John Stewart

[ELizabeth]

Fezo - I am a rabid Lightfoot and Stewart fan. Have been to CA (McCabe's and the Coffee Gallery and Jimmy Dukes)numerous times to see John. Always a good show. Which are your favorite Stewart albums?

[RM]

Elizabeth,

Just thought I would chime in on this before I begin packing to visit relatives tomorrow and do my yearly "weird uncle" impersonation for the family.

If I could only have one Stewart album, it would be "Cannons in the Rain".

[Yuri]

A fellow 'Lighthead' from California introduced me to John Stewart's talent a number of years ago.

Sadly I have not heard all that many of his albums but I love 'American Sketches' which he generously sent to me.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8356/amsketchlr5.jpg

I also have an autographed CD which he distributed at McCabe's Music in Santa Monica in California. I don't believe it was in general releace. It's title escapes me at the moment.

Great talent which I have to explore further.

Yuri

[fezo]

Cannons in the Rain is an excellent choice/ Probably my 1 - A, the the actual #1 being California Bloodlines which iss just great on a level that is hard to describe. Outrageously well written songs and just nailed by some of Nashville's best playing live into tape. A nearly perfect piece of work.

[fezo]

Should have mentioned that there are a number of other great albums and John is fabulous as a live oerformer. Alternately deep and funny. His Neon albums are nice little pieces. Punch the Big Guy may be up there with his best.

[ELizabeth]

I would include 'The Day the River Sang', Knocked my socks off. Totally different from any of his previous cds. He has become a sort of mystical songwriter. That's what makes him, to me anyway, such a huge talent. I have seen him live at Jimmy Duke's, the Coffee Gallery in Altadena, CA and McCabes. He was really rolling at McCabe's. Yuri, was the performance you attended at McCabes last June by any chance?

[Yuri]

Hi Elizabeth,

Years ago I met a fellow 'Lighthead' on-line and I sent him a VHS copy of the late Peter Gzowski's interview with Gordon. We deveolped a friendship and traded some music of our other favorite artists. About five years ago I found myself in California and had the pleasure of meeting him and sharing a delightful evening speaking of Gord and music in general.

To make a long story short (which is difficult for me, as I like making short stories long!) He gave me a copy of 'American Sketches' amongst other American talents while I turned him on to Aengus Finnan, Stan Rogers and the like.

My friend was a rabid John Stewart fan and it was he who went to see John Stewart at McCabes. John was in the midst of a difficult time as his wife was ill at the time and undergoing extensive treatments in hospital. It was my friend who was thoughtful enough to get John Stewart to sign hs self releaced CD for me.

Sadly, we have lost touch and I don't recognize him as a member of our Corfid family. I pray that all is well with him and his family.

My music library is in dissaray after my own hospital stay as I had some CDs brought to me at the hospital. Many others have been misfiled throughout the house so I cannot relocate either album at this time. Looking forward to re-exploring John Stewarts artistry ASAP.

Yuri

[ELizabeth]

OK, John has had some bad luck in recent years. As you pointed out, Yuri, Buffy has been very ill and continues to need expert medical care which as you undoubtly know is very expensive. Then their health insurance was cancelled. They were on the edge of being broke so the Bloodliners got some heavy hitters (folks w/ $)who helped them considerably. Then while John was taking photos of horse races standing on top of the opening gate he fell off and gave himself a bad concussion. Poor guy, not only did he have to tour to pay his bills, but he was unable to remember lyrics and suffered from vertigo. As if that weren't enough, somebody threw a back pack to his buddy which hit John in the head and gave him concussion #2. Then last year he had to have both knees replaced which has made touring in Scotland and Britian impossible. He just can't sit w/ his knees bent long enough to get to Europe.

Yet he continues to grow as a songwriter , loves to tour, and has a great repor w/ his fans. A very brave couple.
Elizabeth

Cody would sing of the Montana sky
And I could see Montana in his eye. John Stewart, The Phoenix Concert

[RM]

Elizabeth,

I used to subscribe to the Bloodliners group, and remember the malady (tumor behind the eye ?) that befell his wife and prompted the group to help with the medical bills. I'm certainly not a "heavy hitter", but I pitched in $100 towards the cause.

I wasn't aware of the concussions and knee replacements, although the latter doesn't surprise me after seeing him struggle with stairs at a concert a couple of years ago in Scottsdale, Az.

And I thought I had bad luck.......

[RM]

Just thought I would throw this in again for those who want a taste of his music and personality -

There are many, many artists, but the John Stewart performance is show # 301

Woodsongs Archive (http://www.woodsongs.com/showlist.asp)

[ELizabeth]

RMD- anyone who helps another is a Heavy Hitter in my book. What made you leave Bloodliners? Favorite JS songs? Favorite cds Have you heard his latest cd...'The Day the River Sang'?

