Styx's Lawrence Gowan: Mystery Man in a ... 'Mystery Van'?

Lawrence Gowan performs during Styx's "The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight" tour. (Photo: Jason Powell

 (Editor's note: This interview was conducted on Sept. 16, 2011, and published after Styx's appearance at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah, on Sept. 23.)

If you’ve ever seen Styx keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan in concert, one thing should be readily apparent: Dude’s got a great sense of humor.

If it wasn’t immediately obvious from his early days in Styx – he replaced original frontman Dennis DeYoung in 1999 – when he would periodically roam the stage with a Polaroid camera taking instant photos of his bandmates performing and hand them out to the crowd as souvenirs, then it became more so over the years as he added further flamboyant stage antics and often hilarious pre-song banter to his onstage repertoire.

In several previous interviews, I’ve also never known him to be lacking for a witty quip to any question that deserved one. Which is why I knew I was on safe ground to try and have a little fun with him in our latest interview.

With that in mind, I reached out to two of his Styx bandmates in advance, guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw and drummer Todd Sucherman, searching for inside questions that might momentarily knock Gowan off his game. Both delivered excellent queries that yielded vastly different responses.

Shaw’s question, regarding a certain recent reoccurring antic that kept cracking the pair up on stage, provided the lead section of my concert advance story for the Daily Herald. (You can read that story HERE.) The question was posed in a way that Gowan did not recognize it as a red herring, but his answer touched on some of the behind-the-curtain-type things band members do on stage to keep things fun and entertaining for themselves.

The fact he didn’t recognize Shaw’s question as an inside parry allowed Sucherman’s suggestion to score a direct hit. Gowan’s immediate response to a reference of “Dr. Starlight” was to have none at all. The couple seconds of complete silence on the other end of the phone was priceless. And listening to him stammer his way through the next few sentences, while obviously trying to figure out how the information might have reached me, was a fun interviewing moment.

Gowan’s humor is also evident in the nightly lyric quiz he throws at the audience where he belts out a well-known line from a rock classic -- Led Zep’s “Black Dog,” Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” and Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” are staples -- and exhorts the audience to sing out the ensuing words. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to put him to the test on some lyrics of my choosing. He started strong out of the gate, but then stumbled down the stretch. Ironically, he failed to recognize the lyrics to an old-favorite Styx song – one in which he gets to strap on an electric guitar on the extremely rare occasions it makes its way into the setlist.

I had the chance to chat with Gowan after the band’s Salt Lake show and we shared some laughs over the inside questions and lyric quiz results. His great sense of humor makes him eminently teaseable – a rare quality indeed -- but he certainly gives as good as he gets.

Many bands of Styx’s era have made key personnel changes over the years, with varying degrees of success. It’s a tricky proposition whenever a major vocalist is involved – especially when deciding whether to pursue the best talent available or search solely for a sound-alike.

Styx – which also features guitarist/vocalist James “J.Y.” Young, bassist Ricky Phillips and part-time bassist Chuck Panozzo -- chose the former option with Gowan, a popular solo artist in Canada, and by so doing, scored a direct hit of its own. The strength of that decision has been validated on stages across the country over 100 nights a year since 1999.

Here’s hoping you enjoy my latest interview with the “Strange Animal.”

DOUG FOX: Well, you’ll be playing in Salt Lake a week from today [Sept. 23] with a group I’m not sure if you’re actually familiar with, it’s a band called REO Speedwagon ... ever heard of them?

LAWRENCE GOWAN: Ah, you know what, my knowledge of rock is deep enough that I have heard of REO Speedwagon.

DF: OK, I wasn’t sure if you’ve ever done any shows with them or anything.

GOWAN: Once or twice. As I recall, there might be about 11 million people who are familiar with one of their records (laughs). We’ve toured so much with those guys ... it’s funny, the kind of rapport we’ve built up with them over the initial years, particularly when we were out touring with other acts, is the kind of rapport we’ve built up now with Foreigner, with Boston and other bands who really have embraced the double-bill concept and know that people absolutely love it, and they can sense the kind of, what do you call it, the symbiotic thing that goes on between the bands, it actually enhances the night.

DF: Now every summer you guys are always part of a co-headlining package, like you’re just mentioning all these other bands that you’ve gone on tour with. As you are a part of those, No. 1, do you have the time, and secondly, do you take the time to go check out the other bands at all and see what they’re up to and what they’re doing?

GOWAN: Yes, we always do because we want to see what kind of state they’re in (laughs). Basically we like to know how the audiences are reacting to the other bands that are out there. We’re very much, we want to give people a great night’s entertainment of rock because it bodes well for us when we come back. So, for example, I would go out and watch Def Leppard, I’d be thoroughly entertained, and I loved watching their audience. I realized a lot of their audience, had never seen Styx before and were suddenly becoming Styx fans. So that’s one very good band and we got on tremendously well with those guys. So it was great for both bands. I remember Joe Elliott telling J.Y. that one of the first concerts he ever saw [was Styx] — I think it was in Newcastle, no that’s wrong, it was Sheffield, of course, that’s where they’re from — back in ’77 and how much he liked Styx. So I mean, that’s another great thing, it just kind of builds a great kind of comradery that ends up elevating that tour. I remember by the end of that tour everything was on full cylinders, to the point that at the end of the tour, I know that Joe was wearing a coat that J.Y. gave him, Sav [bassist Rick Savage] gave me his bass. I gave him the coat that I wore at the Super Bowl, he wore it onstage for the next couple of years. So, you know, it’s like that. I mean, I knew their show extremely well, in fact, I got to where I was, because I was playing guitar backstage so much, driving J.Y. and Tommy completely insane with my guitar affections. It’s funny because to learn some Def Leppard songs, Phil Collen would show me some licks before the show. So it’s fantastic to have the actual guy from the actual band who played the actual lick on the record show you how it’s played.

DF: That would be very unique.

GOWAN: So it’s things like that. And I guess, for me, I went out and watched Yes this summer, more than any other band we’ve ever been out with, because that takes me back to when I was 15 years old and just really completely immersed myself in progressive rock — and Yes was the band for me. And so to be on tour with those guys and to hear those songs every single night was a fantastic experience. It connected me with the 15-year-old who still very much, hopefully, is in every night on stage. So, anyway, that’s the connection.

DF: Well, you’re good because you just wiped out about five of my questions just by covering those bases ...

GOWAN: My answers, Doug, are so long-winded, you just go in there and pick something that sounds like an intelligible sentence and use it (laughs).

DF: One thing you mentioned just sparked another memory for me when you were talking about Def Leppard and them showing you the guitar licks and things like that, but back when you toured with Def Leppard and Foreigner, I actually had the opportunity to interview Tommy, Mick Jones and Vivian Campbell ...

GOWAN: Oh? All at the same time? Great!

DF: Not together, but all before that tour, in separate interviews.

GOWAN: OK, yeah.

