A few years ago, during a telephone conversation with John Stewart, Billy Edd Wheeler’s name came up. John was a long-time fan of Billy Edd’s and I was way beyond being a fan. He was my favorite songwriter.

Billy Edd wrote some of the songs that carried me through a lot of homesickness when I was a kid and had left the hills. The Coming of the Roads, Coal Tattoo, The Reverend Mr. Black and especially one song that he recorded and released in 1961. It was on the Monitor label and was called Ain’t Goin’ Home Soon.

During our conversation John asked me if I’d send Billy Edd some cd’s of our Neon Dreams releases. I said I would and promptly got them in the mail to Billy Edd. A short while later the phone rang and it was him calling to thank me for the cd’s. Of course, my IQ dropped about 75 points and I made a pretty good fool out of myself. The one thing I did manage to do was tell him that Ain’t Goin’ Home Soon had been a comfort to me when I needed it. He told me that it was one of his favorites, too. A few days later I received from him the  sheet music, the lyrics and a handwritten note. They are now framed and on the wall in my office.

Billy Edd was and still is a country man. He’s been round the world many times but his style and his sensibilities are the same as when he graduated from Berea College in 1955. I grew up 23 miles over Big Hill from Berea.

Billy Edd is also a wonderful artist. I highly recommend having a look at his website

billyeddwheeler.com

Ain’t Goin’ Home Soon

And here’s the song. Accompanying Billy Edd is Joanie Sommer.

In March of 2004, John appeared on Folkstage, a radio broadcast from WMFT in Chicago. John did an hour long program and performed many songs from our recently released cd set titled Even the Band Had Fun at Dark 30. Dark 30 is a concert series hosted in Lakeside, California by our friend Jimmy Duke. Jimmy is a great guy and was a great supporter of John and his music.

One of the songs that John did on the broadcast was this version of China Sky. John had been performing it in shows for a few months after having ”lost” it for many years. In this version his playing style is, in my opinion, terrific. He goes off key in a couple of places toward the end but other than that his vocals and his solo styling makes this one one of my favorite versions of a great song.

The quote at the top says it all about this song. People have been analyzing the meanings for quite some time. It just sounds good when he sings it.

China Sky at Folkstage- 2004

Ahhhh Kate Snow. Curly red hair and a laugh that can melt the stoniest of hearts. Kate Snow who never played music with others but sang her songs for herself and then discovered that others wanted to hear them, too. And then discovered that she LIKED to sing with others and did it so well. Kate Snow, the one that everyone wants to sit next to because she can not only talk but also listen.

Kate hung it all out after camp last year and began work on her first CD. She had the songs but she didn’t have the production capability. Fortunately, she did know Fred Grittner. A week in St. Paul, some able additions from Fred and from John August Lee and Kate had a CD called A Promise and A Song. Kate’s songs are personal to her but are universal to many others. I love this CD just as  much as I love Kate. It was hard to decide which song to include here. I chose a track called Dawn because I also love John August’s work on the 6-12 and tenor guitars.

Kate’s CD is available from Cdbaby as an mp3 download or as a CD.

Kate Snow at Cdbaby

and here’s the song. I hope you enjoy it.

Dawn

China Sky, of course, is a great song written by John Stewart. It was a song that John wrote back in the early 80’s and first released on the Secret Tapes ’86 album. It was later included on the Tanforan cd.

Like many of John’s songs, it was one that he let percolate for many years before he decided he liked it. Of course, most people LOVED it the first time they heard it but that mattered very little to him.

Then, in 2006, two of John’s fans met at the Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp and started playing music together. John August Lee, sometimes known as Triofan, and Fred Grittner. John and Fred are both stellar musicians and very able writers and producers. Fred had produced several very good cd’s of his own songs and John is an accomplished banjo and guitar player. The issue they had was that Fred was in Minnesota and John had just moved to the State of Washington. Fortunately for both, Fred had a very good high speed internet connection and John had a trustworthy truck. John and Fred sent digital files back and forth and, when necessary, John would use the truck to get to Minnesota. The culmination was just several months ago when Fred went to John’s house and they pronounced the baby born. The ‘baby’ is a cd called China Sky. It was first released at this year’s Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp and everyone agrees that it’s now their favorite cd.

