John Stewart

John Stewart

The purpose of this page, and of similar pages that may follow, is to provide folks with an introduction to a musical artist or group who I feel deserves more attention. In this case, I am introducing John Stewart. Below I provide a non-chronological history of his career in which I provide some of my opinions about his work, include some facts that may be interesting or surprising, and do a good bit of name checking.  The name checking is done primarily to provide added context and to perhaps help people draw connections between John Stewart and artists they already know and/or to provide further avenues for people, who already like or learn to like John Stewart, to explore.

Realizing that some folks will not want to do a bunch of reading about an artist they do not know, I will provide some quick pointers to get these folks started.

John Stewart recommended listening:

• Bombs Away Dream Babies (1979). If you are a fan of 70s pop-rock especially Fleetwood Mac, then this is the place to start.

  
  

• Punch the Big Guy (1987). If you like something a little more challenging and thoughtful and like music that mixes genres, then this is the place to start.

  
  

• Cannons in the Rain (1973). If your tastes lean more towards (60s-70s) country, then this is the place to start.

  
  

• Wingless Angels (1975).  If your tastes lean more towards 70s singer-songwriters, then this is the place to start.

  
  

• College Concert by the Kingston Trio (1962).  If your tastes lean more towards very traditional, old-school folk music, then this is the place to start.

My Discussion

There are many places one could begin a discussion of John Stewart. Maybe 1961 when he joined the Kingston Trio. Or later in the 60s when he began his career as a solo artist. Or about a decade later, when he had his big hit, “Gold”.

Punch the Big Guy

However, here we will begin with what I consider his triumph, 1987’s Punch the Big Guy. I suspect that there are not a lot of people who have heard this album.

While this album features John Stewart’s incredible songwriting, this album also contains some incredibly innovative instrumentation and production. Of note is “Midnight of the World" on which Stewart is backed by Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, and Pat Flynn of the New Grass Revival. The virtuosity of New Grass Revival is undeniable. The combination of incredible musicians, meaningful lyrics, and John Stewart’s road-worn vocals is magical. The music performed by New Grass Revival is sometimes referred to as progressive bluegrass, and here the progressive music is combined with thoughtful songs harkening back to another progressive bluegrass band, The Dillards, performing Daniel Moore’s deep songs.  

Another interesting production flourish is the extensive use of delay on the guitars. The effect can be heard on the opening track “Angels with Guns” and even more prominently on “Ticket to the Stars”. It is not - in the overall world of rock music - an innovative approach, especially in 1987. U2’s the Edge had been using this sort of approach for years and given the success of U2 many folks jumped on the delay train. What is interesting is to hear this effect used in what are essentially country-folk songs.  On “Angels with Guns” the delayed guitar fills blend beautifully with the folky arpeggiated rhythm. On “Ticket to the Stars” the notes swirl around, among, and through each other in a manner that does not just color the guitar parts but serve to create new guitar parts essentially replicating the Edge’s approach to the guitar and applying it to a folk song. The approach can also be heard more subtly applied on “So I Can Take My Rest” on Robert Earl Keen’s 1993 album A Bigger Piece of Sky. Both Punch the Big Guy and A Bigger Piece of Sky were produced by Garry Velletri. Velletri also produced Keen’s 1994 album, Gringo Honeymoon. One cannot help but think about what “Think It Over One Time” might have sounded with the New Grass Revival, if Velletri or Keen had coaxed them in for the session. 

I suspect that I was introduced to this album and reintroduced to John Stewart through his appearance on Ralph Emery’s Nashville Now where I would have heard stripped down versions of "Hunters of the Sun" and “Runaway Train”. (Yes, that is THE Ralph Emery about whom The Byrds wrote “Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man”. See sidebar.)  It seemed that around this time John Stewart was everywhere I looked. “Runaway Train,” was released as the fourth single from Rosanne Cash’s album, King's Record Shop, spent a total of 14 weeks in the top 40, and reached number one. John Stewart appeared on Nanci Griffith’s album, Little Love Affairs, on his composition, "Sweet Dreams Will Come".  A few years later “Strange Rivers” would be included on Joan Baez’s 1992 album, Play Me Backwards, which also contained “Stones in the Road,” by Mary Chapin Carpenter, who had recorded “Runaway Train” for her debut album, Hometown Girl, though “Runaway Train” was not included on the album.