Yes Buffy had a malignant tumor behind one of her eyes and I believe the darn cancer spread to her colon. She is such a fighter she sometimes tours w/ John, even w/ the cancer.

[RM]

Originally posted by ELizabeth:
What made you leave Bloodliners? Favorite JS songs? Favorite cds Have you heard his latest cd...'The Day the River Sang'?
I'm not quite sure why I lost touch with the Bloodliners over the years. In part, it was due to changes at work, which was my only access to a computer way back when, but mainly due to exploring new artists and my own music.

Favorite Songs ? Are you ready ?

Fire In the Wind
An Account of Haley's Comet
The Road Shines Bright
Freeway Pleasure
California Bloodlines
You Can't Look Back
July, You're A Woman
Some Kind of Love
Wingless Angels
Hung On The Heart (Of A Man Back Home)
18 Wheels
Runaway Train

The above list is incomplete but each one is a treasure to me.

I have not heard the latest CD.

[fezo]

RMD - some fine choices in there!

I always have trouble picking out John's best stuff. Too much of it! I particularly liked that you picked something off of Sunstorm which I think is a vastly underrated album. Heck, that's where Kansas Rain first showed up.

I kind of lost touch in Bloodlines but will have to check back in. Back when they were collecting for Buffy I remember John had tehm either raffle or auction off his old Kinston Trio banjo. Bought in $16K and then they ended up giving him back the banjo anyway. Stewart fans tend to be really good folks.

I saw John right after the first concussion which he spoke about. He was having real trouble with lyrics on the odd requests but was mostly OK with ones he planned. The exception was The Man Who Would be King which was a shame because that is excellent even by John's standards.

I was fortunate enough to see him perform with Buffy once years ago. Penn State Delaware Valley campus - I think in Media, PA. Great time. Was actually a two day affair with John running a creative workshop for writers and other such creative sorts.

[Winter's Claw]

I didn't know about all of the bad stuff John Stewart has been going through. I'm sorry to hear about all that.

Does anyone else think that 'Sunstorm' is a very underrated album? John himself has said that he hates the album--he thinks his vocals are bad--but I think he is a little hard on himself.

Some of my favorite songs:
"California Bloodlines"
"Omaha Rainbow"
"Missouri Birds"
"July You're a Woman"
"Willard"
"All American Girl"
"Bolinas"
"Daydream Believer"
"Freeway Pleasure"
"Kansas Rain"
"Sunstorm"
"Bring It On Home"
"Cheyenne"
...lots more

As you can probably tell, I've only got the four albums from '69 to '72, but I'd like to get more.

[fezo]

I've never really understood what John has a problem with concerning Sunstorm. There is some great music on there.

If you don't have Cannons in the Rain you owe it to yourself. It's out there as a twofer with Wingless Angels. A couple of others I'd call musts are Fire in the Wind and Punch the Big Guy.

[Winter's Claw]

I want to get the 'Cannons/Wingless' two-fer very soon. I also want 'Fire,' but I think it's out of print, so I'll have to do some looking. Everyone seems to like 'Punch the Big Guy,' so I'll look into that one eventually. 'Phoenix Concerts' would be another one on my list.

Does anyone like John's most successful album, 'Bombs Away Dream Babies'?

[RM]

Originally posted by Winter's Claw:

Does anyone like John's most successful album, 'Bombs Away Dream Babies'? Oh yeah...how can you not like an album that brought him so much overdue exposure. I remember reading a comment that stated (and I paraphrase) 'it sounds more like Fleetwood Mac than Fleetwood Mac', due to the Lindsey Buckingham influence.

[ELizabeth]

I love 'Bombs Away' I understand that Dave Guard suggested that titled. Also John let his son Luke title 'Punch the Big Guy'. Clearly the titles of John's CDs do not reflect their content.

[fezo]

BOmbs Away is a fine album. Gold holds up to all those repeated playings, Midnight Wind, too. Lots of good tunes on that one. I'm not big on Over teh Hill but that's just me quiblling.

Fire in the Wind is another goodie. Actually it's hard to point to one album and say "OK, anyone can have a clunker." I think they all do pretty well each on its own terms.

The titles are funny - most of them are named normally using the title of one of the songs, but indeed Bombs Away Dream Babies was DAve Guard's phrase and Luke Stewart was punch the Big Guy on his dad. Luke looks maybe 8 on the cover. He must be close to 30 now.

[ELizabeth]

Luke Stewart 30. Oh my gosh! Where has the time gone? I think that I see him as that darling little blonde boy being filmed by his father on the back of one of John's albums.
Now that you mention it I think I saw a video with Luke and John dancing on the beach. Later I saw Luke playing guitar w/ his father.

[Winter's Claw]

fezo,
I actually hadn't noticed that you referred to 'Sunstorm' as an underrated album before I did. I sort of repeated your point, but it is a point worth repeating....again.

[fezo]

Great minds ya know.......