Ten Pounds of Possum…In My Headlights Tonight

And now for some thing completely different…

We’re in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the 12th Annual Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp. Every year we have a few special guests at Camp. This year, one of our guests is Jim Connor, probably the best frailing banjo player in the world. Jim was a member of the New Kingston Trio with Bob Shane and Pat Horine. He also wrote Grandma’s Feather Bed which was a big hit for John Denver.

Jim is a great guy and a wonderful performer and story-teller. This is an old song but Jim has added lyrics and made it into a very timely piece of music. It’s called Ten Pounds of Possum.

Ten Pounds of Possum

John Stewart and His Dreams of Neon

As many of you may know, I began working with John Stewart in early 2000. I’d been a fan for many years and had seen him in California and in the midwest. Like many of his fans I was too intimidated to speak to him. He had that effect on some people. That all changed one afternoon when we found ourselves struggling to hook up a video projector at the John Stewart Ultimate Weekend in Naperville, Il. We started talking and soon became friends. John had many interests and I shared a good many of them. After the Weekend was over we found ourselves talking by phone almost every day. Then he convinced me (and Dave) to get the Motorola Talkabouts so we could email each other any time we wanted. Sort a Pre-Tweet thing.

At this time, John was releasing some material with Appleseed Records. Jim Musselman was a good friend to John and John fit well with the Appleseed lineup. But John also loved to tinker and when home recording of cd’s came around he spent many hours working on new songs. Many of these became cd’s that he would sell at gigs. Sometimes they had music on them and sometimes they were blank. It was a little primitive back in those days and sometimes he didn’t pay attention to what he was doing. When he did something new he would send the cd’s to me and to Tom DeLisle, A few days would go by and Tom would email and say “How did you like it?” and I’d say “I thought the volume was a little low.” Then we’d call and make some excuse about how we had damaged the disc and could he burn us another. If he were with us today I’d be getting the dog-stare right now.

In any case, Kris and I began helping him with Neon Dreams. we had the cd’s mass produced and inserts printed. It was far from slick but the quality of the music was always good. One of the last projects we worked on was the Tanforan cd. John wanted to do a cd of older material but sung in his mature voice and sung as he would experience the songs at his age. The title was going to be Macon, 1957. The first song he did was July You’re A Woman.

I think this was recorded at Jimmy Dukes’ house in the San Diego Hills. Dave Batti on bass, Dennis Kenmore on drums and John Hoke on guitar. John referred to the band as Johnny and the Nasty Britches.

Here it is, sung as a ballad. I hope you enjoy it.

July- Sung as a ballad

The Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp-2011

Camp is just around the corner. I’m leaving on August 4th, and driving out to Scottsdale this year. Traveling with a guitar is much easier by car.

I’ve been thinking of all of the Camps. This one will be number twelve. I’ve been involved in all of them and attended all but three. It’s been many years since I missed one.

The Camp started with John Stewart. It would have ended with John’s death if Bob and Bobbie Shane hadn’t stepped up their involvement. John always insisted that the Camp was not a John Stewart Fantasy Camp. It was always a Trio Fantasy Camp and it was always about the music. There have been some great moments at Camp. Many great Campers and great Bloodliners who supported John and provided the framework for what has become a great four day party.

With John’s passing the torch went  to The Kingston Trio. A great bunch of guys and really fun to be around. The history of the Trio is a long and interesting history. When Nick moved to Oregon and John decided to write and perform his own songs, Bob Shane realized that he really loved to sing as part of a group. He formed The New Kingston Trio and the fun began. The first group that sung under than name consisted of Bob, Pat Horine and a great banjo player named Jim Connor. Pat is gone now but Jim is still perhaps the best frailing banjo player in the world. Jim will be joining us at Camp this year and holding court in the Cactus Room with Greg and Janet Deering as well as playing a few songs at the concerts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

The sound of The New Kingston Trio was different from that of The Kingston Trio. It had more of a country edge to it but the harmonies and the music was at  the same high level.

The New Kingston Trio cd’s are available from The Kingston Trio Store and from Rediscover Music.

The Kingston Trio Store

Rediscover Music

Here is The New Kingston Trio singing a John Stewart song; Oldest Living Son.

Oldest Living Son

John Stewart Article from Songwriter Magazine-1979

My friend Fred Grittner found this article and forwarded it to me. It’s a very revealing look at John and his attitudes toward songwriting and, in particular, the Bombs Away Dream Babies era of his music. John didn’t like to analyze his songs so it’s particularly interesting to hear his thoughts on this period of his career. This is a .pdf file and should download and open in either Adobe Reader or Preview.

Thanks, Fred, for sending it along.

 

John Stewart- Songwriter Magazine- 1979

Bombs Away Dream Babies Interview From 1980

A friend from Scotland, Tom Craig, recently sent me this interview from 1980. In the interview John speaks about the making of the Bombs Away Dream Babies album. Fascinating insights into the songs and the making of the album.

