As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

By the time I did that third solo album, I'd finally learned how to do it, but I'd also learned that I liked being in a band.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I like being on the road, living in hotels. While I've got a real nice house, I go crazy when I'm there.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I love the idea of stepping out of the band situation into a solo world with no boundaries, no expectations, where nothing is out of bounds.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I soon gave up instruction for self-teaching.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I was born in Alabama and my first live music experiences were in church. Every Sunday we watched regional gospel groups on television singing their hearts out.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I wish I had a nickel for every song that I've left in the bathroom, written down on a matchbox, or just totally forgotten about.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I wrote songs all my life, where anyone wanted to hear them or not.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

I've always stuck with Gibsons. I've had Guilds and Fenders, too, but I always wind up going back to Gibsons.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

If I have an idea, I write it down, although I usually carry a little dictation machine with me because I'm too lazy to write.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

It is all about being open and paying attention to the music in your head. I think most people have original music playing in their heads from time to time.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

It was more fun trying to figure out I Want To Hold Your Hand than to take lessons. By this time I knew basic chords.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

Les Pauls work out real well for me because I'll beat the hell out of them and they'll still work. The only trouble with them is finding good ones.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

Once you start thinking about it in a mercenary frame of mind, then you're finished. You're a joke, because there are too many mercenaries out there already.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

Songwriting is the other weight on the opposite side of the scale from touring. They balance me out creatively.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

There were some older guitarists on my side of town, and I got to know many of them.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

We were playing popular music, but we were doing our own arrangements because we were too lazy to sit down and figure out the originals.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

When a song gets its legs and begins to come to me, this is the euphoric hook that keeps me wanting to continue.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

When I became 16 I started thinking seriously about singing.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

When I was about 3, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit out on the front porch with him and sing songs.
- Tommy Shaw Quote

When you sign with a label, they do insist upon certain rights, and if you have a competent attorney, your rights will be protected.
- Tommy Shaw Quote