There’s a little something for everyone here. John recently wrote that he sometimes bought a cd because there was one song on it that he liked. I’d have to say that there is AT LEAST one song on this cd that everyone is going to LOVE. We all have our favorites and I’m no exception. Fred’s song The Floyd B. Olson Blues was my ringtone for about a year. I can honestly say that I’ve heard it a thousand times and I still love it. John wrote a great jazzy piece that he calls Chocolate Souffle and I’m crazy about it.

Then there are the players. Where do you start? Well, there’s the Kingston Trio- George Grove, Rick Dougherty and Bill Zorn all play on the cd. Trio bassist Paul Gabrielson plays on many songs as does Dave Batti and Steven Donaghey. Josh Reynolds adds ‘zen harmony vocals’ on one track.

Then you get to the songs themselves. Tracks written by Fred. A track written by John. A song written by Travis Edmundson and another co-written by Travis and Allan Shaw. And one from our friend Bill Heilmann. And two from John Stewart.

And the track written by Fred called Where the River Meets the Sea. It’s hard for me to write this. The song was written a few days after the death of John Stewart. Fred sent it to me many times as he was fine tuning it and I kept reassuring him that it was coming along and would be a fine song. In all honestly, I was never able to listen to it. My friend Tom DeLisle, was able to hear it at Camp this year and it moved him so much that he recited the lyrics for the audience at one of the evening shows.

544 words are enough. I’m going to leave you with a song from the cd. It’s a John Stewart song called Long Train of Dreams. It was originally released on the Rocket Roy cd and later on several live releases. John tried to shop the song in Nashville but that’s a whole other story.

The cd is available  for purchase here:

China Sky

and here’s the song:

Long Train Of Dreams

I come home from the Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp and go through several weeks of sadness. Not because I didn’t have a great time visiting old friends and hearing plenty of music but because I know it will be almost a year before I see them again. This was the 13th Camp. I’ve missed three of them but been involved, one way or another, with them all. I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime and had more fun than anyone should be allowed to have. John Stewart was many things but the number one thing to me will be the fact that he brought so many people together through his music. It is a common  bond that is a beautiful thing that we share.

Every year, at Camp, I look forward to the new cd’s that my friends have done. This year I have three of them that feature the songs of John Stewart. Actually, there are four but the fourth one is another story and will be in another post.

Ed Callahan is a longtime Camper and one of the great guys. And a talented and understated musician. Ed’s voice and his playing are in a style that is his own. I hate it when someone says “He sounds just like…” Ed sounds just like Ed Callahan. Here he is, with his great friend and ex-Camper Jeff Fessenden, singing Moonlight Dream.

Moonlight Dream

 
And then there is the Toast of Detroit- or maybe he WAS Toast in Detroit- Tom Lamb. Tom was a Camper a few times and wore out his welcome. He wouldn’t go away so he became part of the Camp Band. He’s the guy who organizes and leads the group singing and is the guy who makes sure no one falls off the stage during those songs. Tom can play Banjo and Guitar but who knew he could play the piano, too? He can also sing. He’s married to Sue who is an angel. Here he is singing The Last Hurrah.

The Last Hurrah

 

And Tom O’Donnell- or as his cd says Tom O’Donnell and Friends. Tom has many friends. He’s one of the most considerate and gentle people I’ve known. It’s just so un-lawyerlike that you have to question whether he’s been an impostor all these years and he was really a veterinarian posing as a high-powered international attorney. It’s all good now, though, because he’s retired and now he and Cathy are living in the US and in the UK. He has friends everywhere he goes. Tom puts out a new cd almost every year and this year it’s almost exclusively the songs of John Stewart. The one that I’ve chosen is Those Who Are Wise. I know that I just posted John’s version but Tom’s voice is so perfect for this song that I had to do it, too.

