Interview with Tony Butler from Big Country 

If you like our interviews with 80s artists and our gig clips, please subscribe to our channel 👍🙏😊

That's one incredible bassist right there and such a humble man too !

Tony's contribution to big country's sound shouldn't be underestimated a hugely talented musician ... thanks for the memories tony ❤

As Stuart Adamson once said -"Tony Butler the nicest man in music" ! Had the pleasure to meet Tony at a Big Country fan gathering in Ireland, such a gent. Always a huge fan of him 👍👍

Tony, you magnificent bastard. Thanks for all the great music and you still look and sound great. You are a true gent and look after yourself. I wish there were more like you

Big Country is my favorite band of all time. Also; as an American from the backroads of America I believe I may have some insight into what happened to Stuart. When he came over here and made the attempt to break into the American country music stage I think he had a very rude awakening, which led him to the dissillusion that resulted in his psychological breakdown. Of course and however; there is the alcoholism factor and I think that his relative inability to write and present marketable American style country music catapulted him back into the bottle. I listened back during that time to Stuart’s country music creations and I never heard anything from him which would be acceptable to the typical American country music fan. Trust me on this point because I grew up in a very rural area where country music was and still is the quentisential genre. When Stuart played with that band in Nashville I thought he just looked and sounded so out of place. I remember thinking to myself “man; what are you doing?” Then I further wondered why one of the greatest guitarists within the whole of Europe would want to come over here to America and become something which he really didn’t even begin to understand. I knew twenty five years ago that he would not be successful. I wish that Stuart had done just as Tony explains here, and he had continued to employ his incredible writing and playing talent just as he always had and if he had; I believe BC would still today be one of the top bands in Europe. Hopefully no later than say fifteen years ago; Tony, Stuart, Bruce, and Marc would have found effective management to get their music properly appreciated here in America. Last but not least; I liked the three man band sound that the guys tried after Stuart’s disturbing demise. I thought perhaps Stuart’s son could have sung with them. He sounds so much like Stuart. Finally; I should say that like Tony I am equally disturbed and still affected by Stuart’s passing on Dec 16th, 2001. Every year on that day I raise a glass in his honor while listening to some of the old favorites.

Great bloke is Tony, forever grateful for his contribution to an amazing band

One of my absolute bass player heroes! A tremendous man. I soooo miss Big Country and Stuart. Cheers Tony! And thank you ladies for doing this! -Brent, VT USA

An utter gentleman. Very intelligent and open. Awesome bass player and actually a very underrated vocalist. Big Country could never be the same without Stuart. If only someone could have helped him to fight his demons. Thank you for the video. Thank you Tony and RIP Stuart.

I’m really glad I stumbled on to this as it helped me get some closure regarding Stuart’s death. Hearing Tony say that he still isn’t over losing Stuart made me feel better somehow. Probably because that’s exactly how I feel. I’m still not over it. The loss continues to break my heart. I’m glad he quit the reforming of the band in honor of Stuart.

Lovely to see Tony again. He’s a star.

He has always been such a lovely guy. Since I was 14 and learning to play bass he has been a constant in my dream dinner guest list.

Two lovely ladies with a true gentleman God bless you all

Love Big Country. When The Jam called it a day, B C carried on the baton, great band. R i p stuart adamson.❤

Good job Tony for not caving in to the corporate world and honoring your freind Stuart Adamson

Great Bassist and Great band. RIP Stuart. Best wishes to Tony, Mark and Bruce, as well as Ian Grant.

Tony Butler…total respect. Incredible bass player whose approach to Big Country songs enhanced and supported them to a peak. Cannot underestimate his contribution.

Glad to see he is still kicking and doing his thing!! :)

such a lovely person. A terrific band I can't believe its 40 years since I first bought their records and still play them.

I met Tony twice. '83 & 93. Always smiling. Told me to 'Stay Alive'!

Top man Tony! Thanks for the music big fella.

The Crossing ❤ Incredible sounding album, lost none of it's energy this day ! One of the greatest New Year's Eve gigs ever, Glasgow Barrowlands, when the Scottish Pipers went on stage midnight 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 RIP Stuart 🎸

Unfortunately after Stuart died, l think they were trying to flog a dead horse. Big Country without Stuart was not Big Country anymore. 😢

Great Bass player is Tony...he always stood out for me as a teenager as he was so vibrant and dancy! :)

Stuart was a legend. I was listening to his music when he was lead guitar with the Skids! Unforgettable guitar style RIP. Always had Big Country blaring out in my room when I joined the army in 1982. Still play it now 41 years later!

What a magic , share ! Tony , is still magic , and as for many millions of people the joy his work gave us all , and seeing many of his B.C. gigs , where magic nights ! a wonderful share , thankyou from rural france , ritchie . p.s.its been a magic journey from Acton / shepherds bush ( west london ).