DF: And so what I did was, I wanted to ask each of the guitarists if they could get up onstage with the two other bands, what song would they love to play, as a guitarist, of the other bands’ music. And both Tommy and Mick each had songs for the other groups, but when I got to Vivian — of course, Foreigner was one of his big bands growing up and he played with Lou Gramm in a side project [Shadow King], he said, “You know, I’m really not that familiar with Styx, and I couldn’t tell you what that song would be.” By the end of the tour, though, or even a few nights in, he probably would have realized he knew a lot more about you guys and figured out a song he’d like to do that on.

GOWAN: Absolutely. That’s quite likely.

DF: About REO specifically, what are some of the things that make it so the two bands have such an affinity for one another?

GOWAN: Well, it obviously pre-dates my time in Styx, really. Although I’m well into my 13th year with the band and this year is the year that they were touting the fact that this lineup has played more shows as Styx than any previous lineup, so that’s a big deal. But still, you’d have to put REO Speedwagon ... the Chicago, I guess you could call it rivalry I suppose, when REO and Styx were out at the same time. Probably, and I’m surmising a lot of this because I wasn’t there for it, but there was probably a bit of mutual respect mixed in with a bit of mutual rivalry, mixed in with trying to outdo the other band in some way, I suppose. I’m guessing that. Now, that takes a different form when you’ve been around and had a successful career for over a quarter of a century. That transforms into something else, but the pride thing still exists, definitely. Look at the fact that Tommy and Kevin [Cronin] wrote that song a couple of years ago.

DF: “Can’t Stop Rockin’.”

GOWAN: Yeah “Can’t Stop Rockin’.”

DF: There you go again, I was just going to ask you about that (laughs).

GOWAN: There’s all that connection between the two bands. Sorry, but what was the actual nature of your original question?

DF: Specific things that make your pairing with REO special, maybe the way the bands interact ...

GOWAN: Oh, they’re the only band that we’ve ever done the two-bands-onstage thing with. You know, people out on stage playing all at the same time.

DF: With Todd playing the fake guitar?

GOWAN: Right. Smashed after about three shows. That’s how much he loves The Who. Anyway, yeah, so there’s that, and they’re the only other band we’ve ever gone into the studio with. I mean there were 10 of us in the studio one day, 11 of us actually, Chuck was there, too. So, yeah, that’s the only other band that we’ve done that with, so we have a close affinity and whatever happens on the night we play Salt Lake City, who knows. We might take advantage of the fact that we’ll eat up every single minute that we can with playing as many, you know, Styx classics as possible, as they will do the same thing with their REO [hits]. You can never say for sure what’s going to happen.

DF: Do you know if there are any plans to play “Can’t Stop Rockin’ ” when you get together?

GOWAN: I do not know. It’s the kind of thing that I can never say for sure because I feel if I say, “Yeah it’s going to happen” like we’re planning on it, at the last minute it will be scrapped and you’ll be like, “What’s going on?” (laughs) Or vice versa.

DF: So there’s a possibility, but who knows?

GOWAN: Yeah, there’s always a possibility.

The members of Styx. (Photo: Ash Newell)

DF: Now with Styx, you guys play so many shows every year that I imagine things come very naturally on stage for you now. You’ve been playing together for so long and every element seems to fit together in its proper place. But are there things you still work on, just little things that you still critique or tweak in the never-ending effort to play a perfect show?

GOWAN: The funniest question, the most common question bands get asked, particularly bands playing a lot of material that’s 25 years old, is “Don’t you get tired of playing the same song?” Now that’s a question you get when a song is 2 or 3 years old, let alone 25 or more. It’s funny, the reason, at least for us, and I’m on stage with five other very like-minded people, every opportunity that you play a song in front of an audience is another chance to engage. It’s not the notes that you’re necessarily playing, it’s the fact that there’s an emotion that exists in that moment with that audience on that stage in that city and with those other musicians on stage. The opportunity is there to kind of lift that song higher than you have in the past in some way. And sometimes these can be extremely subtle ways that eventually amount to something really quite outstanding. It’s the tiny, little nuances that are within each song, between the notes, you know, in the breath in between lyric lines, the taking in of what the audience is kind of pushing back your way, that suddenly makes it take on a life of its own. And it’s not a tough thing, even though we might play “Foolin’ Yourself” a hundred times a year on a hundred stages. Each time there are things that you just ... first of all you can’t take your eye off the ball because the song changes gears so many times, and second of all, like lyrically and musically there’s a lift that happens if you’re ready for it every single night. And that’s the challenge for musicians, be ready for where the lifting, exhilarating moments are and try to make everything of them that you can. And that’s how you play it. Once again, I’ve drifted so far from the question I can’t imagine what it was.

DF: You’ve actually tapped into something that I think is the essence of what most people who go to concerts, at least I know it is for me, but we love going and thinking that the show that we’re seeing that night is somehow as special to the people who are playing it as it is to us being there, and it’s somehow different and unique in its own way.

GOWAN: And that’s a feeling that, luckily, I’m in a band of guys that are onstage where that same emotion is being sought out every single night. Yes, I do remember what you were asking, are there little things we tighten up here and there. It’s ongoing, never-ending ... it will never end — it can’t. And you know something? The moment it does that, you can hear it from the band immediately. It’s so crazy evident to an audience when a band is just simply hitting switches, you know what I mean, instead of engaging with the musical capacity of something. So, yeah, we continue to do that, and I can’t really foresee a time when we wouldn’t be doing that because this is the type of people we are and that’s what we bring to the stage.

DF: OK, for example, can you tell me about this inside thing that you and Tommy have had going on these last few shows where you keep cracking each other up?

GOWAN: Oh my ... we try to avoid the inside jokes on stage in some ways because the audience should be in on it to some degree. But because we spend so much time together, it’s almost impossible sometimes. So I happened to tell Tommy a couple weeks ago, I mean there’s always some little thing floating around that snowballs into an inside, inside, inside joke and try as we might to keep that off the stage, there are moments when it’s just invariably going to rear its head and it’s usually when we’re on the same mike, usually in “Miss America.” Usually not in “Lady” because that’s too early in the show usually for us to be playing any games with. But even in “Lady” we won’t make any eye contact because of the latest thing. And the latest thing, I can tell you was just this bizarre dream I had where Tommy came up to me before a show and described how he wanted me to play this particular song. It was in E flat. And he showed me, in the dream, showed me how my posture should be like for this part. Well, that just kind of stuck with me. And just before we walked onstage, I went, “You know what’s funny? I had this dream last night where you showed me this certain posture on this thing in E flat.” Well, he cracked up. Well, of course, oh no, that means the moment we come together onstage he’s going to definitely, there’s going to be a flicker of the eye that’s going to go, “Hey, remember that stupid dream?” By the time we get to Salt Lake City it will probably become something else, some other little thing. and, you know, it’s funny. These seem like the most insignificant and superfluous, and meaningless things and yet, they can be part of what’s really the glue, the joie de vivre that comes into the performance. So, hey, only a person like you I think would pick up on that. Some people that have seen the show a few hundred times would pick up on that sort of thing. Other people out there just go, “What a strange bunch of people!” (laughs)

DF: Well, we’ll have to keep an eye out for that next week.

GOWAN: You almost feel dumb revealing these things, but just think of it as an inside thing you could have with your family that only you understand. And it blurts out when you’re in the most public of places. “I hope that doesn’t happen on stage.” And we try to make a musical moment of it. That’s the difference.

