought him his first coffee-can drum, and he would take it down by the pool to “play for the people.”

First-year student Olivia Angelo plays a Tubano drum along with students and members of SFU’s finance department. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

What began as a passion blossomed into a successful career, as Donovan was formerly a part of the triple-platinum 1990s rock band Rusted Root, where he co-wrote and played drums on the band’s hit song, “Send Me On My Way.”

The song has gone on to receive more than 600 million Spotify streams, along with notable appearances in popular children’s movies “Ice Age” and “Matilda.” Not to mention that the song “woke up” NASA’s rover Opportunity, which operated on Mars from 2004-18.

He shifted gears about 20 years ago and began advocating for music’s healing properties as Saint Francis University’s music and wellness instructor, combining de-stressing tactics with classroom drum circles.

Donovan said he took guidance from former SFU fine arts director and mentor Chuck Olson, “to make this place a place you want to be.”

“Create things here, because you can, because you have license, and make stuff that you’ll want to get up and drive to,” Donovan said.

While his students lead their creative music facilitation session, Jim Donovan participates as well by playing a Tubano drum. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Music holds a major influence on Donovan’s background, as he has distinct memories of his mother playing R&B music, such as Sly and the Family Stone, when he was a youngster living in his hometown of Rockwood.

“That’s the first music I remember,” he said. “And even to this day, like when I hear it, it takes me back.”

Donovan got the itch for drumming when he was 14 years old, prompting him to borrow drumsticks from his high school and practice set moves in the air for hours while listening to ACDC and Led Zeppelin records.

“I practiced drum set moves as best I could and taught myself, just playing in the air, how to actually play,” he said.

He also said he dealt with anxiety and stress early on, so playing drums became a safe place where he could channel his negative emotions.

SFU music and wellness professor Jim Donovan keeps his platinum record for Rusted Root in his office, which commemorated more than 1,000,000 CD and cassette sales of their album, “When I Woke.” Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

“It was the thing I would look forward to every day,” he said. “I’m going to play in the air and imagine I’m on stage and I’m playing with this band.

In high school, he secured a job at his local Burger King and saved up for his first drum set. Unbeknownst to Donovan, his coordination pathways were already set in stone because of his previous practice of playing in the air.

After graduating from Rockwood Area High School in 1986, he attended the University of Pittsburgh for classical music in hopes of starting a band.

He said he was unsure at the time what type of band he wanted to be a part of, as he drew inspiration from people playing in pictures featured in magazines such as Rolling Stone.

While attending classes, he participated in a few cover bands where people usually sought him out, including Rusted Root founding member Liz Berlin, who was in his African drumming class.

Donovan

Berlin asked Donovan to play the drums on a record she was developing at the time with her partner, but because Donovan was unsure, Berlin gave him a tape to listen to their record.

“I heard the music, and I remember calling her, saying, ‘Yeah, this actually sounds really amazing. Let’s try something,'” he said.

‘Send Me On My Way’

Rusted Root quickly came to fruition as the band played in Pittsburgh venues and recorded their first album in 1992, “Cruel Sun,” leading to a signing with the Mercury/PolyGram record label.

But it wasn’t until their second album, “When I Woke,” that the band experienced a new level of attention for their song, “Send Me On My Way.”

Donovan recalled the day when the hit single was made, when band members were sitting in a room along the Strip District. A band member’s sister and boyfriend were also there when the band played the song. And the boyfriend declared the song a hit.

“He was the one who called it,” Donovan said. “He said, ‘People are going to really love this.'”

And the rest is history.

The song peaked at 72 on the U.S. Billboard’s Top 100 songs from 1994-95 and eventually sold more than one million CD and cassette copies, resulting in a platinum record.

It remains popular today. As of last quarter in 2026, Donovan said the song was used five billion times on social media and other streaming platforms. “Good Morning America” also features the song, as do baseball and hockey games.

“It’s in the fabric of the world now,” he said.

Rusted Root went on to open for Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin in their 1995 tour and The Grateful Dead in 1995 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. They also toured throughout the rest of the 1990s, when Donovan’s wife, Tracy, tagged along with the band.

