Category: John Stewart and His Music

Daydream Believer

John was asked many times if he ever got tired of singing this song. Usually he would smile and say ‘no’. I honestly believe that he did love the song and that he loved to sing it.

It didn’t hurt, either, that the song kept him in what he called ‘couch money’. He sat on the couch and the song sent him money.

This is from the Tribute Concert at the Birchmere on January 12,2001. Accompanying John on this song as well as the next two posts are Pete and Maura Kennedy, Nanci Griffith, Rosanne Cash, Henry Diltz, Chuck McDermott, John Hoke, Dave Crossland, Jeff McDonald, Dennis Kenmore, George Grove, Bob Haworth, Dave Batti and Buffy Stewart.Daydream Believer

Dave Batti

This will be a hard one to write. Dave Batti. Possibly the nicest guy in the world. Would be nominated for Sainthood if it were a perfect world. Knows how to iron and pack a station wagon. Modest. Plays bass and accordion.

That’s only the beginning.

Dave joined  John Stewart’s band back in 1982, after working with John and Chuck McDermott on the Blondes album. Tom DeLisle said about Dave “He’s John’s right-hand man despite the fact that Dave is left-handed”. Dave chalked up countless miles and huge amounts of fun on the road with John. In later years it was usually just the two of them on the road together.

John was well-known for being ‘prickly’ toward his band members and Dave bore the brunt of this on more occasions than it would be wise to count. When John passed Dave said “I’d do it all again in a minute”.

Here is Dave Batti. Recorded at the World Folk Music Association on January 12, 2001, at their presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to John Stewart.Bad Rats

John Stewart at the Old Vienna-9/21/95-Oppenheimer

To call Al Cook a fan of John Stewart’s music would be putting it too mildly. Many of us have said that John wrote the soundtrack to our lives. For a few of us it went farther than that. Al’s devotion and dedication to John and his music is well-known and much appreciated.

Al sent me a cd some time ago. It was a live recording from a gig that John did in September of 1995. The venue was, according to the cd label that I have, the Old Vienna. I don’t know if this was a coffee house or a club. I think it must have been somewhere in New England.

In 1995, the recordings that were made in the clubs were somewhat primitive by today’s standards. This one was probably recorded on a small cassette recorder that was sitting on the table or hidden under a chair.

John loved spoken word pieces. He was good at them and could add sections to pieces that he’d done in the past and make them fresh again.

This one was unusual. I sent a copy to Tom DeLisle who is without question the leading authority on john’s music. Tom had never heard this piece.

Please forgive the audio quality. It wasn’t good to begin with and I was only able to do so much to bring it back. I think it’s worth hearing, though.

Thanks to Al Cook for providing the disc.

John Stewart- Oppenheimer

Chuck McDermott from the Floral Pavillion

The 1984 tour must have been great fun. John and Chuck, of course, had worked together for several years by this time and were, musically, on the same wavelength.

Their onstage repartee’ was also fun for the audience.

Here is Chuck doing one of his own songs. The song is Angeline.

Chuck McDermott- A Love Song

John Stewart Medleys

John loved medleys. He tinkered with combinations of songs and sometimes he hit a combo that was perfect.

This recording was made at the Floral Pavillion in Merseyside England on August 5, 1984.

On this tour John was accompanied by his good friend and co-conspirator Chuck McDermott.

Thanks to Rod and Bite My Foot Bob.

Here’s California Bloodlines, Armstrong and Cheyenne.John Stewart and Chuck McDermott

All the Words Unspoken

The UK tour in the Fall of 2000, was to support the release of the Wires From the Bunker cd. The cd was simultaneously released by Appleseed in the US and Wrasse in the UK. Wrasse helped to underwrite the UK tour in order to publicize the cd. Many of the songs from Wires From the Bunker had been written as John was leaving the Kingston Trio. as sometimes happened with John, he put them aside and went on to other projects. In addition to the older songs there were a few that had been written in more recent times.

This is one of those songs.

One of John’s most beautiful and haunting songs.John Stewart- All the Words Unspoken

This is all about the music…

John Stewart used to say that it was ‘all about the music’. Everything else was superfluous. I was fortunate enough to work with John  over the last ten years of his life. As others have said about him “He wrote the soundtrack to our lives”.

In this journal I’m planning to post pictures and songs that mean something to me. Some will be John’s music and others will be a wide range of artists that have drawn me into their talent.

This first posting includes a song that I recorded on September 12, 2000, at Fibber’s  in York, England.

Here’s the story. Kris and I were to meet John at the railroad station in York. He and Sparkle (of Sparkle on the Monkey Train fame) were taking the train up from the south. I was standing on the platform when a bigger than life figure wearing a cowboy hat and a guitar over his shoulder stepped off the train. It was John Stewart and he knew it. He was at home wherever he was. After leaving the train station we took a taxi ( and you have to imagine John, Sparkle, Kris and me along with their luggage and guitar in one small cab. It looked like  the clown car at the circus when we unloaded)  to John’s hotel. As Kris and I were walking back to our hotel we were directly behind a rather bedraggled looking fellow who seemed to be going to the same place we were headed. It tuned out to be Rod Geddes, a great fan of John’s and the Vicar, at that time, on the Isle of Man.

The gig that night was at Fibber’s. An incredibly hot place with a closet for a dressing room.

I have a 2 disc set of the show from that night. This was the third song that John did. California Bloodlines.John Stewart-California Bloodlines