Lawrence Gowan at USANA Amphitheatre on Sept. 23, 2011. (Photo: Doug Fox)

DF: Last summer we talked prior to the beginning of “The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight” tour and I know out here in the West we’re kind of feeling a bit neglected because we didn’t get to see any of that.

GOWAN: OK, right I know. J.Y. has said that. We have not done that show yet west of the Mississippi and it’s time we did.

DF: Yeah, I was just going to ask, I’ve heard some rumblings that maybe next year that might happen. I just wanted to check and see if there was anything new to report on that.

GOWAN: Well, we’re all really proud of that show and the DVD is coming out later on this year of us doing it in Memphis, and we almost didn’t want to burn ourselves out on it too quickly. We did 22 of them, and we actually reprised it a couple weeks ago in Atlantic City. But it’s a different type of staging, it’s a different type of screen content and everything. It’s a completely different mindset to do that show because, for example, “Come Sail Away” comes fourth in the night, you know what I mean? It’s the fourth song on that record. So it’s almost like we want to meter that out judiciously, you know what I mean? We definitely would like to play it all and completely on the western side of America, but more likely it could be next year. It could very well be next year because we’ll be promoting that DVD. I hope it is. It’s yet another piece of the tapestry that makes up this band and hopefully we will do it at some point. We couldn’t do it on this one because this is a double bill.

DF: Are you still able to find time to work in a few of those songs into the setlist, though, that you hadn’t been playing regularly from those two albums?

GOWAN: It’s funny, Doug, after we did it in Atlantic City, even the next night, you’re like, “Oh, come on, we’ve got to play one or two of these.” I know we started doing “Pieces of Eight” and we did “Sing for the Day,” and so we went a little bit deeper in album tracks for the next good number of shows after that. It’s quite possible that may happen in Salt Lake City but I stay out of the setlist thing. I used to get completely involved, and it’s best if I just leave it to Tommy and J.Y. because they have the best sense of what we should be playing anyway.

DF: Well I have a setlist request for you where you need to interject yourself, but I’ll bring it up a little later.

GOWAN: OK. All right.

DF: But first, because we started to talk about some of the upcoming projects you guys have in the pipeline with the DVD you have coming out and the release of “Regeneration I and II” being released together, what I’m really wanting to know is when can we expect the completion of “Dr. Starlight”?

GOWAN: (Pause) Oh my ... ! That’s incredible that you would even bring that up. Oh my ...  (laughs)! Holy crap! Wow! Now where did you hear of that? How did you ... what do you know? I’ve got to find out your information here.

DF: I’ve got to come clean — I had an inside source tell me that’s what I should ask you.

GOWAN: It’s a fantastic source whoever it is. Is he a Deep Throat type of individual, I guess? In the Watergate sense not in the ...

DF: Yeah. He sits behind you every night.

GOWAN: (Pause, then laughter.) That would be him. It would be him. OK.

DF: Honestly, I don’t know anything about it except I tried to find out, and I found some old song from Rhinegold, was it?

GOWAN: Rhinegold, yeah. Rhinegold is the first opera in the ring cycle by Wagner, yes. A dreamy, classically based thing and, you know, I have all kinds of other little musical projects that pique my interest when I’m sitting in a hotel room somewhere and once I got out some of my oldest stuff that was never even recorded and the guy that sits behind me went, “Hey, what’s that?” So, you know, (laughing) there’s all kinds of little things like that. Actually the thing I’m most focused on right now is that next year, when I do my little solo run, because I’ve done that in the last year, I’ve done seven solo shows in Canada, you know, that’s where my records were sold, and a good number of Styx fans made the pilgrimage there, that’s what’s involved in that. And it’s a different type of show, it’s the entire career that I had prior to joining Styx. Last year I did the 25th anniversary of an album I had called “Strange Animal,” which was a No. 1 album in Canada and had three songs go to No. 1 and it was a triple platinum record, and so we did the 25th anniversary of that, played the entire album and people really responded well.

DF: Yeah, I read good things about that.

GOWAN: Yeah, good. So next year is the 25th of an album called “Great Dirty World,” but particularly there’s a song called “Moonlight Desires,” which is a No. 1 video and song in Canada. So I’m working on a conceptual thing that revolves around that. Because I was an ’80s video act, known as that very much in Canada, I kind of elevate that as much as possible too (laughs) in the live show. So that’s mainly what’s gotten my focus at this time. But, hey, listen. “Dr Starlight,” it still bugs me that it hasn’t been properly done, [so] who knows?

DF: Maybe it will show up in the middle of “Miss America” some night?

GOWAN: Fantastic question, though, I mean, that shocks the hell out of me that Doug Fox from Salt Lake City asks about that piece of music.

DF: Well, he did say you would be freaked out by that!

GOWAN: I am freaked out! Yeah.

DF: In the past when we’ve talked, and in other interviews I’ve seen, as far as your tenure in the band, you’ve enjoyed drawing on the David Lee Roth-Sammy Hagar comparison ...

GOWAN: I like that comparison, yeah ... (laughs) go ahead.

DF: I’m wondering now in light of the current lineup of Van Halen, does that alter your view on that comparison at all?

GOWAN: (Laughs) OK, so what’s the current ...

DF: Well, David Lee Roth is back ...

GOWAN: Back in the band. Does it alter it, no, it doesn’t alter it at all. Another good comparison would be (laughs) ... you know, there really are no comparisons. I mean, I try to draw these analogies so that, I think the most difficult thing for people to understand is why Styx didn’t go the way of other bands who had to get new members, because invariably if you’re around for a quarter of a century, you’re probably going to need a blood transfusion of some description at some point, and sometimes it’s more drastic than others. Styx chose not to go with somebody who sounds like any previous member of the band. It’s not that I’m avoiding saying Dennis’ name — he made a tremendous contribution to the band, but I just don’t sound like him and I don’t play like him, and to some people that’s part of why the band has continued on because it kind of acknowledges his contribution to the band and it also acknowledges John Panozzo’s and John Curulewiski’s contribution to the band and even Glen Burtnik’s with the fact that he was such a great stage presence with the group. So we are the culmination of everyone who has been in the band in the past, but we are different people now. I mean, Ricky plays Chuck Panozzo’s parts on stage, but he plays them like Ricky Phillips, invariably. I can only do my own interpretation of the songs, and really it comes down to whether the audiences are accepting of that or not. And, you know, I guess at this point, the majority of them have been very accepting of it, and they understand that that’s how a band often has to continue or they cease to exist.

DF: Right.

GOWAN: So that’s the situation here, and I love the fact that when I first joined the band, the first words out of Tommy’s mouth were, when we were about to sing together, it was, “Hey, don’t play a Styx song here, play that song ‘A Criminal Mind.’ ” And then at the end of it, he said, “We should make that a Styx song.” And we’ve done it on a couple of live things. We did it on that “CYO” thing, which I thought was a great thing. That, to me, was an indication that they understand that you really don’t replace anyone in a band. That doesn’t exist. And I think that’s part of why the public has a tough time with it sometimes, is when they see someone as a replacement, but it’s not that. The continuation of the band depended on them making a change. So it’s a change they made and that’s it. For Van Halen it’s a completely different situation as to what their politics were and the same thing with Genesis and the same thing with countless other bands that have had to deal with this. That’s where it stands.