After having three children at the start of the 2000s — Tupelo, Ella and Oliver — Donovan left the band, as life on tour would take him away from his young family.

When the original band played one of their last performances together in 2003 for 2,000 Indiana University of Pennsylvania students, he said the power went out toward the end of the show, and the sound shut off.

At the time, Donovan was facilitating his own drumming workshops, so he pulled out his drum kit and split the audience into two sections, giving them a rhythm to clap out and make vocal noises to, thus making music.

Olson then emerged from the crowd after the show and asked Donovan to teach a drumming workshop at SFU with veiled intentions of offering him an adjunct position one year later.

“What I didn’t know was that Olson had a design that he was thinking about, and the design was to ask me if I would come here and build something that didn’t exist yet,” he said.

Music and wellness

When Olson offered Donovan the position, Donovan said he had dropped out of college with 12 remaining credits. With Olson’s motivation, Donovan returned to the University of Pittsburgh and finished his bachelor’s degree in 2004 and secured a position at SFU in 2005.

One of his first friends at SFU was assistant professor in the school of business Kent Tonkin.

“We were immediate friends,” Tonkin said, as they shared similar musical aspirations.

Tonkin and Donovan later formed the rock band Sun King Warriors in the early 2010s, which remains active today and plays venues from Jamestown, New York, to Cincinnati, Ohio. They also play at the Healing Patch’s annual city event, Patched Together.

Meanwhile, Donovan began running fine arts 101 classes while facilitating summer community events called Summer Rhythm Renewal, which was a two-day retreat where residents take part in yoga, wellness practices and dance.

It wasn’t until 2010 that Donovan created a music and wellness minor, the first of its kind at SFU.

Considering SFU’s large student-medical interest, he said, “I knew that we had enough people who would be interested in helping people get better, that this would be a good adjunct to what they’re doing.”

Thus, his mission in sharing music’s healing power took flight, as he taught students de-stressing tactics and public speaking skills through classroom drum sessions and student-led creative music events.

He said his mission inside the classroom is to help others suffer less, giving students a musical outlet rather than managing their stress through drugs and alcohol.

Despite not being a music therapist, he also teaches people within organizations how to fortify brain health and human connections with a music and wellness component.

Donovan advocates for these lessons at conferences such as TEDxYoungstown in 2018 and The Pennsylvania Head Start Association in 2026 at the Blair County Convention Center.

“Making music, listening to music, plays a role in keeping you well over a lifespan,” he said.

Reconnecting with others

Junior student Luci Cicalese said she plans on meshing her music and wellness minor with her marketing major.

While working on a collaborative project in another class, she said there was tension among group members. To settle the mood, she thought of playing music that the group members enjoyed, a tactic she learned in Donovan’s music and wellness class.

“That’s definitely something, when I end up in a career, that I will be using,” she said. “This is how we relax people.”

Panic attacks were another topic sophomore student Elisabeth Leonard took away from her music and wellness session, as she learned helpful coping mechanisms and techniques when playing the drums.

“Especially as a college student, it’s a lot of stress,” said the special education major.

Business management student Ashtin Ancheta said Donovan is the perfect class instructor because he gives students excellent guidance both inside the classroom and beyond.

“Whether you’re going through something or you know you’re going through a trial in life, he always has something to say, something with good input and advice to give,” Ancheta said.

“I also feel like his personality perfectly suits this field of expertise,” Leonard said.

Likewise, Tonkin said Donovan uses his musical gifts to bring people together, adding that he is a one-of-a-kind individual who shares his talent with others.

“He (Donovan) is of high integrity, and he genuinely cares,” Tonkin said. “I’m a better person by having him as a friend.”

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.

The Donovan file

Name: Jim Donovan

Age: 58

Current residence: Greensburg

Education: Rockwood Area High School, bachelor of arts degree in classical music from the University of Pittsburgh and master of arts degree in educational leadership from Saint Francis University

Family: Wife, Tracy; children: Tupelo, 26; Ella, 23; and Oliver, 21.

Bands: Rusted Root (1992-2005), Sun King Warriors (2013-present)