 

After my original posting of this interview I received a message from Peter O’Brien. Peter was the editor of the great music magazine Omaha Rainbow. Omaha Rainbow ran this interview back in 1980, and Peter had this to say:

 

Paul, I published the complete interview in the 24th issue (Summer 1980) of my magazine, Omaha Rainbow. John was interviewed at his home in Malibu, CA, on Wednesday 13 February 1980 by Roger Scott, and was subsequently broadcast in part on his London Capital Radio Shows on Tuesday 8 & Friday 11 April. What is heard here is the interview sections from that show minus the songs played. Somewhere in the mess that purports to be my office I’m pretty sure I have cassettes of the complete two broadcasts. Roger was a great champion of John’s work (and Bruce Springsteen’s) but sadly died of cancer some years ago.

John Stewart Interview

Lost Her In the Sun- York, England- 1989

Kris and I just returned home from a 3 1/2 week trip to the UK. Most of the trip was in northern Scotland but we finished off with three days in one of our favorite cities, York. John loved York and played there almost every trip to the UK. One of my favorite memories was the year that we met him and Gillian Walker aka Sparkle, at the York rail station. John got off the train wearing his big hat, cowboy boots and the guitar over his shoulder. It was a sight to remember. I’ve written about that adventure elsewhere and there is a very cool video clip on my Youtube channel that I did in the dressing room (dirty, dark, dank closet) at Fibbers.

Chasing Down the Rain video clip

Here is a song from The Winning Post gig. It was done in October of 1989, and John was in full throttle on the guitar, harmonica and vocals. He loved messing around with medleys and this was a good one.

Lost Her In the Sun Medley

Derby Day- 2011

John Stewart loved horses. He also loved everything that went along with horses. The behind the scenes stuff that only someone who had lived a big part of their early lives surrounded by the horse racing scene. John’s father was a horse trainer. He worked with trotters and pacers; primarily in California but also in Kentucky.

John was fascinated by the horses as is evident in many of his songs. One of my best memories is of John singing Let the Big Horse Run in Lexington, Kentucky, at the Woodsongs Radio Show. The audience went wild. Later in his life he became friends with Julie Krone and her husband Jay Hovdey. They were both very kind to John and their friendship lasted until John’s death. Julie, of course, was a great jockey and the only woman to ever win a Triple Crown race. Jay is a terrific writer for the Racing Journal. Together, with their daughter Lorelei, they gave John many hours and days of fun at the track.

So here’s a song for Derby Day. It combines two of John’s best themes; horses and losers. Though the horse isn’t the loser in this song.

I’m not a gambler but maybe a double sawbuck on Rosie riding Pants On Fire today at Churchill Downs.

In this picture, John is pulling his brother Michael, followed by their mother

Tanforan

Spencer Lewis and The Children of Bethel, Vermont

Spencer Lewis. Some of you may know about Spencer. He’s been a long-time Bloodliner and supporter of John Stewart and his music. He’s been an outstanding multi-instrumentalist, composer and performer for even longer. Spencer lives in Vermont on 45 acres of land. He builds stone fences from old field stones and  produces his own music. He also gives back to his community in many ways. One of the most enjoyable ways is through his music. On April 30, 2011, Spencer produced a concert in the Bethel Town Hall to benefit the Bethel Food Shelf. He was joined by some of his friends including some of the children from Randolph, Vermont.

This John Stewart song is perfect. It’s not a novelty performance as so many of the songs that feature young voices can be. This one is from the heart and is one of the sweetest songs I’ve heard.

Photos by the California Roadman.

Here is a link to Spencer Lewis and his music:

http://www.spencerlewismusic.com/

and here is Spencer and the children of Bethel, Vermont singing

The Man Who Would Be King

Mark Cashman- January 16, 2011

One of the greatest gifts that John Stewart made was the gift of bringing friends together. Early on in the internet era John, Michelle Stevens, Ron Beffa and others started an internet chat group on AOL. It soon outgrew AOL and became Bloodlines; an internet group dedicated to John’s music. It also became the gathering place for some of the best people in the world. Lifelong friendships were made on the Bloodlines.

We recently lost one of the best. Mark Cashman passed of  cardiac arrest on January 16, 2011. Mark loved music in general and John in particular. He was a frequent audience member whenever John played on the East coast and was known for his kindness and generosity to other Bloodliners. Mark was an accomplished musician and loved to play.

In 1999, along with a group of Bloodliners, Mark produced the Liner Notes cd that featured performances, by other Bloodliners, of John’s songs. Mark’s musical contribution was this great version of Cheyenne.

Our thoughts go out to Mark’s wife, Nancy. He will be missed by all of us.

Mark Cashman-Cheyenne

photograph of Mark and Nancy Cashman at The Turning Point-2000 by the California Roadman

Hope

Sometimes things just sort of seem to land in your lap when you need them the most. It’s been a rough last few months. I’m not complaining about my life because I’ve got it pretty easy compared to the people of northern Japan, Libya, the Ivory Coast and a thousand other places.

This song just jumped out at me today. I don’t think it was ever released on an album and I don’t know why it wasn’t. it could be one of those great songs that John decided could be something else that was better. He did that with a lot of very good songs; songs that would have stood on their own. But that was John.

In later years John didn’t play harmonica very often. In this song he screws the lyrics up a couple of times. That was John, too. Never sang a song the same way once.

This song is called Hope. It was recorded on 10/16/89 at the Winning Post in York, England.

Hope