Happy Birthday, Townes

March 7, is the birthdate of the late Townes Van Zandt. I discovered Townes at about the same time I discovered John Stewart. His albums on Poppy were always a great discovery for me.

I kept up with him over the years but was never lucky enough to hear him perform live. One of the great things about Townes was his story-telling ability and, fortunately, many of these stories have been preserved in recordings. One of the great recordings was from the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and also featured Steve Earle and Guy Clark.

In 1991, Townes toured Ireland and Scotland as part of a package tour with Guy Clark, Peter Rowan and John Stewart. One of the venues where they performed was Roscrea, Ireland on August 31st, 1991.

During the tour Guy and Townes mostly performed together. I don’t know exactly why this was but my guess is that between the two of them they were just about able to do a set. I could be wrong about this, though.

This track is from that show. it’s a long one; shortly over 10 minutes in length. Townes tells a long rambling story and then sings Pancho and Lefty.

Happy Birthday, Townes.

Townes- A Long Story and Pancho and Lefty

Tim Dismang at the Bloodliner’s Reunion

This year’s Bloodliner’s Reunion and Trio Fantasy Camp may have the most music of any camp we’ve done.

In addition to the Camper shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and the concert by the John Stewart Band on Sunday evening we now also have a Sunday afternoon

House Concert showcasing Tim Dismang. many of you know Tim as a great Southern California singer-songwriter and a great friend and, sometimes, opening act for John Stewart.

Tim does his own songs as well as those by John and others and is a great guy and a fine talent.

This show is being held at the home of former Fantasy Camper, great photographer and all-round good guy, Ron Beliveau. Space is limited so I’d suggest contacting Ron and letting him

know that you’re coming.

Here is the show information:

 

 

Tim Dismang

House Concert

Sunday August 14th

1 to 3pm

Hosted by Ron Beliveau

18478 N 92nd St

Scottsdale, AZ

 

$10 Donation – all

proceeds go to the artist

 

Reservations:

ron.beliveau@yahoo.com

602-621-3552

Tim Dismang is a singer/songwriter who lives in California.  Many of you know Tim from Fantasy camp.  He will be performing both his own songs and those of John Stewart.

Come spend a few hours in an intimate setting on a Sunday afternoon listening to a fine musician and singer.

The indoor show starts at 1pm, doors open at noon.

CDs will be available for sale so bring some extra cash.  You will want to pick up a CD or two of tim’s.

Water, soft drinks and snacks will be provided.  Anything else is BYO.

 

I hope this is okay with Tim, I didn’t ask. Here’s a song from Tim’s Holy Roads cd. One of my favorites:

The Day The River Sang

Punch the Big Guy

Punch the Big Guy was recorded and released in 1987, first as an LP and then later on cassette. It was a great change from John’s previous recordings in that it was louder and the songs were produced to a higher level. I don’t mean to imply that his previous work wasn’t well-produced. Punch the Big Guy just took it to a different level with the addition of some echo in the vocals and some computer orchestration. It is, perhaps, his most critically acclaimed album. Many of the songs are ones that he would continue to do in live shows until the end of his life. Ticket To the Stars, Night of a Distant Star, Runaway Train, all were songs that he loved to sing.

Oddly enough, the song titled Punch the Big Guy was not on the album. Not many people have heard it and this recording, while not of great quality and in mono, is one of the best that I’ve been able to find. I don’t know why it was left off of the album; possibly due to the time constraints of the LP. Thanks go to Fred Grittner for cleaning up the audio file.

In any case, here is

Punch the Big Guy

John Stewart and Audiences

John loved messing with audiences. If he was in a good mood and the audience was awake he could have a great time AND do a great show. One of his favorite sayings was “There are bad shows and there are bad audiences. You just have to hope they don’t happen on the same night”.

This track was recorded on 10/16/1989 at The Winning Post in York, England. John was in great voice and, though you need to listen closely, the audience was ready for him.

Plus, it’s a really good version of one of my favorite songs.

Cannons In the Rain

1991- THE BARBICAN CENTRE- YORK, ENGLAND

In August of 1991, John Stewart did a short tour of Ireland and England with Guy Clark, Peter Rowan and Townes Van Zandt. Accompanying them on bass was Dave Batti.

Several of the gigs were recorded on tape and are historically interesting.

The tour was a little odd because it was billed as 4 From Texas. John, of course, had nothing to do with Texas and Peter Rowan was born in Boston. Townes and Guy must have carried the load for the billing.