DF: Well the whole Dennis DeYoung comparison, I’ve written it before and told a lot of people who’ve asked me, I love the main incarnation of Styx before, so there’s no slight at all, but to me, the band now is such a fantastic live band, and your contributions obviously are a big part of that ... to me you bring much more of a rock performer element to the live show.

GOWAN: And that’s part of the schism that took place. They really became of two different musical minds, and that’s understandable and there’s nothing wrong with that. And in order to address that you may have to go through some painful times — and they did. And they came to the conclusion that it was best to change the band.

DF: Right. And another thing I think that you really add is like an element of humor ...

GOWAN: Oh, OK. (laughs)

DF: So, to me, while there’s always going to be the inevitable comparisons, it’s obvious, like you just said, you never really set out to replace Dennis, but were more intent on just incorporating your own talents.

GOWAN: Yeah, exactly. I was far more interested, and every day I feel like I joined a great band. There is no replacing anyone in any band — really ever. It’s just the way it changes. I mean, did Ron Wood replace Brian Jones? No. Of course, it’s easier for the public to accept when someone has left the planet, I suppose. But really, when particular musical differences are really ingrained and become, to some members they become a real sticking point, a band has to make a change. And this band made a change. And it’s so long ago now, it’s hard for me to even ... there’s so many old pictures of us now, you know? So it really feels like ... and the other thing is Dennis is out there playing, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with liking both. I love it when people say, “I saw the band in the past and I loved it then, [and] I love it now.” And there are more Styx fans.

DF: Now when I mentioned sense of humor, there are little things that are noticeable, but one of them that I really like is the lyrical song quiz that you give the audience before launching into a certain seafaring number ...

GOWAN: Yeah.

DF: So I was wondering if I could turn the tables on you a bit and give you a quick test of lyrics?

GOWAN: Shoot!

DF: I’m afraid these will be too easy. “She’s got electric boots ... ”

GOWAN: “A mohair suit.”

DF: Yes.

GOWAN: “I read it in a magazine.”

DF: OK (laughs). “What’s a poor boy to do ... ”

GOWAN: Oh, that’s ... uh ...

DF: I’m going north of the border. I’m going to Canada.

GOWAN: Oh, OK. I know the line so well, but I can’t get it. You’ve got to sing it.

DF: (Semi-sings) “What’s a poor boy to do ... when he’s falling in love with you.” Does that sound familiar?

GOWAN: Yeah it does. Who is that by?

DF: That’s Loverboy, “Take Me to the Top.”

GOWAN: (Laughs) I’m sorry! I lose, I failed on the second question.

DF: OK ... “Jumped into a taxi, bent the boot, hit the back.”

GOWAN: Nope, I don’t know that.

DF: That’s Peter Frampton, “Do You Feel Like We Do.”

GOWAN: OK.

DF: “I’m your mystery man in a ... ”

GOWAN: Mystery van? (laughs)

DF: “I’m your mystery man in a gold Lincoln ... ”

GOWAN: No.

DF: “Midnight Ride?”

GOWAN: You got me. (Laughs, then suddenly realizes it's a Styx song.) Oh, it’s J.Y.’s! Oh, I love doing that one. I love playing “Midnight Ride,” that’s actually funny [to not recognize it].

DF: That’s the one last question I had for you, that I mentioned earlier that I wanted to talk about a setlist thing?

GOWAN: Yeah.

DF: For more than 10 years, it’s been my personal mission to see the full “Midnight Ride” in concert again. And I mention it to J.Y. every time I see him, and he always smiles and laughs. But then I thought, “Why not go to the guy who actually gets to play guitar on that song, he probably has a lot of fun.”

GOWAN: I love ... when I see “Midnight Ride” ... you know, we haven’t done it in a couple years, but when I used to see it right in the setlist I was elated because I took it as a tremendous vote of approval that my guitar playing was good enough to hack through those few chords behind, of course, Tommy and J.Y. And I loved playing that on stage, just loved it, you know, for that reason alone, plus I love the way J.Y. sings that. Actually, the J.Y. song I hope we do, and I love and I wish we’d do more of, is from “Pieces of Eight.” It’s “Great White Hope.”

DF: OK.

GOWAN: I absolutely love that song. I don’t get to play guitar on it, but that’s J.Y.’s personality, it’s so front and center and so strong. I see that as kind of where he was going when he was writing “Midnight Ride,” and worked his way up to that. But anyway, “Midnight Ride.”

DF: Tommy has said he loves playing it, Todd says he loves playing it, you love it ...

GOWAN: Yeah, everyone does.

DF: Does J.Y. not like playing it? I can’t figure it out (laughs).

GOWAN: I don’t know. One thing I know about Styx is you’ll never completely discern what J.Y. is thinking at any given time. And I learned that early on. Never kind of assume anything from the guy because he will surprise you every time. So he may suddenly go, “I want to do ‘Midnight Ride.’ And then on a night when four other guys are going, “Hey, let’s do ‘Midnight Ride,’ ” he’ll go, “I don’t want to do it.” So I have no idea. To try to unravel the mysteries of J.Y. ... well, if we ever do, it would probably be the end of the band.

DF: Well, you could just interject and say there’s been a request to see more of your guitar playing live!

GOWAN: That’s fine. Not a problem. I’ll say we’ve got to get “Midnight Ride” in there, definitely.

DF: I told him, “If I just get one more time, I could die a happy man (laughs).”

GOWAN: Exactly. Yeah, let’s do it!

Tommy Shaw interview: Part II (Styx, Yes announce summer tour)

Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw in concert at USANA Amphitheater in 2007. (Photo by Doug Fox)

Styx announced its U.S. summer tour plans this morning, releasing dates for a 22-city co-headlining tour with Yes. The one-month jaunt, dubbed the "Progressive U.S. Tour," will kick off July 4 and conclude Aug. 3.

While Styx's tour with Yes will not have a Salt Lake City date, local fans of the band can look forward to a co-headline outdoor date with another well-known band in the fall.

When I interviewed Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw on March 12, we mainly discussed the impending release of his new solo bluegrass album, "The Great Divide." The album, incidentally, debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Bluegrass Albums chart, coming in behind "Rare Bird Alert," by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers.

The last portion of our interview, however, touched on Styx's tour with Yes, as well as other projects the band and Shaw have in the pipeline. Styx has probably been one of a handful of bands that have most taken advantage of the popular double- and triple-bill format — aggressively touring in packaged formats nearly every summer. Past Styx touring partners include REO Speedwagon, Def Leppard, Journey, Foreigner, Kansas, Boston and many others.

One touring package that is kind of the Holy Grail for Shaw fans would put Styx with Night Ranger and Ted Nugent. Once those lynchpins were in place, you could add on Damn Yankees (the 1990s supergroup that featured Shaw, Nugent and Jack Blades of Night Ranger) and also Shaw-Blades (the Tommy-Jack enterprise that has released two albums to date with a third in progress). What a night of music that would be — well, if you didn't have to sing and perform most of the night. As Shaw was quick to point out when I raised the possibility, such a nightly grind would certainly exact a physical toll. Still, for fans, it's a fun prospect to think about, even if it never materializes.