A final point before we leave Punch the Big Guy. Another interesting thing about this album is that someone went out of their way to include in the liner notes that the initial track for “Angels with Guns” and “Children of the New Frontier” were recorded in a hotel room on a Fostex-B 16 track. Despite Stewart’s incredible talent both as a performer and a songwriter, he struggled to find record labels. It may have been a letter writing campaign that landed him the record deal with RSO that eventually led to his biggest hit, “Gold,” from Bombs Away Dream Babies. RSO then released Dream Babies Go Hollywood. His next release, Blondes, was released on Polydor in Sweden, but Allegiance Records in the U.S. After Blondes, all his albums were either released by smaller labels or self-released. But Stewart had already embarked on his own ‘indie’ path, the two albums that preceded Punch the Big Guy, Centennial (1984) and The Last Campaign (1985), were both released on John Stewart’s own Homecoming Records.

The Fostex-B 16 track was 17” high, 17 ½” wide, 9 ¼” deep, and weighted 67 pounds.  It was light enough to carry into a hotel room. The unit cost $5,900, which if it was charged to the Punch the Big Guy project, would have been more than a tenth of the overall budget for the album according to some reports. The guy who had sung with the Kingston Trio, written “Daydream Believer,” and stuck gold with “Gold” was essentially creating outsider music on semi-professional equipment and therefore doing anything he damned well pleased. The instrumentals on Centennial were not going to be hit singles, and no record company was going to pay for this stuff, but the songs and production of Punch the Big Guy can be heard on Centennial. “Indian Summer” is clearly an early, instrumental draft of “Botswana”. Stewart was, as he often seems to be doing in his work, building towards something, while doing something else that he also wanted to do. “Montana Crossing” is a pop song waiting for lyrics – or with the lyrics stripped away.

It is hard not to view Centennial as a strange, one-man, outsider, prog-folk album. It even has the more than 8-minute “Behind the Wheel”. If Centennial is Stewart’s prog-folk album, like 1970s Genesis, then perhaps Punch the Big Guy was Stewart’s Abacab. After all, it did spawn a hit single – albeit for Rosanne Cash.

Gold

In 1977 Stewart released the album, Fire in the Wind, through RSO. In 1979 he released Bombs Away Dream Babies. The story is that John Stewart was trying to learn to play electric guitar after years of playing banjo and acoustic guitar. Most people play an electric guitar with picks. Stewarts fingerpicked – often with a thumb pick. Stewart has told the story that one day he heard Lindsey Buckingham playing with Fleetwood Mac and realized that Buckingham was playing bajo rolls. Stewart learned to play electric guitar listening to Buckingham play on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. He was later told that Buckingham had told people that he learned to play guitar listening to Kingston Trio albums.  

This all eventually led to Buckingham producing, singing on and playing on Bombs Away Dream Babies, which then led to a couple of guest vocals by Stevie Nicks as well. The effort produced three Top 40 singles: "Gold" (No. 5), "Midnight Wind" (No. 28), and "Lost Her in the Sun" (No. 34).

But it was not easy getting there.  Stewart had previously been signed to three big record labels: Capitol, RCA, and Warner Brothers. To keep releasing albums he needed to focus his efforts. He set his sights on RSO, he knew Al Coury who had just been named RSO’s new President, and he asked his fans to start a letter writing campaign to get him signed. After pushing so hard to get signed, he now had to deliver. This did not go well.

Mentor Williams was brought in as producer, and Stewart was told Mentor was a big fan, but it turned out Mentor had never heard any of Stewart’s albums and really didn’t know what to do with him. Mentor Williams was the brother of Paul Williams. He had written “Drift Away”, which became a huge hit for Dobie Gray. Mentor was a country songwriter, and for both Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” session and for John Stewart’s Fire in the Wind he enlisted country players among them the incredible guitar player Reggie Young who arguably made Drift Away what it became as much as anyone involved. However, in 1972 when someone who looked and sounded like Dobie Gray sang over a country band it came across as swampy and soulful and spelled international success, but in 1977 when John Stewart sang over a country band, it just sounded country. Like all Stewart albums Fire in the Wind contains some great songs, but it seemed that Stewart was ready to write some rockers (or at least rockier pop songs) about the wild side of women running naked in the sun, but was stuck singing over pedal steels, honky-tonk pianos, and a thumpy 1/3 kick drums. Fire in the Wind is a good album with some great songs, but it is not the kind of album that was going to break for an aging folk singer in 1977. Fire in the Wind was just edgy enough to be 1950s rock, maybe 1960s pop, but it was only pop-leaning country by 1977.

