That title says it all, and Veronica Kiger is proud of it. In fact, she has "Little Drummer Girl," her own design featuring the Muppets' own Animal, tattooed on her ankle.

But if you're picturing a demure young lady merely keeping time, think again. Veronica is all business at what she does, and she's all power. Matter of fact, she sets up a Plexiglas shield around her kit so that the crashing sound doesn't feed back through the vocal microphones.

When members of her Greene County-based band, the BootHill Gang, introduce her as their percussionist, the reaction usually is along the lines of:

"No, really ... who's the drummer?"

Veronica answers by picking up her sticks and going to town.

"When they come and see me play, they see a whole different side of me."

What they hear is sort of what you'd expect from a band called the BootHill Gang: both kids of music, country and western (sorry, I loved that "Blues Brothers" gag), with a decided rock edge. But rather than do standard versions of tunes you've heard a million times, they like to put their own stamp on them.

"You will never hear (fill in the blank) like you hear us do it." That was the recurring theme as I discussed the group's repertoire with Veronica. For example, one of her favorites is Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman," transformed into a much heavier arrangement than the famous one by Stevie Nicks and company.

Veronica's bandmates started the BootHill Gang back in the '80s, and after a hiatus returned five years ago with original members Dee Eisiminger, Tink Eisiminger (an example of wife and husband working in harmony) and Gary D'Angelo. Dee and Veronica had played together in various aggregations, and the Little Drummer Girl was happy to join the reunited Gang.

"These guys had played for years together, and it was great to finally have true friends and now one big family," Veronica writes in a biographical sketch of herself.

In case you're curious (I know I was), she started playing drums after discovering her stepfather had done so when he was younger. He bought her a Ludwig Vista light drum kit, and she started spending "hours a day just listening and learning by ear."

At the time, she was learning from old jazz, blues and country records. So it was culture shock when she joined a high school band that played "Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and stuff I didn't know. Being the trooper that I am, I jumped right in and just played my heart out."

Meanwhile, she decided to try out for snare in the drum line of the high school band, but was miffed when she learned girls were relegated to cymbals. "Boy, did I have to completely throw a fit to even get a chance, and I made it."

That was in Rachel, West Virginia. A few years later, Veronica moved to Pennsylvania and met up with some fellow musicians, eventually running across Dee and forming a band called Greene County Rednecks. Later, they played together in Zero to Sixty before the resurrection of the BootHill Gang.

About Dee, Veronica says: "If it weren't for her, I don't know where I'd be right now. She has saved me emotionally, and she has saved me musically."

The Gang's guitarists are Gary on lead and Tink on rhythm. (The bassist is in flux at the moment. Got Fender?) Anyway, Veronica calls Gary "phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. There have been times when I haven't been able to keep up with him." And Tink combines stellar playing with a sense of humor to keep everything loose: "He's definitely the comedian of the band."

Check 'em out Saturday night at Buddy's Lounge in Waynesburg. And the following Saturday, Oct. 8, the BootHill Gang will headline the Disaster Relief Benefit at the Greene County Fairgrounds, an event Veronica decided to organize after seeing all the suffering inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. See my regular newspaper column for details on that, or look under "Opinion" on the Observer-Reporter home page

Veronica is into a lot of cool stuff, including hot rods, horses and being a good mother to Austin. But being the Little Drummer Girl, she has this to say:

"My drums are my heart and soul."

PHOTOS: Veronica with and without her drums, and with the BootHill Gang in the middle.