Also in the works, a DVD of last fall's "Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight" theater tour and "Regeneration, Volume 2," a CD which features eight re-recorded songs from the Styx and Damn Yankees catalog. The CD, which will be available at tour stops this summer, includes new versions of "Renegade," "Blue Collar Man," "Too Much Time on my Hands," "Queen of Spades," "Snowblind," "Miss America" and Damn Yankees tunes "Coming of Age" and "High Enough."

Here's the concluding portion of my interview with Shaw:

DOUG FOX: I would probably be remiss if I didn’t ask you about Styx’s summer tour plans ... and I know the Yes thing is not announced yet, but in this part of the interview I’m hoping to get a few more updates and then when things become available kind of plug them in.

TOMMY SHAW: Well, we’ve been saying that we should do this for years, and it never would come through — I don’t know if schedules just wouldn’t allow or you couldn’t get everybody on board to do it. I don’t know your experience with Yes, but I just remember getting that first Yes album and putting that on and hearing that music and thinking, “Where did this come from? This is, like, music from another planet ... it’s better than anything I’ve ever heard.” It’s taken rock music to a level that I didn’t even know is possible. And Styx was influenced by Yes. If you listen to songs like “You Need Love,” you can tell they were listening to Yes. So we’re very excited about going on tour with them. 

DF: Is there a third band, too?


SHAW: There’s probably going to be an acoustic act or just someone to play, you know, to get people in the building. It’s a great opportunity for, like, an acoustic guy to come in and warm everybody up and introduce themselves.

DF: So will that mean that each of the bands, you and Yes, obviously, would get maybe a little extra time on stage as opposed to the triple bills?

SHAW: That’s exactly the plan. That’s exactly what the intent is.

DF: Can you just comment generally about co-headlining tours and how popular they’ve become in the last, what’s it been, seven or eight years?

SHAW: Yeah, we would join forces with people, and as fan bases get older, you know, some people, their life just dictates that you’re not going to as many shows as possible. It gives people a reason to go, “Wait a minute, these are two of my favorite bands, I’ve got to go see this.” And you wind up playing to their fans, and hopefully they become your fans and vice versa. It’s a great way to keep constantly infusing the genre with new fans. It’s a great idea because it’s working. We’re constantly looking out there, and I’ll say, “How many people are seeing Styx for the first time?” Routinely, it will be 20 to 50 percent of the people are first-time concert-goers to a Styx concert. That’s pretty amazing.

DF: And you’re playing with Journey and Foreigner in Europe.

SHAW: Yes.

DF: And you’ve been with both of those bands before ...

SHAW: Yes ... we all light a fire under each other, which is only that much better for the fans that are coming to see it.

DF: And I guess Night Ranger is playing with Journey and Foreigner during the summer in th U.S.

SHAW: I think that’s awesome.

DF: Now, I always thought ... and this is probably just my thought in looking at the tour schedules and what not, but Night Ranger has maybe never been involved, perhaps, with Styx as a full-time touring partner because it seems like they don’t do full tours very much but just kind of weekend dates and things like that.

SHAW: Right.

DF: Is this a change for them ...

Tommy Shaw stomping out "The Grand Illusion."

SHAW: Yeah, it’s a change. I’ve always encouraged Jack, you know, Night Ranger is such a great band, you really should do something like this. Not that I’m taking credit for it, but I’m just glad that he’s finally pursuing it like that, because they have the music, they have the hits, and they have a great band, and everybody’s still in great shape. When you go hear them, you’re singing along to every song — you’re getting your face ripped off by the guitar shredding. “Sister Christian” is in “Rock of Ages,” and it’s a pivotal song in that play. So I’m really happy to see them getting the recognition they deserve.

DF: You know, people think that Styx and Night Ranger would be the perfect touring couple.

SHAW: I don’t disagree. I’ve been saying that for years. Fortunately, they don’t listen to me because I don’t necessarily know what’s going to make up a successful tour. But I think eventually, I’m going to be proven right on that one.

DF: Because that’s the one a lot of fans are holding out for.

SHAW: For one thing, you know you’re going to get a third act out of it! (laughs)

DF: Exactly!

SHAW: Whether it’s on the bill or not.

DF: I think that’s why everybody wants it.

SHAW: Yeah, I would love to see that.

DF: Of course, I know the schedules lining up are probably the big thing that would prevent this, but people are also looking at the fourth and fifth act ... by inviting Ted [Nugent].

SHAW: They want me to die! (laughs) “Maybe he’ll keel over on stage and I want to be there!”

DF: They better get tickets for the first part of the tour!

SHAW: Oh crap! It’d be great for the first three days, and on the fourth one I’ll be on a gurney up there. (laughs) I like the concept of that, though.

DF: And then if you could just tell me what are the future plans for Shaw/Blades. I’m sure people would be interested in that.

SHAW: Well, there is a future, definitely. We just suddenly got sidetracked doing other wonderful things. But there is a record that was started already, that has some great songs on it, which I told you about. Once this [bluegrass project] has run its course for the time being, then that will be the next thing we jump on. We’ll finish that. We want to go play some shows, and offers are out there. So it’ll happen.

DF: And then the DVD of your theater tour [doing "The Grand Illusion" and "Pieces of Eight" albums in their entirety]?

SHAW: We’re in post-production with that right now.

DF: I know we’ve talked before, but you said the great thing about being where you guys are right now is there’s no set timetables or deadlines, things just kind of happen when you can do them.

SHAW: Yeah, there’s no rush to kind of put it out prematurely. So we can take our time and produce it the way we want it to be. We’re recording our old masters because the record company, there aren’t really any original people who were there during the days when we made those records — so whoever has the masters has not stepped forward. So we’re just redoing them. It’s actually better because it’s the guys who you’ve been coming to hear play it for the last generation are playing on it. So they sound very much like the original, except it’s like we put a bigger engine in it.

DF: So you really don’t know where any of these masters are?

SHAW: No.

DF: Wow.

SHAW: It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?

NOTE: If you missed the first part of the interview, you can find it HERE.

Tommy Shaw: Bridging 'The Great Divide'

Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw releases "The Great Divide" on Tuesday.

Tommy Shaw has spent most of his career cruising down the proverbial rock 'n' roll superhighway, foot heavy on the accelerator as he's helped steer the fortunes of successful mainstream bands such as Styx and Damn Yankees, not to mention other solo and side projects.

Now, he's signaling a significant musical detour.

"It's like I'm making a left-hand turn," the guitarist/vocalist said of his new solo bluegrass record, "but I'm putting on the signal about three blocks ahead."

For Shaw, recording "The Great Divide," which will officially be released on Tuesday, was not only a labor of love but a return to his roots and the music he listened to growing up in Montgomery, Ala. -- just 280 miles from Nashville. The record features several prominent bluegrass players, including the likes of Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Rob Ickes and Sam Bush, as well as some background vocal appearances by Alison Krauss and Dwight Yoakam.

