Thank God It's Toby: Highlights

Jimmy Stafford is an American musician-songwriter who was an original member of the Grammy Award-winning band Train from its inception in 1994 until he parted ways with the band in 2016. His unique style of guitar playing helped give Train its distinctive sound.

Jimmy recorded eight albums with Train, selling more than 10 million copies and 30 million tracks. With Train, he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards (winning three, including best rock song for "Drops of Jupiter" in 2002), three American Music Awards, two Billboard Music Awards (winning both top rock song for "Hey, Soul Sister" and top rock artist in 2011), an ASCAP Music Award (winning song of the year for "Hey, Soul Sister" in 2011), a CMT Music Award, a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award, and a Peoples Choice Award. He has toured the world many times over, performing for large audiences in North America, China, the Philippines, Dubai, Europe, Singapore, South America, Japan, and Australia, appearing on countless television and radio shows worldwide. In 2011 Train founded the Save Me San Francisco Wine Company which Jimmy was heavily involved in, from helping to choose the blends of their many varietals (all named after their hit songs or lyrics), to hosting events and tastings, to appearing at promotional bottle signings and meeting with local distributors in cities where Train was on tour.

After his final tour with Train in the fall of 2016, Jimmy returned home to Nashville and discovered a batch of unfinished songs he had written during his tenure with Train and became inspired to finish some of them. He continued to write and by April 2017 had accumulated dozens of songs, the best of which he decided to record and release independently. His debut solo album titled "No Man's Land" was released in November 2017. Jimmy wrote and produced the album as well as performed much of the music. Inspired by the process, Jimmy continued to write and record, and in April 2018 he released his second album "Shine Like The Sun." Jimmy wrote, produced, and performed everything on the album. Since then, Jimmy has continued to write, record, and release new music.

Those who know Jimmy will tell you that he has always had a passion for music. As a young boy growing up in Morris, Illinois - a small town just an hour south of Chicago - Jimmy would build pretend guitars from scraps of wood and lip-sync to his favourite records until he was able to buy his first real guitar at the age of twelve from the money he earned working on local farms. His passion for music along with his growing ambition and determination to succeed took him to Hollywood fresh out of high school, where he graduated from the Musician's Institute and played in several bands throughout the '80s and early '90s including the Apostles, the band that would eventually dissolve and regroup in San Francisco along with Pat Monahan to become Train in the summer of 1994.  

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.