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Tom Ardolino died recently, as did another little part of my youth.

If you don’t recognize the name, that’s understandable. A sleepy looking guy with a big mop of unkempt hair that trickled down to a spit curl over one eye, Ardolino was the backbeat of a band that enjoyed little commercial success but had one of the most rabid fan bases ever: NRBQ.

In the ’80s, the Q was virtually the house band for the original Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, playing there about every two months. (Called the “world’s greatest bar band,” the group logged about 250 one-nighters annually.) I would park myself in front of pianist Terry Adams, who always found unique ways to bang on either his Clavinet or the beat-up Yamaha grand that roadies would admirably lug around the country.

NRBQ on a hot summer’s night is perhaps the most cherished music memory from my youth. During that same period I was also fortunate to attend amazing shows by the likes of The Clash, The Replacements and Talking Heads, but I’d trade them all in for just one more night on Lupo’s beer-stained floor while the Q bangs out “12 Bar Blues,” “Howard Johnson’s Got His Ho-Jo Working” or “Don’t She Look Good.”

Founded in 1967 by Adams and bassist Joey Spampinato, the New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (or Quintet, depending on the lineup) never played the same set twice. Besides the group’s own catchy originals, they’d drop in everything from Sun Ra, George Jones and Georgie Fame to their esoteric set lists. (One of the band’s gimmicks was to pass a box around to collect song requests from the audience — it didn’t matter whether it was in the Q’s repertoire or not.)

I think I speak for most Q fans when I say that after 20 or so albums the band essentially came to an end in 1994, when singer and guitarist Al Anderson left for a songwriting career in Nashville. The group carried on for a few years with Joey’s brother Johnny on guitar, but it was never really the same again and the Q went on hiatus in 2004. (Adams’ decision last year to resurrect NRBQ with himself as the only original member raised some eyebrows.)

As for Tom Ardolino, it’s a shame that his drumming didn’t reach a larger audience. Alternative country singer and cultural/music critic Robbie Fulks wrote on his blog, “On his instrument, Tom was one of the foremost individual stylists in post-Beatles American pop music.” (Read Fulk’s wonderful breakdown of Ardolino’s drumming here.)

Bonnie Raitt went further, telling the Boston Globe last year, “There’s Charlie Watts and there’s Tom Ardolino. That’s it.” Although I wouldn’t go that far, her sentiment speaks volumes about how much admiration musicians had for his playing — as well as for NRBQ in general.

Ardolino’s musician friends in Rhode Island certainly won’t forget him. In fact, they’re paying tribute Feb. 19 with “TomTom Sunday,” from 4-9 p.m. at The Met, 1005 Main St., in the Hope Artist Village in Pawtucket. Several local musicians will play NRBQ classics and other songs. Admission is free.

I’ve tried my best to assemble a short list of my favorite NRBQ songs, but really: Go out and buy an armful of their CDs if you haven’t done so already. A good starting point would be the four albums from 1977 to 1980: “All Hopped Up,” “At Yankee Stadium,” “Kick Me Hard” and “Tiddlywinks.” At the very least, pick up the two-CD Rhino comp, “Peek-A-Boo.” It’s missing a lot but does a nice job of capturing the band’s essence.

• “RC Cola and a Moon Pie” — There aren’t enough road bands that pay tribute to junk food. Why not? That’s what they live on while barreling down Highway 61. Loosely based on a similarly titled song by ’50s cowboy singer Big Bill Lister, the Q rhapsodizes about the pleasures of comfort food: “Sometimes I eat grilled cheese, sometimes I eat fries/Sometimes I drink water, but then I have to think twice.”

Available on the album, “Workshop”

• “I Want You Bad” and “Don’t She Look Good” — One of the knocks against NRBQ is that the band was too corny and quirky for its own good — that with all of its excursions into everything from country to free-form jazz, it never had a chance to develop a real (i.e. big) audience. Music writer Peter Guralnick once said in an interview, “NRBQ doesn’t seem able to settle on a style. It isn’t so much that they don’t know what to play as that they don’t know what to leave out.” (Which is precisely why, of course, that so many people with eclectic musical tastes gravitated toward the band.) When the Q wanted to, however, it could play straight-up rock and roll like no one else.

“At Yankee Stadium” and “Kick Me Hard,” respectively

• “I Got a Rocket in My Pocket” — “When we play rockabilly,” Terry Adams told Musician magazine back in the ’80s. “it burns.” Strong words, but here’s the proof: a leave-no-doubt cover of Jimmy Lloyd’s ’50s filthy rave-up. Oh, and who says you can’t have a tuba on a rock and roll record?

“All Hopped Up”

• “Ain’t Nice to Talk Like That” — The late Skeeter Davis, who took “The End of the World” to the top of the charts in 1963, recorded a solid country album with NRBQ in 1985 before marrying bassist Joey Spampinato two years later. But here it’s Terry with whom she swaps romantic come-ons (“I’m plum pop-eyed over you”) that I suppose would be considered dirty talk ... if you were a Quaker. Oh, and who says you can’t have a trombone on a country record?

“She Sings, They Play”

• “I Don’t Think Of” — Another great example of not only the band’s country chops but also its close harmony singing.

“Tapdancin’ Bats”

• “Rain at the Drive-In” — A song that could have gone Top 10 if only it were recorded in the early ’60s: “When it rains at the drive-in/My girl and I, we start to grin/We can't see out, they can’t see in.”

“Grooves in Orbit”

• “Me and the Boys” and “Ridin’ in my Car” — Can someone please explain to me how these two songs were not monster hits in the ’70s, especially when they were going up against the likes of The Emotions’ “Best of My Love” and Air Supply’s “All Out Of Love?” Both road songs, the first is a straight-up rocker ably covered by both Bonnie Raitt and Dave Edmunds (neither version touches the Q’s, however). “Ridin’ in my Car,” meanwhile, just happens to be my wife’s favorite song ever; there’s absolutely no talking when it comes up on the iPod or, more infrequently, the radio.

“Tiddlywinks” and “All Hopped Up,” respectively

• “Music Goes Round and Around” — A musical interlude for a 1936 Columbia movie of the same name, this was first made big by two Louies from New Orleans — Armstrong and Prima — and was also covered by Tommy Dorsey and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. But it wasn’t until the Q and the Whole Wheat Horns (pianist Terry Adams’ brother Donn on sludge trombone and saxophonist Keith Spring, who had serious chops) got a hold of it in 1980 that it really sang. There, I said it: Someone actually did a better version of a song than Satchmo.

“Tiddlywinks”

• “That’s Neat, That’s Nice” — The horns shine again on this boppy little number that also became a fan favorite. I hate drum solos, unless they resemble the nifty little break played by Tom near the end. Aw ... that guy really knew how to swing. RIP.

“At Yankee Stadium”