Shaw was gracious enough to spend nearly an hour on the phone with me early Saturday morning for one of his first in-depth interviews on the bluegrass project. His enthusiasm for the release was obvious, even as he admitted that he didn't necessarily know how the record would ultimately be received -- whether in the bluegrass community or by Styx fans.

"Maybe I'm creating a side door -- at least with Styx fans and people who trust me, who've enjoyed my solo work through the years," Shaw mused."Maybe they trust me one more time to come in through this door and get a little taste of bluegrass."

If anybody can bridge "The Great Divide" between rock and bluegrass, perhaps it's Shaw.

And rest assured, Styx fans, we also discussed the band's summer tour plans, Styx projects currently in the pipeline, the status of the next Shaw/Blades project and a dream future co-headlining tour many fans -- and Shaw himself -- would like to see. All those things will be included in the second part of the interview, which will run in the days ahead. (The second part of the interview can now be read HERE.)

DOUG FOX: Well, first of all, let’s get the obvious question out of the way — what possesses a rock and roll guitar hero like yourself to venture into bluegrass?

TOMMY SHAW: Well, like any other major thing in your life, you often ease into it, to the point where you almost don’t realize that you started it. And this was one of those deals. Back in 2002, [my wife] Jeanne and I went to a Hank Williams tribute concert at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. And I was asked to sing a couple of Hank songs, and Marty Stuart was there, and Billy Bob Thornton, who was friends with Marty, and they’d just done a record together, and Billy was hosting it, and Marty and his band were there. Billy’s using some of Marty’s guys ... so I just fit in with all of them. And so Brad [Davis] had played with Marty and was now playing with Billy, and so this led to us becoming friends with Billy, who lives in L.A. So we would go over to his house in the studio, working on a new album, and Brad had heard me sing some high part on one of Billy’s songs, and he said, ‘I need some high harmonies on this bluegrass project I’m working on, would you mind singing on it?’ So he gave me the file, I took it home and did it in my studio and gave it back to him. It was pretty straight-forward. You know, I knew what to do, I just followed him along, but it’s not the kind of thing that everybody can do. But he loved it, and he suggested we get together and try our hand at writing something. So the next time he was in town, because I think he was living in Nashville at the time, the next time he was in L.A., he came over and we wrote this song, “I’ll be Coming Home.” In fact, that vocal that’s on there is the vocal that’s on the writing demo. So, it just happened, I sat down and picked up the resonator guitar and played [hums guitar riff from the song]. It was one of those songs that kind of wrote itself. We just sort of sat there and out it came. And those are the best kind. I’m probably like a stuck record saying that, but, you know, I’ve been on a lot of albums and done a lot of records over the years -- not every song is like that, trust me. (laughs) And so when you get one like that, it, like, comes out fully formed, and so there’s not a lot of wondering, “Does this go with that? Does this flow?” Because it did, it just flowed. So we were off to kind of the start. We didn’t realize it, but we agreed, "Next time you’re around maybe we can write another one." And that wound up being about 10 months. Then he came back and we wrote “Afraid to Love.” We worked on that one a little bit, but we kept working on it cause we liked it, and it turned out really good. And then probably six months later he came back with [hums another guitar riff]. This is going to read funny with all the [humming]!. So he had the early makings of “Umpteen Miles,” and so he and I finished that one. And every time we would do one, we would record and mix a little writing demo, so we’d have something to listen to. So now we had three songs, and as far as I was concerned, three songs, you know, even when you have a whole album, a lot of times all you’ll send somebody is three songs so they can get a taste of it. So I figure we’ve got a story now, let’s play it for people. And that’s when it took seed, because we got so many good responses from people — all kind of the same like we’re getting now, you know, with me doing this, it’s like, “Huh?” And then people hear it, and they go, “Well, yeah, OK, I get it.” And so people were saying, “When are we going to hear more?” But it took probably another year and half, maybe longer, before Brad and I both had an opening in our schedule where we could actually pursue it. And that day came, and Brad just started coming, and that’s when we were really committed to it.

DF: And, so, how long ago was that?

SHAW: It was the end of 2009 ... the winter of 2009. Within a few weeks, I’d say the winter of 2009 we really started getting into it. He started coming, and we would write a song and do a demo. He would leave and come back the next week, 'cause he was having business with Coffee Fool company that makes the Styx coffee. That’s also how I wound up getting the Styx coffee was through Brad because he was working with Coffee Fool. So I would write stuff or get a little thing started, and he would come back and we’d finish it, or help me do the demo. Fairly quickly we wound up with about 15, 16 songs in various states of completion.

DF: As for the songwriting process itself, and you kind of touched on this with some of the songs, but were the differences in writing for this format simply subtle or were they more wholesale than what you would normally find writing rock songs?

SHAW: Subtle. That was the tricky part because I have a deep respect for the bluegrass community because it’s so ... when I first got my biggest taste of it, and I’d seen it for years as a little kid at bluegrass festivals out in the woods up north of from where I lived in Alabama. But I didn’t really get the full grasp of it until we saw Alison Krauss and Union Station in 1997 and heard these orchestra-level virtuosos just standing there, just quietly ripping the roof off the place. You know, I realized the depth of this music for it to affect people where they pursue it like that. So I wanted to be very cautious if I was going to do this, to not make the mistake a lot of people do, doing something that’s out of their realm. Like, when you’ve seen a lot of musicians probably go to Broadway, who were very successful, legendary songwriters and performers go to Broadway and they kind of take the attitude, “Well, I’m going to show you, this is how we’re going to do it downtown now.” And they come walking out of there with it kind of shoved, the little community there that goes, “No, this how you’re supposed to do it.” And I didn’t want to have that happen. I just wanted to be respectful. So we were very careful about, “Does this make sense? Would you do this on a bluegrass record?” And so one day I said, “Let’s just keep doing the next right thing and you can’t go wrong doing that, right?” So, that became what we said every day. At least once a day we’d go, “Just do the next right thing.” You hear that a few times and you realize, “Well, that should be a song.”

DF: So that’s where that song came from?

SHAW: Yeah. Then again I picked up the acoustic, and what I thought, this not only should be a song, this should be the lead song because I always envisioned, you know how you see some of the old bluegrass bands before they’d have electronic pickups on acoustic elements, they’d just have a few mikes around front and guys, when it came time to sing, they would all lean in and sing, and when it came time to play a solo, they’d kind of lean in and raise up their instrument and play it like that?

DF: Right.

SHAW: They would take turns playing solos. It’s kind of like an introduction to the band. Everybody takes a little four bars or something like that. And that’s how I wanted “The Next Right Thing” to be — the first song, “Here’s a little taste of what you’re going to hear the whole album.”

DF: I know you’ve mentioned before that you wanted to be very respectful to the genre and not be perceived as someone who’s achieved a certain level of notoriety in rock, or in another aspect of music, to where you would naturally think, like you said, “I’m just going to come in and do it my way and not their way.”

