Havana. First a cassette and then, thanks to Jim Musselman and Appleseed Records, a cd. John first did the cassette for Neon Dreams in order to try out some of the new songs that he had written. Overall, it was a good, well-recorded cd and some of the songs were good ones. When Jim and John got together they changed some of the music and re-recorded other parts.

One song that was on both platforms was Dreams of the Starman or, as the cd has it, Starman. I’m not sure if this track is from the cassette or the cd. I believe it’s from the cassette as it’s 12 seconds shorter than the cd cut.

It’s John at his best. The imagery such as:

“If we would just live all our own lives
Leave other people alone
And if those who just love one another
Would not be the targets of stones

These are the dreams of the Starman
Even if he never is heard
These are the dreams of the Starman
Forever the keeper of words”

And John’s voice on this song is perfect for the lyrics. World weary and wise.

Dreams of the Starman

This track is from the UK-released RCA album titled Forgotten Songs of Some Old Yesterday. It’s a slightly re-mixed version of the cut from Wingless Angels.

John never liked the UK release. I don’t know why. Probably for the same reasons he didn’t like many of his own albums.

This song is one of my personal favorites. When i got up this morning I had intended to begin a series of posts with one track from each of the Neon Dreams releases.

I had even begun deciding which tracks to use. When I went for the cd’s, though, I found this one and here we go…

Hung On The Heart (Of A Man Back Home)

A year or so ago I experimented with putting several cd’s on CDbaby for digital download. The cool thing was that it opened up the Itunes, Napster and other digital markets to John’s Neon Dreams titles. As always, all proceeds from the sale of John’s music goes directly to Buffy.

If you’re interested in seeing the CDbaby page you can go here:

John Stewart at CDbaby

My friend Bill Bush asked me to share this with you. This is my first post that doesn’t have a song attached and I’m glad that, at least it’s about one of my favorite people, Nick Reynolds.

Bill Bush and Nick Reynolds were dear friends. Bill is responsible for this project with the Martin Guitar Company and he was very happy that Nick lived long enough to know that it was going to happen.

Bob Shane sang like an angel (still does, actually) and John Stewart wrote the songs and made the music. Nick Reynolds, though, was the heart and soul of the Kingston Trio.

Bill asked me to share the specs with you.

With Camp coming up in about 8 weeks I thought this would be a great time to post this song.

In case you don’t know the history of the Camp; it was started by John Stewart in 1999 as the Trio Fantasy Camp. The concept was to bring Trio Music fans together in Scottsdale, Az. The Campers would form Trios of their own and also perform on stage with the John Stewart and Nick Reynolds as the third member of the Trio. For a number of years we were asked not to use the name “Kingston Trio” in any of the promotion for the Camp. In later years this became a non-issue as Bob Shane gave John great support at the Camp. When John passed away the decision was made to continue the Camp as The Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp. The Camp takes place this year from August 4-7 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Running along with the Camp is the Bloodlines Reunion. the Bloodliners are John’s internet group. Sometimes referred to as fanatics, the Bloodliners have been the hosts for some great parties at Camp every year.

This song was adapted and performed  by Fred Grittner. If you listen closely you’ll hear many familiar names. My favorite is “Nick the trickster”.

Going Home- Fred Grittner

Just for comparison’s sake (and also because it’s fun and a great song) here is John doing Lucky Old Sun at Jimmy Duke’s house in 2003. this song is from the Even the Band Had Fun  cd on the Neon Dreams label.

Lucky Old Sun, Part Two