''10x10'' is a posthumous solo album by Ronnie Montrose. Ronnie had been touring with bassist Ricky Phillips (

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

The Babys The Babys are a British rock group best known for their songs " Isn't It Time" and "Every Time I Think of You". Both songs were composed by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy, and each reached No. 13 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 8 on the ...

) and Eric Singer (

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

) in the early 2000s. Over three days in 2003 at Doug Messenger's studio in North Hollywood, the sessions produced 10 strong tracks of rhythm guitar, bass and drums with the intention to get a singer to for the vocals. Eventually Ronnie decided on the 10x10 concept, 10 tracks and 10 different singers. Early on, he was able to secure contributions from close friends and collaborators like Sammy Hagar, Edgar Winter and Davey Pattison. In the intervening years Ronnie battled prostate cancer and, at one point, hadn't touched a guitar for 2 years. Conflicts in scheduling led to the record remaining unfinished for years up until Montrose's passing in 2012. Along with completion of the vocals, the songs also needed lead guitar as well. Rickey Phillips, with the blessing of Ronnie's wife Leighsa and assistance of Eric Singer, picked up the reigns and completed the album. "After he passed, I had to carry on with what Ronnie wanted, because he was such a purist. The songs were cut to 2-inch tape and then transferred to digital, but I really needed it to be a cohesive record. I've done enough records to know how easily the levels of 10 different singers can sound disjointed if you don't stay on top of the production." As per Singer, "I have to give a lot of credit to Ricky Phillips. Ricky really wanted to see this thing through. It was more for Ronnie than just for himself, or for ourselves. We really believed what we had originally captured had a certain vibe and a certain magic to the people in that room when it was created. We felt like, 'Hey, this thing needs to get done. We need to see this thing through, for every good reason.'"

Track listing

# "Heavy Traffic" (Montrose/Martin/Pressis/Phillips) # "Love Is An Art" (Montrose/Winter) # "Color Blind" (Montrose/Hagar) # "Still Singin' With The Band" (Montrose/Phillips/Mensinger) # "Strong Enough" (Montrose/Phillips/Shaw/Mensinger) # "Any Minute" (Montrose/Farner) # "The Kingdom's Come Undone" (Montrose/Phillips) # "One Good Reason" (Montrose/Turgon) # "Head On Straight" (Montrose/Phillips/Mensinger) # "I'm Not Lying" (Montrose/Phillips/Rolie)

Personnel

;On all tracks *

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...

- main guitar *

Ricky Phillips Ricky Lynn Phillips (born October 7, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and a member of the rock band Styx since 2003, splitting duties with longtime bassist Chuck Panozzo. He has also played in Nasty Habit, as a member of The Babys and Bad Eng ...

- bass *

Eric Singer Eric Singer (born Eric Doyle Mensinger; May 12, 1958) is an American drummer. Associated with the hard rock band Kiss since 1991, he has also performed with artists such as Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Badlands, Brian May and Gary M ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional personnel ''Heavy Traffic'' * Eric Martin- lead and backing vocals *

Dave Meniketti David Alan Meniketti (born December 12, 1953) is the singer, songwriter and lead guitarist for hard rock/ heavy metal band Y&T. He has also released three solo efforts (including "Live in Japan"), one of which is more blues-oriented. He curren ...

- guitar solo *Ed Roth - organ and piano *J'nae Fincannon and Debby Holiday - backing vocals ''Love Is An Art'' *

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitar, saxophone, and percussion, as well as singing. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group ...

- lead and harmony vocals, Hammond organ, saxophone *

Rick Derringer Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...

- guitar solo *Ricky Phillips - synth bass, tambourine and percussion ''Color Blind'' *

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

- lead vocals *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

- guitar solo *Ricky Phillips - Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, harmony guitars and backing vocals *J'nae Fincannon, Debby Holiday and

Jeff Scott Soto Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and (briefly) the lead vocalist for Journey in 2006–2007. Soto also sa ...

- backing vocals *Todd Sucherman - percussion ''Still Singin' With The Band'' * Glenn Hughes - lead and backing vocals *

Phil Collen Philip Kenneth Collen (born 8 December 1957) is an English musician who is best known as the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard, joining the band in 1982 during the recording of the ''Pyromania'' album. Prior to joining Def Leppa ...

- guitar solo *Jimmy "Z" Zavala - harmonica *Ricky Phillips - Hammond organ and backing vocals *Jeff Scott Soto - backing vocals ''Strong Enough'' *

Tommy Shaw Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his tenure in the rock band Styx (band), Styx as co-lead vocalist. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with other groups includi ...

- lead and backing vocals, slide guitar solo, electric & high strung guitars *Ricky Phillips - atmospheric synth, keys, percussion and backing vocals *Ed Roth - organ and piano *Todd Sucherman - percussion ''Any Minute'' *

Mark Farner Mark Fredrick Farner (born September 29, 1948) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist for the hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad, and later as a contemporary Christian musician. Early ...

- lead and backing vocals, guitar solo *Ricky Phillips - Hammond organ and backing vocals *J'nae Fincannon and Debby Holiday - backing vocals *Jimmy "Z" Zavala - harmonica ''The Kingdom's Come Undone'' *Ricky Phillips - lead and backing vocals, harmony guitars and Hammond organ *

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

- guitar solo *Ed Roth - keyboards ''One Good Reason'' *

Bruce Turgon Bruce Turgon (born April 25, 1952) is an American bass guitarist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. Bruce has played in several bands throughout his career including: Foreigner, The Lou Gramm Band, Shadow King, Steve Stevens, Warr ...

- lead and vocals *

Brad Whitford Bradley Ernest Whitford (born February 23, 1952)Putterford, Mark (1991) ''The Fall and Rise of Aerosmith'', Omnibus Press, Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'' (2nd edn.), MOJO Books, , p. 11-13 is an American musician who i ...

- guitar solo *Ricky Phillips - percussion, Hammond organ from guitar solo out *Ed Roth - Hammond organ ''Head On Straight'' *

Davey Pattison Davey Pattison (born November 18, 1945 in Scotland) is a San Francisco Bay Area based rock vocalist. Pattison recorded his first music in 1969, and his career took off after arrival in the United States in 1979, on invitation from Bill Graham ...

- lead vocals *

Marc Bonilla Marc Henry Bonilla (born July 3, 1955) is an American guitarist and composer, who has worked as a sideman to artists such as Keith Emerson, Ronnie Montrose, Glenn Hughes, Edgar Winter and David Coverdale. Career Early years and film work ...

- guitar solo *Ricky Phillips - Hammond organ, backing vocals *Bruce Turgon - backing vocals ''I'm Not Lying'' *

Gregg Rolie Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His All ...

- lead and backing vocals, synth and keyboards *Tom Gimbel - saxophone *Ricky Phillips - 12 string guitar, acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, coda arrangement, percussion and backing vocals *Todd Sucherman - percussion *Jeff Scott Soto and Debby Holiday - backing vocals *Lawrence Gowan - piano

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums Ronnie Montrose albums