When it came time to start working on a new album, RSO gave Stewart an ultimatum. He had to deliver a hit, or he was out. In steps Lindsey Buckingham, but Buckingham had his own things going on. Remember Rumors, the album Stewart was learning electric guitar from? It had been a huge hit. Not only did it sell big in the late 1970s, but its success continues to reverberate. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003. It was included in the National Recording Registry in 2017 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Buckingham was working on a follow-up, and he had already decided that the follow-up had to be something grand and different. That follow-up would be Tusk. Tusk ended up being a double album with Buckingham playing all the instruments on several songs, and it included a marching band. With only 24 hours in a day there is only so much one cocaine-fueled musician can do, so at some point Buckingham left Stewart alone to finish Bombs Away Dream Babies with instructions to turn the knobs ‘til it sounds good.  

From the opening of “Gold” it is obvious that Bombs Away Dream Babies is not country. A 40-year-old folk singer in front of a country band can’t be cool, but 40 year old folk singer in front of Fleetwood Mac can be. And Stewart needed to be cool if he was going to deliver the hits RSO demanded. What is amazing about the album is that somehow it still sounds like John Stewart. Sure Lindsey Buckingham is in there, but John Stewart was also already somewhere deep in Fleetwood Mac. The production is glossy and sort of Fleetwood-Mac-y, but these are good songs; songs that sound just as good – sometimes better – when they are just Stewart and an acoustic guitar. 

If Bombs Away Dream Babies was the album Stewart had to make, Dream Babies Go Hollywood was more an album he wanted to make. Stewart was the sole producer. The studio musicians were more rock than country. Stewart has stated that the album was an indulgence, a chance to bring in his varied influences. He has also stated that the album is intentionally imperfect and human. Rather than bringing in a Reggie Young, a Lindsey Buckingham, or some other guitar superstar, Stewart plays all the guitars himself. When the verses in “Wind on the River” take a decidedly Everly Brother turn, it makes perfect sense to hear Phil Everly singing along.

Though Dream Babies Go Hollywood may have been seen by Stewart as indulgent and was intentionally human and imperfect, it was not one of those ‘give the finger to record label’ albums. There are credible singles on the album, and some star power with backing vocals by Phil Everly, Nicolette Larson, and Linda Ronstadt. “Hollywood Dreams” and “Wheels of Thunder” have hooks, and “Odin (Spirit of the Water)” sounds a good bit like “Gold” if not a little more like Fleetwood Mac than anything on Bombs Away Dream Babies – though to record buyers in 1980 whalers were nowhere near as cool as rockstars. When “Night Wind” begins it could be mistaken for a cover of “Gold” though it is obviously Stewart taking himself and the industry down a notch. It is interesting to think about Stewart himself playing the angry guitar solo. If Centennial is Stewart’s prog-folk album, the guitar on “Night Wind” is Stewart’s folk-punk, not punk but maybe the most punk one can expect from a 40-year-old folk singer. “Love Has Tied My Wings” probably could have been a hit song for some late eighties or early nineties country act. Backed by New Grass Revival, it probably could have been a huge hit for Garth Brooks. There is commercial stuff on this album. I have not been able to find any evidence that singles were released. But the album is also scattered and probably expects too much of most listeners. One is not sure whether they should square dance or pogo to “Midnight Rider”.

From what I can tell Stewart indulged his fantasy for maybe four months. Buckingham spent, by his own estimate, about 10 months in the studio at a cost of about $1.4 million making Tusk, the most expensive rock album ever recorded at the time. I personally like Bombs Away Dream Babies better than Dream Babies Go Hollywood, but Dream Babies Go Hollywood is a good album. I must also admit that Tusk is my favorite Fleetwood Mac album. Lindsay Buckingham was a genius, but if Buckingham’s intent with Tusk was to put a foot in the punk or post-punk world, it must be said that Dream Babies Go Hollywood probably got closer. Stewart had things to say and things to be angry about that were far more relevant to average folks than anything on Tusk, and even years later a lot more was said on Punch the Big Guy for $50,000 in 1987 than on Tusk for $1.4 million in 1979. Though without Buckingham teaching Stewart to turn the knobs until things sounded good and teaching him to have fun in the studio we may never have gotten to Punch the Big Guy.

One final note before we leave Bombs Away Dream Babies, Lindsey Buckingham’s first solo album, Law and Order, included the rather odd track "Johnny Stew," which is about John Stewart. In response John Stewart recorded “Liddy Buck,” which was not available until it was released on Teresa and the Lost Songs in 1998 where the liner notes indicate the song was about Buckingham’s decision to leave Fleetwood Mac.

