After my previous post of Michael Stewart doing Looking Back Johanna I started looking around for John’s own version of the song. I found that my favorite was the last song on the Front Row Music double cd set. We video taped the performance at the Turf Inn in Dalry, Scotland in 2000, and it became the Front Row Moonlight video as well as the Front Row Music cd.

After John’s death I posted the video on my Youtube channel but due to time constraints I couldn’t include Looking Back Johanna.

This is the final track from the cd. It’s a medley of Looking Back Johanna, Missouri Birds, Cowboy in the Distance and If You Should Remember Me.

The cd and dvd can be ordered at our store link on the home page.

Front Row Music Medley

This was recorded at Fibbers in York, England, on the 12th of September, 2000.

John was in the UK to aid in the release of the Wires From the Bunker album. Kris and I had met him at the train station in York earlier in the day and walked with him around York. It was something to see. A tall guy with a cowboy hat and a guitar over his shoulder, a guy following him with a video camera, Kris and Sparkle and Chris, the show’s promoter. All of us walking through the crowds at York Minster trying to find the radio station. Some of the footage made it to the Front Row Moonlight video.

This show was a few nights before the gig in Dalry that we filmed for the Front Row Moonlight video. I also taped this show but because the lighting was so poor it didn’t work out very well.

John’s fans are an interesting lot. I’m still meeting people that I’ve known for years through the internet. Putting a face to the name is a struggle sometimes. On the day that this was recorded Kris and I were walking down the hill from the York City Centre to our B and B. Just ahead of us was a guy headed the same direction who kept looking our way. When we got to the B and B we discovered that it was Rod Geddes who was, at that time, the vicar on the Isle of Man. Rod has since returned to the mainland and is the vicar in Gargrave in Yorkshire. We have visited him several times and got alot out of his knowledge of John’s music.

John had only a few cover songs. He loved the Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, Steve Earle and a few others. Here he does Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale. He changes the lyrics slightly and commented to me later that he wasn’t sure anyone noticed. I particularly love the guitar work in this song.

Whiter Shade of Pale

John’s daughter, Amy, has organized a Team to raise funds in the 2010 Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk.

Amy’s Team Goal is $3,000. If anyone wold care to contribute; here is the link.

Amy’s Memory Walk Team

I’ve spent the last few days trying to find where this track came from. I was pretty sure it was from about 1987, because Chris Mostert is playing a great wailing sax on this song. I just spoke with Dave Batti and he says he played the bass and Dennis Kenmore was on drums. He doesn’t remember where it came from either or even what the song is called.

So here is what I think is an unreleased cut. This was done during the time when John was really playing some rock and roll. The interesting thing about this song to me is the time change about half way through.

If anyone knows the origins I’d love to hear what they are.

UPDATE: I think I may have found the origins of the song. The Vicar, Rod Geddes of Gargrave, Yorkshire, identified the song as Hunger in Your Heart and the time frame as about 1986. He refers to it as an ‘outtake from the Secret Tapes Sessions’.

Thanks Rod.

Hunger In Your Heart

Over the years I have accumulated a number of different live recordings. They encompass many years and vary widely in the quality of the recording.

I’m going to try to load some of the highlights here over the next few weeks and months.

I don’t know where this track was recorded. I know that John rarely performed it live. I heard him do it once and that was at the John Stewart Ultimate Weekend in Chicago in 2000.

Cat- This one is for me and you.

Signals to Ludi