Author: Bret Adams

“One thing I like about how Styx does progressive stuff is we try and make it friendly progressive, not math,” said Styx vocalist/guitarist Tommy Shaw, referring to the band’s 17th studio album, Crash of the Crown.

Fans of Styx’s mid-’70s work will love the adventurousness of the new album, but those who adore the band’s endless supply of catchy, concise hits should find plenty to embrace, as well. Crash of the Crown appeals equally.

2017’s The Mission was a concept album about a trip to Mars. Crash of the Crown features Shaw, vocalist/guitarist James “JY” Young, vocalist/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, bassists Ricky Phillips and Chuck Panozzo, and drummer Todd Sucherman pushing the musical experimentation and lyrical themes (producer/co-songwriter Will Evankovich also contributes guitar work and more). The songs explore the world’s problems, fears, and, ultimately, optimistic hope for the future.

Shaw knows the term “progressive” brings baggage.

“It’s a narrower group of people, I think, that like progressive rock as opposed to what Styx has always done, but Styx has always been semi-progressive. The band is really good and can do these types of things very easily and they don’t sound angular or throw you off,” said Shaw, who credits Sucherman’s skill with playing odd time signatures. “Styx is more of a compositional band. There’s not a lot of improvisational stuff going on. The songs have arrangements.”

Young, Styx’s sole full-time remaining original member (Panozzo records and performs with the band on a limited basis) agrees the album’s sound is traceable to their initial efforts.

“Stylistically, the record shifted around a bit, but you can see the influences from the early days are all still there. They’re just put together a little differently,” said Young. “It resonates with vintage Styx but it definitely strays, in some cases, dramatically from there. I think of Lawrence singing ‘Common Ground’; that song, to me, really echoes what’s going on in the world today. We’re on this little ball of terra firma going through space, out here by ourselves. And, as crazy as we see things being on television, we need common ground. I think Lawrence’s voice there is very powerful.”

Much of the recording was done at Shaw’s home studio in Nashville.

“I flew to Nashville twice in one month, maybe three days at a crack,” Young said. “They had laid out stuff for me: ‘JY, do you your thing here,’ ‘JY do your thing there,’ playing solos. Tommy is a great lyrical lead-guitar player. I’m more influenced by Hendrix.

“There are certain things, like ‘A Monster,’ where I requested to be turned loose. There were enough openings; if you’re doing a whammy swoop and there’s a million other things going on, unless you really push it in the mix, you don’t even notice it. So it left a more-open landscape for me to paint on. There were times I did double harmonies to add layers.”

Styx still looks at an album the old-fashioned way.

“We like to think of things in terms of two sides of an album – like vinyl. We want it to fit on there,” Shaw said. “I don’t ever want it to lose my attention, and we don’t want anybody else to lose their attention. The worst thing that can happen is if somebody turns your record off before they listen to the whole thing.”

A variety of Shaw and Young’s favorite guitars were used on Crash. For electrics, Shaw played two reissue Les Pauls, two Juniors (for slide solos), a Fender Electric XII, and a few Stratocasters including Young’s ’65. For acoustics, he played a ’43 Gibson J-45 Banner, an older Collings, and a J-200. Young played his ’65 Strat and a few custom builds.

Shaw and Young are happy with Crash and how it is uncompromisingly Styx.

“The thing is, no matter what we do, we generally sound like Styx. You hear it and think, ‘That’s gotta be Styx,’” said Shaw. “You never want to do something that’s so far out on the edge that people don’t know who it is. When JY does a guitar solo, you know that’s James Young. When you hear our vocals, that’s Styx. You are who you are. You can go out on a limb, but it’s you going out on a limb.”

“We’ve got incredible musicians in Styx,” Young added. “Some people believe Todd is the best drummer on the planet. Lawrence is phenomenal. Ricky is a killer bass player. Chuck is terrific. Tommy is amazing. We’ve not suffered in the ‘musical excellence’ department; the songwriting chops are there, the vocal and performing chops are there. One would hope we’d come up with something pretty good!”

---

This article originally appeared in VG’s August 2021 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

---

Year of the Cat, singer/songwriter/guitarist Al Stewart’s 1976 smash, is being celebrated with a 45th anniversary three-CD/DVD box set. The album has been remastered by producer Alan Parsons, and the DVD features his new 5.1 surround mix. Stewart’s platinum-selling opus reached #5 on Billboard and the lavish title track single peaked at #8.

The Scotland native played in rock bands, became part of London’s folk-rock scene, and released his debut, Bed Sitter Images, in 1967. Year of the Cat was his seventh album, with Parsons back onboard after having produced Stewart’s Modern Times the previous year. Guitarist Tim Renwick also returned after first playing with Stewart on 1973’s Past, Present & Future. By then, Stewart’s sound and songwriting had steadily progressed, often based on historical topics and consciously avoiding common subjects. He knew what he wanted – and didn’t want – in a lead guitarist, and Renwick was a perfect fit.