In any case, John wasn’t much of a drinker which certainly left him the odd man out on this tour. John loved Townes and told a great story about a fire alarm going off late one night in a small hotel where they were staying. Townes rushed from his room wearing nothing but a Prussian Army helmet. No one had ever seen it before and never saw it again.

The format for the shows was that all four would do some songs as solos and then would do a short jam session at the end.

This recording was made on August 29, 1991, at the Barbican Centre in York, England. It’s a medley that John often did back in that era and is one of the best I’ve heard.

Thanks, Rod, for the preservation of this material. And thanks to Fred for cleaning it up

Running With the Renegades/Cody

January 19, 2008

Perhaps this isn’t the finest version of this song that John ever performed. From my vantage point-six feet from him- it could have been the best. It was the best I ever heard. It was Dalry, Scotland and The Turf Inn. September of 2003. John was booked for three shows in three nights and he asked Kris and me to come along and record them.

This was the first show. We had car problems on the way to Dalry and arrived minutes before the show was to start. John was being John. I was closest so I bore the brunt of his John-ness. When the show started neither of us wanted to look at the other guy which was difficult because we were only a few feet apart and I had a camera in his face.

John killed them. His voice was rugged and he occasionally hit a clinker on the guitar. But his raw emotion carried everything past the flaws. It was something to hear. On the last chorus you can hear some of the beautiful Scottish voices singing along.

Three years gone and I miss him every day.

Please. Today would you  listen to John Stewart’s music? Or, play it. Let’s keep the music alive.

Walk On the Moon

John Stewart- Auld Lang Syne

If you are a fan of John Stewart’s music and follow the music I post on this site you had to know this was going to happen.

In 1976, John was between labels. His relationship with record companies were always rocky and he knew that he had to present something really good to get their attention. What he came up with was an album that he recorded in two days in November of 1976. When he presented it to the record company one of the minor executives let him know that it wasn’t anything that they would be interested in putting out. John left the building and threw a copy of the tape to his friend Tom DeLisle. That was the last of it that John cared to talk about.

The music later wound up on the underground distribution that John’s fans had developed. It was known as The Piano Album.

In 2008, thanks to Tom DeLisle the cd was released on the Neon Dreams label.

This is the final song from the cd.

Auld Lang Syne

John and Buffy on Christmas Eve

John Stewart loved children. It was always a treat to see him at Fantasy Camp, on the floor explaining his latest gadget to the children in the room. And he loved giving. This was one of his favorite times of the year and always looked forward to being with his family and his friends.

Buffy, as a licensed and practicing angel, knows that this time of the year is her time to shine.

Here are two songs for your Christmas Eve. They are both from Buffy’s Christmas Album. The first is John singing Mary’s Baby and the second is Buffy doing Silent Night.

Peace to All and Be Well for the New Year.

Mary’s Baby

Silent Night

John Stewart Music On A Snowy December Day

It’s pretty well documented in his songs that John Stewart did not care for cold weather or snow. In later years he occasionally became irate when someone would suggest he might come East of Denver between October and May. He was a California kind of guy and it showed in his songs.

I can’t remember who it was, maybe Jimmy Buffett, who commented about fans who would come to a show to hear “that ONE SONG”. For me it was always California Bloodlines. John didn’t always do it but I was lucky enough to hear it many times.

This song is from a recording made at Tom Anderson’s place in Scottsdale. It was recorded in 2000, and John was playing the big-ass Taylor 12 string with 8 or 9 strings on it.

It’s a song I don’t mind hearing on a cold and snowy December day in Ohio.

California Bloodlines

A Little Bit of “Texas In Your Soul”

Here’s one I’d heard about but never heard. This song is from the Out Takes from the Secret Tapes album from about 1987. Great guitar and bass and a driving melody. Many of the songs that are on this Out Takes album later show up on other releases. However, the energy on these versions is outstanding.

NOTE:

I’ve just learned that this song was from the movie Baja Oklahoma and the lyrics were written by Dan Jenkins and the music by Willie Nelson. Willie sang with Leslie Ann Warren on the song at the end of the movie. Since the movie was released in 1988 it seems a little strange that John should record it. John did a few covers in concerts and at sound checks but rarely recorded them. I wonder if he and the band were just playing around in the studio and recorded this song. In any case, his version is much higher energy than the one used in the movie.

Thanks to Tom Thomas for the correction.

Texas In Your Soul