SHAW: Exactly. And I’m not naive enough to expect that they’re going to believe I’m a seasoned bluegrass artist, because I’m not. But this music does have a certain history in my life experience. It’s part of the texture of music that I heard growing up. This was as big a part of it as anything else. It was mixed with gospel, country and bluegrass, and even standards like Frank Sinatra, because we would listen on television to variety shows and that was all there on local AM radio. You would hear Roy Acuff and you’d hear Minnie Pearl on comedy shows. Then you’d hear Porter Wagoner, we always watched Porter Wagoner, and I liked Sammy Davis Jr. I loved the  gospel shows on Sunday morning. There was always a guy like Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe with the high voices, and the same thing in the gospel community. I always loved that. So, this was nothing new to my ears and my musical tastes growing up. I was just new to writing and performing it. I just wanted to be like a respectful visitor coming in with my hat off and wiping my feet before I walk in the door.

DF: So, you’re telling me your musical career didn’t start with “Crystal Ball”?

SHAW: (laughs) Well, some might think it did — but there were some steps along the way getting to there.

DF: I know when you release a Styx album, you probably have a certain idea of what the reaction might be and how it will be received by your fan base. But I imagine that in this case, this is a totally different scenario ... what kind of expectations do you have for the album?

SHAW: Well, just because I had this reawakening, I don’t expect everybody to follow it. But I do have a feeling, just from my own experience over the last few years when I asked people what do they feel about bluegrass, almost every one of them said, “I love bluegrass.” People I would never in a million years expect it, because they’d say, “I have an uncle that played it all the time when I was little.” Everybody would have, kind of like me, a little story about bluegrass in their life story. So that’s one of the reasons why I think this could wind up being the first bluegrass album that a lot of people buy, just because they do like it, and they just haven’t gone out and bought any of it yet. Maybe I’m creating a side door — at least with Styx fans and people who trust me, who’ve enjoyed my solo work through the years. Maybe they trust me one more time to come in through this door and get a little taste of bluegrass. And so far, that’s what’s been happening.

DF: Well, I can attest to that. As you know, I have no background in bluegrass whatsoever ...

SHAW: Yeah.

DF: I’m a rock guy through and through. In fact, I think one of my friends said it best, when he said he tried to picture me listening to bluegrass. And he compared it to a vampire looking at the sun ...

SHAW: (laughs) That’s a great analogy.

DF: So, admittedly, I’ve had a lot of learning curve with this album, and I am finding the more I listen to it, the more I’m getting it. What would be your message to other rock fans like me, or Styx fans in general, who may be a little reticent to open their ears to something along these lines?

SHAW: Well, the songs are three minutes long, you know. You can try something for three minutes. You can hold your breath for three minutes if you really try. So this is a lot easier than that. (laughs) And the songs are enjoyable. They’re story songs. If for nothing else, to hear some of the best bluegrass musicians on the planet taking solos and playing some of the most beautiful, melodic things in the background on this record. It’s pretty stunning. And I can tell you that because of my respect for them.

DF: You just touched on it, but I think one of the things that really drew me in to these songs initially was the storytelling element — songs like “Sawmill,” “The Great Divide,” “Give ’Em Hell Harry” — is bluegrass as a genre more amenable to spinning tales like those or is it just kind of how things worked out here?

SHAW: Bluegrass, in the same way gospel is, you know, gospel there’s always a little more dramatic stories, almost a more narrow kind of a story. But at the same time, you can have these great tragedies going on -- you know, love and loss and death and pain, and then get to a chorus and have this happy, it’s-all-gonna-be-all-right chorus. Between the gospel, and the country and bluegrass music that I heard when I was a kid, there is that, there’s that uplifting thing. I remember when I was a little boy, my grandfather passed away, I was about ... 8 years old, and I’d never been to a funeral, never seen a person in a casket before, and there I was, and there’s my grandfather lying there in this box, and I was, like, “Why doesn’t he just get up and go home? Why doesn’t he wake up and go get out of here?” And it dawned on me what this whole thing was. And on the way home, this song came on called “I Remember You.” For the first time in my life, this music, it was like it was talking to me in this car. It was like, “This is exactly what I’m going through -- and this music, it’s like it knows how I’m feeling. And it’s just telling my experience through this pretty, this beautiful melody. And, you know, that’s always stuck with me. And there’s even a little yodel in that song, actually quite a bit of yodeling in that song. So that’s always stuck with me and to see how gospel singers do the same thing, these stories of death and pain, but there’s an uplifting chorus. I was drawn to that for writing these songs. And the song “Sawmill” is the best example of it because in the song, a guy gets, basically, sawn in two right in front of a child. But then there’s this happy chorus, “Have a drink of water ... ”

DF: Now that child in the song, that was your dad, right?

SHAW: Yeah. That was something that came to me because I was enjoying the idea of telling stories in this, and, like, “What stories do I remember?” That was one that always stood out with me. For one thing, the idea of a little kid ... it’s hard to imagine him and his father out there in the woods. And then these lumber camps, you know it's just sweaty, dirty, and it’s hard work all day. And then to have this happen right in front of you ...

 DF: It occurred to me this morning -- and, again, this may damage my rock street cred a bit -- but one of the first records I ever bought was Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”

SHAW: Oh yeah.

DF: And I realize it was all because I was intrigued by the story in the song. Not necessarily the music itself, but the story it was telling, and how it kind of creates a whole place in your imagination.

SHAW: What was that song, (sings) “The night that Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge”?

DF: Oh, yeah. Is the name of the song in that?

SHAW: Oh, you know it will come to me in a minute.

DF: It was in a movie, they made a movie out of that song.

SHAW: Yes, they did. And the girl had a name like Bobbie or something. We’ll figure it out in a second, even if we have to Google it. (laughs)

[EDITOR'S NOTE: We forgot to revisit it in this interview, but later figured out it was titled “Ode to Billie Joe,” released in 1967 by Bobbie Gentry. A movie of the same name was released in 1976.]

DF: Yeah, I had forgotten about that one, but the second you mentioned it, that song came right back to me. You know, in a small way, I think that’s why my initial favorite song on here is “Shadows in the Moonlight.” I kind of get the same kind of vibe from that song.

SHAW: It’s like a little movie, isn’t it?

DF: Uh-huh.

SHAW: But you want to know what happened! How did it end? (laughs)

DF: Yeah.

SHAW: It’s a cliffhanger.

DF: Yeah, in fact I’d been thinking, “I don’t think this question has ever been answered about what happened here. I’m going to have to go to the lyrics [when they’re printed] and see if I’m missing something.

SHAW: Yes. Not only does it have stories, it has a cliffhanger.

DF: Obviously that was intentional then?

SHAW: Yeah, we did like that. We thought about doing a last verse and we were like, “Nah, let’s don’t.” (laughs)

DF: How many different instruments did you personally play on this album?

SHAW: I played some acoustics, like an acoustic 12 string and a Dobro resonator guitar. Which I’ve been playing that chrome Dobro resonator guitar on records since I bought it years ago. Remember “I’ll Always Be With You,” the Shaw-Blades song?

DF: Oh yeah.

SHAW: It’s that same guitar. I played it on “I’ll Be Coming Home” and I played it on a solo, the first solo in “Shadows in the Moonlight” is that guitar. And I played Dobro on “Sawmill” and “Back in Your Kitchen.”

DF: Did you play any mandolin?