“I wanted a great guitar player, but I wanted one who could play in a melodic style,” Stewart recalled of Renwick, who went on to play with Elton John, Pink Floyd, and Paul McCartney. “There was a tendency for all guitar players to use the blues scale and play as much like Eric Clapton as they could. There were a ton of them! But there was another style – much more melodic – stemming from (the Shadows’) Hank Marvin, who was a huge influence in England. It was hard to find people who could play it.

“The solos were mostly made up as we went along, sometimes were over completely different chords from the song itself,” he added. “I remember doing ‘One Stage Before,’ which ends on this big Tim Renwick guitar solo. He’d listened to the playback and wasn’t sure what the chords were. But that didn’t stop Tim; he played this great solo then said, ‘Okay, I think I’ve got it. I’m ready to start doing takes,’ but Parsons said, ‘No, we’ve got it.’ The solo you hear was Tim warming up, trying to learn the chords. Parsons’ philosophy was to record everything, just in case. Very often, Tim would play his best stuff cold.”

The distinctive Spanish guitar solo on “On the Border” was performed by Peter White, who was hired as a pianist then became a longtime member of Stewart’s band, primarily as guitarist.

“It was out of the blue. Alan Parsons said, ‘We need some Spanish guitar.’ Tim, who can play pretty much everything, said, ‘I can’t play Spanish guitar.’ Then Peter piped up, ‘I think I can do it.’ I didn’t even know he could play guitar – he was our keyboard player. It was actually my cheap Spanish guitar. It had the advantage of having very low action, basically like a Stratocaster – really low, so it produced this toppy, snappy sound it needed to cut through the backing track.”

Stewart played an Epiphone Texan, which he used in the folk clubs, for his acoustic guitar parts on Year of the Cat. The opening song, “Lord Grenville,” for example, spotlights Stewart and White playing multitracked acoustics because Parsons loved to fatten the sound. “Year of the Cat” is White playing the acoustic solo and Renwick playing electric.

In the ’70s, Stewart often used an Ovation live.

“It was pretty good for avoiding feedback, which was one consideration. I think we had a deal with them, too. I wasn’t doing much apart from strumming in front of a band, so tone didn’t really matter. Also, they were very hard to break!” Stewart said, laughing. “You could jump up and down on one and not crack it. If you’re going to be on the road for a period of time, airlines – then and now – seem to consider it a sport to see if they can break guitars. It was very hard to break an Ovation.”

For more than 25 years, Stewart – who tours solo acoustic, with another guitarist, or with a band – has played a Taylor found for him by former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber (VG, October ’15) when they first worked together.

“It’s an 812c, and it was inexpensive because it had a crack in it. We glued the crack and it played very easily and sounded very good,” said Stewart. “It seemed to suit me.”

---

This article originally appeared in VG’s July 2021 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Music heals the soul. For many, crafting the instruments that make music has healing power, too.

In 2012, the non-profit Appalachian Artisan Center in Hindman, Kentucky, hired Douglas Naselroad to establish its School of Luthiery. Soon after, he was approached by a man asking to be taught luthiery to help him recover from drug addiction.

“He was trying to give himself a goal to work his way through rehab,” said Naselroad. “He was addicted to oxycodone and at death’s door, to hear him tell it. It was a serious situation.”

In ’17, the AAC created the Culture of Recovery program, designed to partner with local substance-abuse recovery efforts and the Knott County drug court to provide trade apprenticeships – including luthiery.

“I’ve never been in recovery myself, but I’ve lost people close to me – people who drank themselves to death,” said Naselroad, who started building guitars in 1969. “For some of the people here, it’s gone badly. I have a strong conviction to create a safe place for them to pursue a goal.”
The opioid epidemic has ravaged economically strained Appalachia particularly hard.

“I don’t think anyone down here has gone untouched by it,” Naselroad added. “And it’s not just opioids. It’s also meth, which hit this community as hard as anything else.”

While the Culture of Recovery didn’t have a plan to extend its reach, situations dovetailed and in nine years it has evolved to work with the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtPlace America, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. While Naselroad thought he’d be creating entrepreneurs, he quickly realized people didn’t have the money and resources to start their own businesses – they simply needed jobs. To date, hundreds have gone through the program, and Naselroad has hired some of the best students who completed the luthier apprenticeships to work full-time at his non-profit Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company, which makes acoustic guitars, mandolins, and dulcimers. Proceeds from sales of the reasonably priced instruments go back into supporting Troublesome Creek.

“We’re a small crew, but growing,” Naselroad said. “We’re making instruments that pass muster with (major companies’) custom shops, which is a lofty goal.”

They offer nearly 20 models.
“The guitar we’re proudest of is the Sweet Dread – a dreadnought with the depth of an OM, the round shoulders of a pre-war Gibson, and a 13-fret neck that makes it pretty groovy.”

The dulcimers are hot and the mandolins are being received really well.
“I think they raised a lot of eyebrows,” said Naselroad. “The guitars are competitive. I think people were a little more reserved about their roll-out. The biggest splash so far is with the HM Honeybee mandolins.”
Troublesome Creek will be set apart, Naselroad believes, by its use of Appalachian hardwoods.