Daydream Believer

In 1967 The Monkees recorded “Daydream Believer,” a song written by John Stewart. The single reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1967 and remained there for four weeks.  Stewart has stated that he was reluctant to change the lyrics from ‘funky’ to ‘happy’, but quickly changed his mind when he learned what he would be paid for the song.

The John Stewart and Buffy Ford album, Signals Through the Glass, was released in 1968. It is the only album in Stewart’s catalog that is credited to both John Stewart and the future Buffy Ford-Stewart. One of the oddest experiences of listening to this album is hearing on the song "Lincoln's Train" Buffy Ford chanting “Poor Mr. Lincoln. Who could do a thing like that?” and feeling strangely like one has just heard Tina Weymouth “rapping” in “Genius of Love”. Overall the song has that combination of folk, pop, and psychedelia with everything evoking the feeling of a train station, from the chugging acoustic guitar, to the swelling vocals, to the snippets of conversations on the platform. It is also interesting to realize that John Stewart’s solo recording career began with a song about a pivotal assassinated leader when the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy hangs over so much of his music – especially later in his life. “Nebraska Widow” begins with a very sixties, psychedelic bass line and guitar bend all played on acoustic guitar before Ford’s Grace Slick style vocal begins.  The version of “July, You’re a Woman” on Signals Through the Glass sounds suspiciously like Glen Campbell’s version of “Gentle on my Mind” – at least until the brass section kicks in – and then it just sounds weird. “Santa Barbara” contains one of the most evocative and apparently least well known – based on a Google search - descriptions of love, “How his eyes were full of mine.” “Signals to Ludi” is a difficult song to hear especially considering that these themes will carry through the rest of Stewarts work.

Signals Through the Glass has a glossy, highly-orchestrated, ethereal feel – very much a product of its time. 

1969’s California Bloodlines takes a different approach. The production is much simpler and many of the musicians on Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline also play on California Bloodlines – no horn section this time. There are no clunkers or filler. There are no tracks I would, or have, skipped when listening to this album. The version of “July, You’re a Woman” on California Bloodlines is much pared down and better than the version on Signals Through the Glass – though still sort of reminiscent of “Gentle on my Mind,” which probably makes sense given that Stewart and Hartford both played the banjo, and both were named John. The album is mostly upbeat. Even “Mother Country” which involves a lot of dying old folks was hopeful enough to make it onto Buzz Aldrin’s mixtape that he played on the return trip of the Apollo 11 mission. A faster, harder-edged version of “Never Goin’ Back” can be heard on The Beat Farmers’ 1985 album, Tales of the New West.

While many seem to consider California Bloodlines to be John Stewart’s signature (or best album),  Willard is even better. It is much more varied. The third track is a Cajun-style tune with Doug Kershaw lending his distinctive fiddler and vocals. The other fiddle player was the amazingly talented and versatile but rarely mentioned Chris Darrow. Things get weird as one digs further into the musicians on the session. Bill Mumy is credited with playing cowbells on "Big Joe," and yes, this is the Billy Mumy of Lost in Space and Babylon 5 acting fame, and half of the music duo Barnes and Barnes who recorded the 1979 song, “Fish Heads”. Mike Stewart is credited with guitar on one track, which is not unusual since he was John Stewart’s brother and an established musician. What is sort of unexpected is that Mike Stewart also produced Billy Joel’s Piano Man. For those of you interested in such things. Billy Mumy played cowbells on “Big Joe” and produced “Fish Heads”. The video for “Fish Heads” was directed by Bill Paxton. Bill Paxton starred with Kevin Bacon in Apollo 13. And just to prove how odd the world can be, Apollo 13 was directed by Ron Howard who many people confuse with Billy Mumy – especially when the two were young. Other players on the album include the less surprising James Taylor, Peter Asher, Russ Kunkel, Carole King, Norbert Putnam, and Danny Kortchmar. “All-American Girl” is a standout, as it seems to be to a rather progressive and insightful song about a young girl coming of age that one would not to expect to find on the album.  

