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Tommy Shaw - The Great Divide - Music Head - 27-03-2011 not your mom and dad's Tommy Shaw listened to the Grand Ol Opry broadcast last night and Tommy shows up this would grow for sure Grade - 1.7 released Mar 22nd, 2011 from the album - I'll Be Coming Home - 2.0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmWWPb1oN_0 from all music Bio Although he wasn't an original member, guitarist Tommy Shaw not only penned some of Styx's best-known songs but served as a musical foil for Dennis DeYoung during the band's heyday. Born on September 11, 1953, in Montgomery, Alabama, Shaw's interest in music began at a young age and he spent years playing in local bands. He was still living in Montgomery when he was offered an audition to replace departed guitarist John Curulewski for the group's tour to support 1975's Equinox. By the time Styx released their next record, Crystal Ball, Shaw was not only a full-time member, he had written the album's title track. From 1976 through 1983, Styx were one of the most successful rock bands in America and Shaw contributed songs like "Fooling Yourself," "Blue Collar Man," and "Too Much Time on My Hands" to their catalog. With personal tensions causing the band to go on hiatus, Shaw released his first solo album in the fall of 1984 and managed to score a Top 40 single with the title track, "Girls with Guns." He followed that set with two more solo releases, 1985's What If? and 1987's Ambition, but neither was as commercially successful. Shaw soon found himself joining forces with Ted Nugent, Night Ranger's Jack Blades, and drummer Michael Cartellone to form Damn Yankees. The new act was immediately embraced by rock radio and crossed over to the pop charts with the power ballad "High Enough," co-written by Shaw. Their self-titled debut album would go on to platinum status and the quartet was a popular live draw. Don't Tread, the follow-up issued two years later, was a moderate success but not on the scale of their first record, and the band was shelved. In 1995, Shaw and Blades cut their own disc, 1995's Hallucination, as Shaw Blades. In 1996, Shaw rejoined the lineup of Styx (which had recorded one album together in his absence) for a well-received reunion tour, documented in the live greatest-hits set Return to Paradise. Shaw balanced the band's touring with his solo work, releasing 7 Deadly Zens in 1998. Critically, the album was one of his best received and saw appearances from his Damn Yankees bandmates. The following year, Shaw joined Styx in the studio to record a full-length album of new material for the first time in more than 15 years. Although Brave New World didn't earn them a place on commercial and rock radio formats that they had once dominated, it sold well and the band again embarked on a successful tour. Shaw returned to the studio in 2006 for a second collaboration with fellow Yankee Jack Blades entitled Influence. He made a very wide left turn in 2011, turning in The Great Divide, an album that returned him to his first musical love: bluegrass. Shaw learned his flatpicking skills as a youngster playing the genre almost exclusively. The album, which is exclusively progressive bluegrass (it's not pure because the set has a drummer), was released on the Pazzo Music imprint through Fontana. It features Shaw in some very tough company: along with guests Alison Krauss and Dwight Yoakam guesting on vocals, the house band for the set includes fiddler Stuart Duncan, mandolinist Sam Bush, Dobro bosses Rob Ickes and Jerry Douglas, second guitarist Chris Brown, banjoist Scott Vestal, and drummer Chris Brown. The Great Divide was released in March of 2011. Album Review Guitarist Tommy Shaw spent the first decade of the 21st century reuniting with his longtime outfit Styx, making recording with Damn Yankees, and as Shaw Blades with Yankees mate Jack Blades. He begins the second decade making a very wide left turn, returning to the roots music he cut his guitar-playing teeth on in his native Alabama: bluegrass. The Great Divide is not a novelty record, nor does it sound like Shaw is merely flirting with the genre while biding his time until another Styx reunion. He wrote or co-wrote every song on the record, and surrounded himself with some of the best players in the genre: superchoppers like fiddler Stuart Duncan, mandolinist Sam Bush, bassist Byron House, banjoist Scott Vestal, dobro master Rob Ickes, guitarist Brad Davis, and just to make things interesting, drummer Chris Brown. The progressive bluegrass set also features a pair of superstar guest vocalists -- Dwight Yoakam on album-opener "The Next Right Thing," and Alison Krauss on the title track (that also features guest Jerry Douglas on dobro) -- one of the real high points on this outing. Shaw's flatpicking skills don't sound rusty at all, whether he's playing an acoustic six-string, a resonator guitar, or even a dobro. The other players push him to play at their level and he mostly does: check his dobro solo on "Back in Your Kitchen," the stomping on "Get on the One," where he works out with Ickes and Vestal, and the strolling closer "I'll Be Coming Home," where his flatpicking chops are in evidence Shaw allows his all-star band to shine throughout this set, with Duncan's fiddle parts on "Afraid to Love," and Bush and Ickes on "Cavalry," to mention just two. There are weaknesses, too, however. Despite some excellent harmonies from his guests and co-producer Will Evankovich, Shaw has to push at his upper vocal register and has to strain to get there. The other snag is in his songwriting; in particular, when he writes on his own. He may be intimately familiar with the genre, but he's rough around the edges when it comes to crafting choruses, and a little wordy in his verses. That said, given that this is a first album, there's plenty to like, and evidence that should he continue pursuing bluegrass, he'll only get better. Track Listing 1 The Next Right Thing Shaw 3:04 2 Back in Your Kitchen Burr, Shaw 3:02 3 Sawmill Shaw 2:27 4 The Great Divide Breedlove, Shaw 3:16 5 Shadows in the Moonlight Burr, Shaw 3:10 6 Get on the One Shaw 2:08 7 Umpteen Miles Shaw 3:16 8 Cavalry Burr, Shaw 2:34 9 Afraid to Love Shaw 2:58 10 Give 'Em Hell Harry Shaw 4:35 11 I’ll Be Comin’ Home Shaw 2:56 Tommy Shaw - The Great Divide - greyan - 05-04-2011 WOW!! This is fantastic news dude!! Tommy shaw is great guitarist and I'm a huge fan of him. I'm very excited for his new album and I really like this video which shared by you.