Bruce was invited to form a new band with ex ‘Skid’ Stuart Adamson in 1981. The pair laid the foundations of their debut album ‘The Crossing’ in a small mining village on the outskirts of Dunfermline. Bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki were drafted in after cutting their teeth with Pete Townshend on his ‘Empty Glass’ and ‘Chinese Eyes’ albums.

 

The band opened up for bands such as The Jam, Alice Cooper and U2 before hitting the charts world wide with songs such as, ‘Fields Of Fire’, ‘Chance’, ‘Look Away’ and their signature song ‘In A Big Country’. They were nominated for two Grammy awards in 1983 and performed at the Shrine Auditorium LA in front of a star-studded audience.

 

Throughout their twenty year career Big Country sold 10 million albums as they supported David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Elton John as well as headlining in their own right.

 

Despite a lull in the late 80’s the band made a comeback in the 90’s with their ‘Buffalo Skinners’ album. They continued up until 2000 but decided that after 20 years touring and recording the band should rest and continue on solo projects.

 

In December 2001 Stuart Adamson passed away. Bruce along with Ian Grant put together a memorial concert for Stuart in Glasgow’s world-famous Barrowlands. On the night, they held a special reunion of Stuart’s previous band the ‘Skids’ for a spectacular trip down memory lane that included hits such as ‘Into The Valley’, ‘Saints Are Coming’ and ‘Masquerade’. This led to Bruce being asked to direct a benefit gig for another Scottish rock legend, Frankie Miller.

 

In 2002 Bruce hooked up with Fish (ex Marillion) and co–wrote his critically acclaimed ‘Field Of Crows’ album. The pair of them armed with a 7-piece band toured Europe. Since then Bruce has added his trademark guitar sound to a multitude of diverse artists such as Dead Men Walking, The Casbah Club, Four Good Men and Waking The Witch.

The adventure now continues with ‘New kid on the block’ Jamie.