Stuart Adamson is sadly missed.

This band was one of the best points in my musical journey. Thank you!

Chance is one of my all time favourite songs. Lovely interview - stay well big fella. RIP Stuart x

Great to see Tony again. Met him a few years ago down in Cornwall....an absolute gentleman! Would still love to see him onstage with BC again though. Love ya Tony. P.S Thanks for this interview guys

breaks my heart !!! breaks my fucking heart !! this band are still and probably always will be the most underrated band of all time ! why didn't stew talk to tony the most amazing sweet gent? questions upon questions .. sickens me ... i live for this band ... so iconic so different ! made a massive impact on my life!!!

absolutely loved this, thank you girls ❤

Big Country is sooo underrated! Will always love them ❤

What a genuinely nice chap and amazing bass player. Great interview

Totally loved this interview! Tony is such a shining light!

Best Rock Bass Player 80s/90s. Total Gent as well.

What a lovely man. I was at one of the gigs on their 1983 The Crossing Tour . ( 20/9/83 Newcastle City Hall ) I had the great fortune of meeting the band afterwards. Day I’ll never forget.. Thank you and god bless.

I never tire of listening to Big Country and place them among some of the best groups ever.

Guy never missed a lick. I did focus on the lyrics. But this man propelled them.

love your interview with Tony- I have always wanted to hear from him and how things were going. Kudos to you two!!!!!!! Love you and Tony!!!!!

Tony is awesome. Have always loved him. And Big Country!

Tony played some great licks in B.C, superb bass player. Comes across as a really nice guy.

Legend is Tony. The bass work on Steeltown is off the charts.

Respect! Rip Stuart, you were and still are deeply missed from us fans of BC!!! Tony's a great bassist

What a fantastic humble gent Tony is !! A great interview with the Big Country legend and great insight to the awesome Stuart Adamson

Loved Big Country back in the day. I saw them back up The Jam at Wembley in 1982 i believe and Big Country blew The Jam out of the water. Admittedly the Jam were on their farewell tour so probably weren’t on it towards the split but Big Country were phenomenal for 3/4 years and Stuart Adamson is sorely missed, but Tony Butler, what a great guy ❤️😃

I'm a huge Big Country fan and I enjoyed this interview. The interviewers didn't interrupt but you could tell they're big fans.

Top bloke. Big Country and Queen on the same stage..... I wouldn't be able to sleep for weeks!

what an amazing guy. Spent a night in a bar with him and Mark - brilliant folk. Big Country my fave band ever. Saw them multiple times and always great. He is right about Live Aid - Big Country would have stolen the show if they had played....

Tony has a monster bass sound. Stuart and himself were so important to me growing up. God bless them both 🙏❤️

LEGEND

Great interview, thanks ladies..

I love this dude! great bassist!

Even though I was never in the band I feel exactly the way Tony does. The current band are like a tribute band. None of the passion of the original line up. Saw the countless times in the 80s and 90s and they were, and still are to this day, the best live band I have ever seen.

You can see Tony misses Stuart to this day.Its staring out of him.Lovely guy,and some bass player.

nice one here, was once on Big Country concert in East Berlin one or two years before the wall came down. One of the best concerts I have been on

Sèn them glasgow barras hogmanay 1983 best gig I've been to . Seen them a couple of years after that gig brixton academy . Great memories great band . Tony butler i salute you a gentleman and an incredible bass player

Great Job Tony.. Rock ON Sir!!!

God bless you Tony…!!!!!!!!

I just love Tony I seen him with Big Country a few times

Tony is a legend, shame he isn't involved with BC anymore but I get when Stuart died he thought it was over and it didn't feel right anymore. Let's be honest Stuart could not be replaced by anyone. Him and Mark were a hell of a rhythm section. Thank You Tony for you and the guys for being part of the soundtrack of my youth. I've seen 100s of gigs over the years and saw BC twice in the 80s and they were probably the best live band I've ever seen and that is no exaggeration

Ladies, thank you so much for this great interview.

Hello, hope you are both well, great listening to what he was saying about the band and the members and I can't believe his mistaken identity horror ! A rolling stones dressing room half a football pitch he he I bet too! Loved watching this, thank you very much for making it and uploading it for us retro music fans 🙏🙏🤗🤗💐💐A very big congratulations too on your 1000 + subscribers 👏👏👏well and truly deserved ❣

Great bass player - loved this interview.