“Locally-sourced materials make our instruments unique. We use the finest regional timber we can get, and while some are classics like curly maple and curly walnut, many are unknown tonewoods. Quilted cherry makes wonderful guitars, and things like Osage orange, black locust, and mulberry can make really nice guitars. It’s amazing, the tones we get.

“We use Appalachian red spruce because it’s from here, and it’s a phenomenal wood, especially for the mandolins,” he added. “Some is torrefied. We’ve also built some out of torrefied maple, which is really dark and pretty. A lot of times, we use butternut for necks and internal blocks; butternut is like walnut but doesn’t bring the same weight. We also use a lot of walnut, which is good for a really solid neck.”

While the goal is to steer away from rainforest woods, in the short term, they’re using ebony for fretboards and bridges.

“We bought two tons of persimmon but haven’t yet figured out how to give it an attractive color,” said Naselroad. “Still, we’re building our brand around this menu of Appalachian tonewoods – not just for environmental reasons, but because our guys love to build out of Kentucky and Tennessee hardwoods. That’s a badge of pride.”

---

This article originally appeared in VG’s May 2021 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Steve Lukather has been a busy professional guitarist for 45 of his 63 years, as a founding member of Toto, revered session musician who played on countless hits, and solo artist.

Lukather’s latest project, I Found the Sun Again, is his eighth solo album. It features five originals along with Traffic, Joe Walsh, and Robin Trower covers. Lukather found the process invigorating and inspiring in the aftermath of Toto’s splintering amid a nasty lawsuit and the pandemic.

Last year, Lukather and longtime Toto vocalist Joseph Williams formed a new lineup – the 15th version of the band, and he’s been the only one in each. They worked on each other’s new solo albums – Williams’ is titled Denizen Tenant – as did keyboardist/vocalist David Paich, whose health now prevents him from touring.

“(The lawsuit) made me stronger and more focused and determined,” Lukather said. “At the time when we ended [in October, 2019], I didn’t have any music for a new record. I just knew I was going to do one. I work well under pressure. I figured I’d enlist help from some close buddies and make a record the way we used to do it in the old days, which was throw a chart in front of everybody, run it down once, and record. And that’s what I did.

“I hired the right guys, wrote some cool tunes, and did a couple of cool covers because I wanted to make a record that sounded like it was done in 1971 or ’72, but actually has the sounds of today, like hi-fi. No click tracks, no rehearsals, no demos. There was a lot of room for improvisation. I wanted to do kind of a jam-band thing, but with songs, and let everybody play.”

That freedom is especially evident in the covers.
“That was the point of those. I’m not trying to make a hit record. I’m not trying to do a single with Cardi B or something like that,” said Lukather, laughing. “I’m playing for my audience, I guess – the people who like what I do. I made this record for me, to see if I could do it this way, and that means playing the solos live – no fixing, nothing. I wanted to say, ‘We’re playing without a net here, boys!’ I wanted to see if I could make a record in eight days, which I did. One song a day, do a few overdubs, and I’d do a vocal that night.

“I tried to under-produce the record as opposed to overproduce it, which (Toto is) so famous for. I just wanted to see what it was like not to have any pressure on me to do anything other than what I wanted to do. So yeah, it’s a bit of a vanity record, but at the same time, it’s a record nobody’s making anymore. It doesn’t sound like everybody else because sonically and playing-wise, I didn’t approach it the way a modern record is made. I approached it like records were made when we started doing it in the ’70s. You had to play.”

“Luke” is known primarily for his guitar prowess, but he sings on his solo work and sang lead/co-lead vocals on Toto classics like “Georgy Porgy,” “99,” “I Won’t Hold You Back,” “Rosanna,” “I’ll Be Over You,” and others.

“I sing, but I would never put it on my resumé,” he said. “I used to have to sing in my early bands because nobody else could. Then I got into bands with real singers. I’m good for a couple of tunes. I have a love/hate relationship with singing. I’m lucky I can do it a little bit, but it’s hard, especially live.”

The only guitar heard on I Found the Sun Again is his signature Ernie Ball Music Man Luke III – totally stock because he doesn’t believe in endorsing a signature guitar then playing a custom version that people can’t buy.

“That’s all I used, plugged into my Bogner Helios and a couple of stompboxes – boom! [The Music Man team] designed some ridiculously cool pickups. I’m able to get unique sounds out of them. I found a couple of interesting positions with different Tone and pickup settings, to get a throatier sound for the lead playing that’s a bit different from everybody else. They’re the most insane pickups I’ve ever played through. I can do everything with this guitar.”

Lukather is eager to get back on tour this year with Toto and again with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. Dates are booked. He plays daily because that’s who he is.

“I love to play the guitar!” he said. “I got lucky to make a living at it for 45 years. I don’t take that lightly. I know how lucky I am, and I’m grateful.”

---

This article originally appeared in VG’s May 2021 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

---