Big Country’s Stuart Adamson plays just what he feels

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 5, 1993

By Steve Newton

Big Country? You mean those guys from Scotland who had the guitars that sounded like bagpipes? Didn’t they have a hit song back in ’83 called “In a Big Country”? Yeah, I remember the chorus: “In a big country dreams stay with you, like a lover’s voice ‘cross the mountainside.” You mean they’re still around?

You betcha. They’re playing the Town Pump next Thursday (November 11), and their new album, The Buffalo Skinners, is one of the best rock albums of the year. Surprised? Maybe you have some preconceived notions about what a band like Big Country can do in 1993.

“I think perhaps a few people have,” says singer-guitarist Stuart Adamson, calling from New York. “But I’ve been very pleased to find that most people have approached us with a real kinda open mind.

“They’re aware that we have a past, but they seem to be interested in what we’re doin’. It’s not just seen as some sort of revivalist thing, which I’m real pleased about.”

The Buffalo Skinners is jam-packed with rousing tunes such as “The Selling of America”, “All Go Together”, and, especially, “The Long Way Home”, a stirring rock anthem that hits home on topics like phony evangelism, boat people, and the L.A. riots.

I was so impressed with the prospect of that tune becoming a mainstream rock-radio hit that, for the first time ever, I called up the program director of a local station and tried to talk him into playing it, to no avail. He probably had preconceived notions of what Big Country were like today, and that’s a real shame, because the band mixes up an impressive blend of boisterous riffs and Celtic melodies.

“What we do is really loud guitar-rock music,” Adamson says. “But because of the music that I was exposed to growin’ up, the folk and country things come through quite naturally. I don’t sit around and think about it too much; I prefer to play just what I feel, and that’s the way it comes out.”

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POSTSCRIPT: According to Wikipedia, The Buffalo Skinners “obtained a surprisingly enthusiastic critical response”, but “its sales were meagre and, in retrospect, it can be seen as Big Country’s last, lost chance to regain a mass audience.”

What a shame.

Adamson, who reportedly struggled with alcoholism and depression, was found dead in a hotel room in Honolulu, Hawaii in December of 2001.

He was 43.

To hear the full audio of my 1993 interview with Stuart Adamson subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 325 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with:

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One thought on “Big Country’s Stuart Adamson plays just what he feels

  1. Yeah guys, I liked the article but felt my World drop tenfold when you ended the stroy by mentioning Stuart ended up hanging himself in Hawaii.
    I write poetry and would have considered writing something I think would harbour and deserve a little respect as Stuart was his own man, a rare gift and niche very few possess in this World irrespective of realm, gender, genre, team or religion.

    I cannot say where Stuart lost his mojo, but I dearly wish we could have, before he was lost, on the rocks without a friend, a shore in sight or a boat to drift on.

    In years to come, people will realise he was a son of music, a prophet and indeed a Messiah for some like me.

    As some think of Elvis, I think of Stuar Adamson, thank you.

    Stay Alive, Stuart Lawson Beattie

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