The best band in my lifetime, thanks for this interview. Often wondered how Tony n the others are doing 🙏 thanks n Blessins

Great interview ladies....I'm a massive fan of big country ..have been since I was around 10 yrs old (im now 50) ....fun fact : I live not far from Glasgow my aunt lived in dunfermline for as long as I can remember and was actually friends with Stuart Adamsons ex wife Sandra and my brother and I got to meet Stuart on a few occasions ....as for Tony i love his solo stuff aswell especially the song "Here comes the first one" ...its funny how that song sounds more like big country than the "group of people " that are actually using that name right now

What a great man, and brilliant musician. I totally understand his position, no one should be pressuring him to do anything he isn't comfortable with, I see fans leaving comments here and there online expressing a desire to get him back in the band, you have to let artists follow their own paths, he owes us nothing, and has given so much.

He seems to be a really good guy and unusually honest. It makes sense to me because I met & talked with Stuart Adamson in 1994 (Boston, MA, USA). He was unusually gracious and kind for a celebrity. We talked & laughed for 10 minutes. Then he apologized & said he needed to get some sleep because they'd just flown into Boston on the red eye from London. The best part of our exchange was my telling him that once when I was terribly depressed my ma told me to give her a course on "rock" music. I explained that when I played "In a Big Country" for my mother, she quickly said "You've practically "lifted"" from that guy in a couple of your songs That got a real laugh out of Adamson. His death still hurts me. He was such a great musician & songwriter, and once I met him he became a "real person", one I liked very much and feel like I knew in a way. Also, I've a brother the same age as Adamson who killed himself. I won't soon forget this great musician and fine soul.

Tony, you have earned your worth in platinum! By God, the creator of us all, many blessings for long life!

What a wonderful man, some of my happiest memories would be bouncing up and down on the front row of a Big Country concert with Stuart and Tony smiling down. Not a phone in sight, just total communion between band and audience.

What an honor to see Tony Butler thriving.

What a lovely guy - and an amazingly talented bass player. My favourite non BC thing that he plays on is Back on the Chain Gang by the Pretenders.

I live in Tennessee Tony you are one of us 👍

Tony Butler what a gent thankyou for my musical youth still playing the albums today

what a cool, humble dude....

An amazing band, at 57, I've loved them since my teens. Saw them for the first time in Cardiff in May, what a night.

Great bassist great guy.

He is a legend and sadly missed.

Great interview! Thanks for posting. Big Country is a huge influence on me and am so glad I got to see them back in 1993 in NYC during the Buffalo Skinner tour. That was an epic show! Saw them more recently in Pittsburgh with Mike Peters singing...got to meet the band before and afterwards...good show but did miss Tony.

God bless you Tony mate

Back in highschool, when I discovered Big Country, was absolutely enthralled by the band. Loved Stuart, yes, but it was the bassist & drummer that utterly captivated me! Phenomenal timeless rhythms! Tony & Mark are a massive part of why Big Country were so good & so original!

Great video ,and he comes across as a really nice guy ,they were a great band and i still listen to their music

unique bass style☆

Saw them many, many times. Worth noting that back then Tony got the biggest cheer of any of the band from the Scottish crowd. He was so loved. (Thinking of a particular night when he wore a black leather kilt and waistcoat with short dreads - nobody else could pull that off). So sad that race issues have become worse in this country. The music still lasts. The first 3 albums are still perfect and the later ones became more sophisticated. If Tony ever reads this, please be happy knowing that you gave so much pleasure to so many for so long.

What a fantastic bloke!! What a wonderful soul and musician as well he is. Love him so muc, wonderful human being he is. He definitely and surely loved, loves and will always love his dear friend Stuart and Big Country. And to be honest totally agree with him about his decision to leave the band and about "another country" song title. What an inappropriate one, mostly because of what happened just a little time before... very good song,so very disappointed with the title instead. My humble opinion of course. And massive support to Mark, Bruce, Simon, Jamie and Scott to keep the flame alive

Tony Butler is a criminally underrated bassist. I loved Big Country and Tony's bass playing. It's nice to find out that he's an all-around good guy as well.

Love Tony and loved BC...forever the best

Saw Big Country before they took off at a mates club and after they finished we had a few beers and spoke to the lads, lovely bunch of guys. So sad what happened to Stuart.

Thank you for this interview! 💖

Simply the best!!

The first album that was bought for me was G I Blues …the first album I bought myself was the crossing.

One of the best bassists ever .

It was so good that I wish the interview was longer.👍

tony is the only BC member i never met fingers crossed i do meet one day

Tony, thank you for all the amazing and intricate music

Love you Tony❤

Top man Tony👍🏻

What a gentleman and so well spoken :-)

Looking forward to hearing your new music.Mr Butler 🎶🎤

Love seeing all those guitars and basses piled on top of one another, just leaning against a wall. That's a man that uses his equipment like the tools they are. As a mechanic. When I see other guys' tool boxes and garages that look like museums. I laugh a little because I know they've never used half the tools they own.