SHAW: I played a little bit of mandolin, but I left all the heavy lifting to the Nashville guys. I’m on it, but when it comes to a lot of those blistering solos, I went to the best guys I could find. I mean, I can play some solos, but I wanted it to be just shredding.

DF: Interesting. I was going to ask you about that next. You were able to lasso a bunch of co-contributors ... how did they all become involved and who are they?


SHAW: Well, they’re all friends of Brad Davis. They’re my buddies now, but Brad had worked with all of them before. And he’d worked in that studio. The ones that I kept hearing about were Chris Brown and Byron House — about what a killer rhythm section they were. Brad was always looking at them, kind of, as the core. Him and those two guys could really be the foundation of the sessions. Then the rest of it, we tailored that recording session around what dates were as many of those guys available, if possible.

DF: And I know Alison Krauss was also involved.

SHAW: Well, Alison, she sang on my solo album in 1998. She came and sang with me on “Half a Mind.” And we had met a year before in ’97, maybe I told you, when we went to see Union Station. My next-door neighbor is a casting agent, named Nancy Foy, and she was the one who turned me on to Alison Krauss and Union Station, their music. There was a rumor that Alison Krauss came to see Damn Yankees, and I just thought it was a bunch of bull because why is a bluegrass girl coming to see Damn Yankees? You know, a lot of times people say there’s somebody and you get there and it’s not. So, I didn’t believe it, but I guess she did come. My neighbor said, “Did you get the Alison Krauss record?” I said, “No.” She finally came over, put two of them in my hand and said, “Listen to these.” So I put them in the stereo and Jeanne and I listened, and it was like “Holy ... ! Wow!” And not long after that, Nancy said they’re coming to the Wilshire Theatre, and I said, “Let me talk to Charlie [Brusco], our manager, and see if we can get some good seats.” That’s what happened. So we went down there, and it was a very eclectic crowd, and, of course, an absolutely amazing show. And the band left the stage, hopefully returning for an encore, and a lot of times you make that decision, do you want to leave and try and beat traffic, and all of us said, “No, let’s stay. This is too good, we’ve got to stay.” So, Alison comes out and she says that, “I just wanted to let you know that one of my all-time favorite singers is in the house tonight” and it was a five-minute story about how “My brother and I used to listen to this music, and there was a health food store in Nashville, and these snobby people used to go in there and get their health food. And one day we went over there and we played one of his songs.” Well, I didn’t know who she was talking about until she said, “We pulled our car up in front of the store, put ‘Renegade’ on the radio, turned it up and then got out of the car — just to piss everybody off.” So she’s talking about me. I was just looking around thinking, “Who is it? Is it, like, Kris Kristofferson?” It could have been anybody like that. And that’s how she and I met. So we kind of go way back now, way back to ’97. And she and Jeanne are best friends, and that’s really kind of how it happened. Alison and Jeanne like hanging out so much, I was just lucky enough to be there when she came to see Jeanne, and she sang on my record. (laughs) What happened, she comes over and sings it, blah, blah, blah, then that’s done, then Jeanne and she are out in the lobby talking for the next two hours.

DF: Was there any hesitation to maybe ask her to be involved, even to the extent that she was, just based on her collaboration with Robert Plant [on 2007’s “Raising Sand”]?

SHAW: Well, yeah, exactly. I hate asking friends to do stuff. Especially on the heels of the Robert Plant record, I didn’t want people to think, now I’m just trying to ride on the coattails of that. And so, it eventually came up and she said, “Yeah, but we just won’t do a duet. I’ll just sing harmonies on there.” And I’m thinking, “Like no one’s going to notice Alison Krauss is on the record!” But she came in, and like I said, on one of the last days, she came in and within 45 minutes she had done these beautiful harmony parts. And then, there was another song Jeanne sent to her, “Afraid to Love,” and she said, “Sure.” Actually, Gary Burr had her come over to his house and she sang it over there. But it was very casual the way that all went down.

DF: I was actually going to mention this before because I remember you wrote briefly about it on one of your previous Comet.com articles, but it was about thinking about leaving early at a Fleetwood Mac concert ...

SHAW: Yes.

DF: Because I always make fun of people that leave early (laughs). Because they’re missing the best part of the show in many cases.

SHAW: Yeah. And I understand, you know, everybody’s got a story. Everybody’s not necessarily being rude, sometimes they’ve got babysitters and they’ve got whatever, but a lot of times you do miss something really good at the end because you save your good stuff to the end. There’s psychology [involved].

DF: You have a show coming up [on March 26] at the Grand Ole Opry ...

SHAW: Yes.

DF: Could you ever have imagined such a thing before?

SHAW: Not in a million years. No. I mean, no. Well, I couldn’t imagine a scenario that would put me there.

DF: So how thrilling is it to get that chance?

SHAW: It’s just ... kind of shock and excitement and disbelief and anticipation. It’s really kind of a bluegrass debut, other than the little thing that I did singing “Rank Stranger” at Station Inn. I haven’t played this in front of anybody except in the studio. So, yeah, I’m going to be boning up between now and then. It’s only playing two songs in two different shows.

DF: So two songs in each show?

SHAW: In each of the two shows that day.

DF: So, will it be four total or will you do the same two each time?

SHAW: [I’ll] probably pick the two songs and do those twice because it will be the house band doing it so they’ll have to learn the songs in the afternoon. They’ll probably just want to do the same two. It’s two different audiences. I thought it was funny, I don’t know if you saw that ad where it says my bluegrass debut on the Opry website, and at the bottom it says something like, “Also appearing that night, Carrie Underwood and Pam Tillis.” (laughs) You say, “What was that?” (laughs)

DF: That’s an eye-opener. Well, do you have any plans for any other promotional solo shows at all?

SHAW: You know what, we’re going to let this thing tell us what to do. We’re ready to do, again, the next right thing, because you don’t want to come this far and do a bunch of wrong things. It’s going to take a while for this really to get out there. This is not going to be a tsunami of a release, it’s going to be like a slow-rising river, hopefully. I want people to have a chance to listen to it and make up their minds, and then have there be a demand for me to go play. If that happens, then we know what we would do and know how we’d go about it, but we don’t just want to go out ... I think if we went out and put shows on sale, there’d be a lot of people, who’d come expecting me to do a solo show with an electric band, that would be confused and then I’d have this bluegrass band who didn’t sound like what they were expecting to hear, you understand? It could be a conundrum of a show, so I want there to be an expectation for it to be this music. So we’re just waiting to see if it continues along the path it’s on right now, which is nice, slow and steady and people get that kind of “Huh?” look on their face, and then they hear some of it, and it starts to grow on them, and then they want to hear another one. That’s one of the reasons we’ve rolled it out so slowly, you know, a little here, a little there, just ease people into it. It’s like I’m making a left-hand turn, but I’m putting on the signal about three blocks ahead ... so you don’t run and crash into the back of me when I just made that left-hand turn with no signal.

Related links:

Tommy Shaw is doing a daily song-by-song synopsis of "The Great Divide" on the Comet website. Check out his thoughts and listen to the songs here.

To read Tommy's blog post about possibly leaving early from a Fleetwood Mac concert, referenced in the interview, go here.

For the official "The Great Divide" website, go here.