Hey, I didn’t know he wrote this song, either!  Great article with You Tube videos of Nesmith, The Greenbriar Boys original recording and two of Linda Rondstant’s huge hit.

When the red light went on at Hollywood’s Capitol Studios in 1967, singer Linda Ronstadt was scared. There to record “Different Drum”—her first lead-vocal single as a member of the Stone Poneys—Ms. Ronstadt was expecting to sing an acoustic ballad version of the song accompanied by her two bandmates.

Linda Ronstadt (shown in 1968) was caught off guard in the studio when confronted with new musicians and a faster arrangement. Henry Diltz/Corbis

Instead, a new faster arrangement had been written, a rhythm section and string players were brought in to replace the other two Stone Poneys, and Ms. Ronstadt had just seconds to figure out how she was going to phrase the lyrics and make the song work.  Read the entire article with videos here.