At this point Stewart moves from Capitol Records to Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers obviously had no idea what to do with him. Lonesome Picker Rides Again, Stewart’s third solo album from 1971, goes all in on the country sound, but John Stewart is not a cowboy, so it doesn’t quite work. John tries to drawl and even to yodel, but he does neither well. Even the best songs on Lonesome Picker Rides Again just aren’t that good. “Wolves in the Kitchen” is a fast paced, passable tune with near ceaseless lap steel guitar. Presumably it is Chris Darrow on lap steel, but somehow even in his capable hands it is mostly just an annoying whine. The song also sounds more like Neil Diamond than John Stewart. Nothing on the album sounds like John Stewart until, “Little Road and a Stone to Roll,” which is probably the best song on the album. After “Little Road and a Stone to Roll” comes the song that presumably has kept John Stewart and his family fed throughout these doldrums, “Daydream Believer”. Here it is slow and plodding with hoof-like clomping congas. Perhaps this was a reaction to the overly cheery Monkees version, but it goes too far and leaves the tune lifeless and hokey – especially with the new ‘impromptu lyrics’ and the country vamping. It may be that Warner Brothers insisted one the “cover” and John was thumbing his nose at them. Despite the fact that John Stewart’s father was actually a horse trainer, even the two songs closing album, both the ‘horses’ in their names, seem contrived.

Sunstorm is another lackluster Warner Bothers album. The playing is better, but still mostly unimaginative.  “Cheyenne” has a cool drum part. Both James Burton and Larry Carlton appear on the album, so there are some great guitar moments. “Sunstorm” has a slightly off-kilter sound that is interesting. It showcases the players much better than it does Stewart’s singing or songwriting. It probably would have been better as an instrumental. “Arkansas Breakout” is genuinely funky. After this, the album has little to offer. Bill Mumy is back, this time providing handclaps.

Stewart then moved to RCA. Apparently, he also tried his hand at acting, but lost out to Kris Kristofferson. Cannons in the Rain from 1973 maintains the country feel but moves somewhat more towards the singer-songwriter/folk/country-rock direction. It is difficult to say why (or even how) but Cannons in the Rain sounds more authentic and more like Stewart. Stewart’s brother, Mike, was out as producer and Nic Venet was in. Brian Wilson credits Nic Venet as his teacher when it came to production. The production is clean and punchy. The life that was missing from the Warner Brothers albums is here. The album also has singles. “Roadaway” and “Cannons in the Rain” could have both been hits for someone – if not John Stewart. “Armstrong/Spirit” are hopefully and deep and deceptively simple – pairing a rocket and an arrow pointed at the sky with an undercurrent of optimism while singing of war and poverty. “Lady and The Outlaw” seems like a nod to the outlaw country movement that was just developing at the time, but Stewart was not an outlaw. Unlike Waylon and Willie – and eventually Kris – Stewart did not have artistic control, though he was apparently itching for it. He describes that he wanted Cannons in the Rain to have a mood and texture to it and has said he knew exactly what he wanted. He credits guitarist Fred Carter Jr., who he calls out on the album, as helping him get it.  However, to give some context of where Stewart’s career was at the time and how things can change, the August 1973 issue of Country Music People magazine has Tex Withers on the cover and states in a feature about John Stewart, “Although John Stewart has not achieved the success of his contemporaries like John Prine, Kristofferson, Steve Goodman and Mickey Newbury, he still has a lot to offer the country listener who like music in the new bag.” Success can be measured in many ways, and I am not sure how true this statement was even back in 1973, but today surely John Stewart fits neatly into this list.

Wingless Angels sees Nic Venet back as producer. Stewart has finally rid himself of the cowboy hat and appears on the cover as a very relaxed, very 70s aviator. “Wingless Angels/Survivors II” is a masterpiece with fine slide guitar by Waddy Wachtel and cool Fender Rhodes by Tom Keene. It may just be the piano, but “Some Kind of Love” sounds a little like early Warren Zevon.  Tom Keene seems to be the same Tom Keene that is associated with a lot of Christian music. While the verses of “Ride Stone Blind” are very country, the orchestral chorus again sounds a bit like Warren Zevon though this time it is undoubtedly Waddy Wachtel’s slide guitar playing that does it. It is interesting to identify Warren Zevon’s sound a year before Warren Zevon’s eponymous, and de facto debut, album was released. Wingless Angels is almost as good as Cannons in the Rain - but not quite.

