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07/10/2025

Three Insane Guitar Solos That Prove Chicago’s Terry Kath Was Massively Underrated

Chicago was really a band to experience. And Terry Kath, the band’s guitarist, was something else entirely to behold. He was stellar at lead guitar, killer at solos, and a fantastic group leader overall.

So many of his guitar tracks were mind-blowing. Better yet, he learned it all himself; formally educated musicians wouldn’t stand a chance against Kath, armed with a guitar.

“Introduction”

This is one of those songs that even non-Chicago fans probably know.

Released in 1969 on Chicago’s debut album “The Chicago Transit Authority,” this song is an almost sonically perfect mix of rock music and jazz instrumentation.

Back then, much of Chicago’s work had that kind of sound. There are some blues and pop elements heard as well, but Kath cuts through all expectations of all of those genres with his guitar performance. He’s absolutely entrancing on “Introduction.”

“Make Me Smile”

That trumpet really adds to the ambiance, and when it begins to melt into Kath’s guitar solo, “Make Me Smile” will send you to another planet.

It’s really gorgeous. Not only does Kath prove himself as a guitarist on this track, but his vocals really come into their own in this song. “Make Me Smile” is one of many songs with a standard under-five-minute runtime, but listeners always want more.

“Song Of The Evergreens”

Terry Kath was on a different level on the 1974 album “Chicago VII.” The track “Song Of The Evergreens,” specifically, is particularly gorgeous.

This song has so much atmosphere and airiness to it. Lee Loughnane’s vocals are excellent, as is Robert Lamm’s keyboard performance. But nothing tops the way Kath plays his guitar on this one. Overall, the song is simple, imperfect, and full of charm. And that send-off solo? Incredible.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Stewart was dropped from Kapp and then from Decca, but a series of demo tapes, including the countrified Motown tunes, found their way into the hands of producer Roy Dea, who convinced Jerry Bradley to sign Stewart to RCA Records. He returned to Nashville in 1973 and recorded a cover version of "Ramblin' Man" by the Allman Brothers, both of whom were Stewart's personal friends. It charted at only #63 on the country chart, but his follow-up, 1974's "Drinkin' Thing" became a top ten hit. His album Out of Hand was released in early 1975. "Out of Hand", the title cut, became a #4 country hit and was followed by the #1 hit "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)".

The album Out of Hand, which climbed to #6 on the Billboard country album chart, has since become one of the most critically lauded country albums of the 1970s. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A− saying that it "was the best regular issue country LP I've heard in about five years." Rolling Stone gave it high praise as well, stating that, "With practitioners like Stewart around, h***y-tonk—and rockabilly—may not be dead yet." Thom Jurek of AllMusic later gave the album five of five stars and stated that a "strong case could be made for Out of Hand as one of the Top 100 country records of all time. It might be in this writer's Top Ten!" Country music critic Bill Malone called Out of Hand "one of the greatest h***y-tonk country albums ever recorded."

Later in 1975, MCA released Stewart's old Kapp material scoring a #15 hit with the single "You're Not the Woman You Use to Be". For the rest of the 1970s Stewart played the h***y tonks with his road band, The H***y Tonk Liberation Army, and recorded similar albums with modest success for RCA: 1976's Steppin' Out; 1977's Your Place or Mine (which featured guest artists Nicolette Larson, Emmylou Harris, and Rodney Crowell); and 1978's Little Junior. These albums spawned several hit singles, including: "Flat Natural Born Good-Timin' Man", "In Some Room Above the Street", "Single Again", "Your Place or Mine", "Quits", and "Whiskey Trip". His 1977 ode to marital distress entitled "Ten Years of This", from the album Your Place or Mine, was a favorite of Bob Dylan and a #16 hit. Dylan noted his admiration of Stewart in a 1978 interview with Pl***oy.