Styx Is in Lubbock This Sunday Night, Wes Talks to Lead Guitarist James Young

James Young has been with the band since they called it Styx and also a huge fan of the NFL.

I'm so fortunate to have lived through the real glory years of rock and metal. In 1977, I was a freshman in high school when this progressive and heavy as heck band called Styx dropped an album called The Grand Illusion. Now, the way you think of Styx now is not the way they were thought of them. We did not have the internet after all, and Styx is the name of the river between earth and hell.

We didn't know we were dealing with a bunch of future hitmakers and balladeers. At the time, we thought they were all wearing monk robes and singing around a flaming pentagram (which is pretty much what you hoped for when you were 15 years old).

The Grand Illusion was such a mindblower that we dipped back into the previous album "Equinox". From there it was onto "Pieces of Eight," "Cornerstone" and "Paradise Theater." The following album, Killroy Was Here, was where the love affair for many was put on pause. That flame was relit shortly after just due to the sheer magnitude of the amount of music they've generated.  All in all, the band has released 17 studio albums and 39 singles.

Styx will play the Buddy Holly Hall this Sunday night (October 17th). James "JY" Young was nice enough to call in for a few minutes. I hope you'll enjoy this short chat.