Those Who Are Wise

Probably not grammatically correct but in the case of John Stewart’s music it’s certainly appropriate.

Recently I read an article in Smithsonian Magazine. It was an interview with Roseanne Cash and in the interview she discusses John and refers to him as her ‘songwriting mentor’. Roseanne is an excellent songwriter and her praise of John’s talent came from her heart. One of the things that John impressed on Rose was to look for the madness. I think what he meant was to look beyond the easy stuff and find the heart of the song; the part that reaches out and then won’t let you go.

John didn’t like to talk about songwriting. He gave interviews and, if pressed or bored, he would mouth some words about it but the bottom line was that it was very personal to him and he didn’t want to discuss it. He especially didn’t want to discuss it with fans.

Not long after September 11, 2001, one of my friends and a longtime fan of John’s put together a double cd of John’s songs that were specially relevant for that time in our world. He called it Overtones and he titled Disc One  Reality Interrupted and Disc Two  Aftertones. The cd’s contained some of John’s most stark and image filled songs. There are two songs on the cd that represented to me the best of John Stewart as a songwriter. It’s the combination of the music, the words and the emotion. I don’t know if I would have ever had the nerve to ask him where the songs came from or, if I did, he would have answered me. These aren’t love songs and they aren’t zipiddy-doo-dah songs.

Click the blue links to hear the songs.

Hand Your Heart To the Wind

Those Who Are Wise

What a bunch of guys! Over the years, John had some great players in his band. Some of them went on to play with other people but a hard-core crew played with John whenever they could.

After John’s passing a loose group consisting of Dave Batti, Dave Crossland, Bob Hawkins, John Hoke,Dennis Kenmore and Chuck McDermott joined up with Buffy Stewart and special guests Roseanne Cash, Jim Dawson, Pete and Maura Kennedy and John and Buffy’s niece Noelle Boucher to do a special Tribute Concert at the Towne Crier in Pawling, NY. The concert was video taped by the Hudson Valley Music Channel and released as a 70 minute long dvd.

The John Stewart Band plays John’s songs in the style that John liked best. They keep alive his vision of The World’s Loudest Folk Band! Since the guys are scattered across the US they don’t get a chance to play together very often. This year they are joining us in Scottsdale, Az. at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort on August 12th. It’s going to be a great show. Details can be found here:

Homecoming Records

Here is a song from the dvd. The first link is to the audio recording

Never Goin’ Back

and here is the link to the video on my Youtube Channel

Never Goin’ Back Video

The video is 70 minutes of great performance and is available from Dave Batti at Homecoming Records by following the above link.

Hope to see all of you in Scottsdale!

 

I’ve been on a video kick recently. I needed to learn a new program to replace the old video editing program that is no longer supported by my OS.

So I dug out some old tapes and files and posted  four John Stewart songs on Youtube.

The first two are from a VHS tape that Jim Roberts supplied. Jim and his son did this in Seattle in 1985. The video quality isn’t great but the sound and the performace is stellar. With John are Dave Batti on bass, Dennis Kenmore on drums and Thure Gray on keyboards.

John Stewart- Shady Grove and Coal Tattoo

and

You Can’t Go Back to Kansas

In May of 2003, Kris and I joined John for a short tour of Scotland. Our plan was to do three nights of video at the Turf Inn in Dalry, ancestral home of the great pubkeeper, Andy Fergus. We did 12 hours of video, I edited a little of it and we both forgot it existed. The quality is okay. On the dvd the last three songs have some synch issues but overall the performances make it a cool thing to see. Here are two clips:

One Eyed Joe

and

China Skies

Hope you enjoy them!