Tommy Stinson is by definition a rock & roll lifer, a musician who began playing when he was barely in his teens who would eventually graduate from dive bars to arenas then work his way back to nightclubs. Stinson started his journey in the Replacements, the Minneapolis rock & roll group formed by his brother Bob and swiftly commandeered by Paul Westerberg. Under Westerberg's direction, the Replacements became one of the defining bands of the American rock underground of the 1980s but commercial success eluded them. That wasn't the case with Stinson's next long-running gig as a bassist: in 1998, he became Axl Rose's righthand man in Guns N' Roses, sticking with the band through 2014. In between these gigs, Stinson led the bands Bash & Pop and Perfect, while also spending time in Soul Asylum. Stinson cut the occasional solo album, projects that were punctuated by such new ventures as Tommy Stinson's Cowboys in the Campfire, a duo he formed with Chip Roberts who released the country-tinged Wronger in 2023.