It is not clear when John Stewart became an outlaw. He had insisted on bringing in Lindsey Buckingham for Bombs Away Dream Babies and produced Dream Babies Go Hollywood on his own. For 1982’s Blondes, he brings in a production assistant, Chuck McDermott, who would also work on Trancas, The Last Campaign, and Punch the Big Guy. Hints of the production that would show up on Punch the Big Guy begin to be heard on Blondes – including the delay on the arpeggiated guitar on "Girl Down the River". “The Eyes of Sweet Virginia” may be Stewart’s prettiest song, and his prettiest singing.  “Judy in G Minor” sounds like Buckingham, as does the acoustic guitar on “You Won’t Be Going Home”. Buckingham makes an appearance on “Jenny was a Dream Girl” - though the song sounds nothing like a Buckingham song. Blondes is another transition, a building year. Stewart is back playing the studio and turning the knobs until things sound good, but with somewhat mixed results. “Golden Gate” sounds more like something that is going somewhere than something that has arrived. The album recovers with the closer, “Angeles (The City of the Angels)”.

Next in 1983 came the EP Revenge of the Budgie, credited to John Stewart and Nick Reynolds.  Buckingham appears on 4 of the 7 songs and co-wrote "Hiding in the Shadows" with Stewart. All the original songs on this one are great. It also seems to be one more step along the road from Bombs Away Dream Babies to Punch the Big Guy. “Cheyenne” has some amazing, layered guitar playing and incredible vocal harmonies between Stewart and Reynolds. "Hiding in the Shadows" adds Buckingham to the mix.

If some of the songs on Blondes represented a step on the pathway towards Punch the Big Guy, some of the songs on Trancas represented a giant leap past it into something strange and sort of compelling like an auto accident on the side of the road. Trancas also has hints at what was to come on Punch the Big Guy, but it is drenched with synthesizers and snappy drum machine patterns. Punch the Big Guy is sometimes criticized for being too dark and gloomy. Setting aside inherent biases about drum machines and synthesizers,  their presence and probably the state of the art in 1984 – or at least the state of the art available to Stewart - causes the songs on Trancas (at least the music) to be too peppy and bright. I don’t think anyone was clambering for John Stewart to invent 80s folk-synth-pop, but sometimes he comes really close. Given the right group of effeminate British guys with properly quaffed hair and Stewart could have had another big hit on his hands with “'Til the Lights Come Home” with its chorus about dancing. Even when one tries hard to hear past the production, it is difficult to find really good songs. “All the Lights” may be as close as we get to the sound of Punch the Big Guy. “The American Way” is a good song and merited inclusion on Wires from the Bunker. “The Chosen” is not bad, but it is too long. Stewart did not do many covers on his albums, but on Trancas he includes of cover of “Rocky Top” that sounds like it was recorded by a cut rate Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and probably has Felice and Boudleaux Bryant spinning in their graves, and might have caused a riot (or secession) in Tennessee if anyone had actually heard it. Trancas ain’t great, but if this is the path Stewart had to tread to get to Punch the Big Guy and earn his outlaw status – more power to him.

At this point, we are back where we began with Punch the Big Guy, so let’s start now at the beginning.

The Kingston Trio

John Stewart joined the Kingston Trio in 1961. He was not only a singer, a guitarist, and a banjo player, he was a songwriter – something the Kingston Trio had lacked. The Kingston Trio were peppy, patriotic, and while they had spent a good amount of time at the top of the charts, they were not exactly cool – and were getting less cool with every passing year. Even in this setting John Stewart was able to pen some good ones. “When My Love Was Here” could have been a hit for any number of teen idols or doo wop groups. “Chilly Winds” written by Stewart and John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas has a somewhat tropical feel and a strong of note one might recognize from the Beach Boys hit “Kokomo”, which was also co-written by John Phillips. The Kingston Trio’s last Decca album and their last album with Stewart, Children of the Morning, consisted almost entirely Stewart originals, some of which are remarkably in keeping with the times lyrically – though their presentation may not be. It even contained “The Spinnin' of the World", which later made its way onto Bombs Away Dream Babies and was played by Lindsey Buckingham and Stewart at the 1982 Kingston Trio & Friends Reunion.

Now let’s go to the end…

The Monkey Boy

John kept releasing albums after Punch the Big Guy, but it is difficult to know how many. Older albums were released with new names. There were live albums, and what may or may not have been compilations. Some seem intended to be ‘real’ albums; some seem to be collections of demos (maybe). They are all hard to come by. In the 90s I was getting a newsletter of some sort that offered all sorts of Stewart stuff when I had neither the money nor the time for them. I have some of them. I doubt anyone has all of them.

I have Bullets in the Hour Glass (1992). It is not the grand undertaking that Punch the Big Guy was.  It is more intimate. It is an album with a lot to say. RFK and Martin Luther King are all mentioned. Guns are everywhere. It has a saxophone on it. It was released in 1992. I am not sure when I got it, but I can go years without listening to it, but when I do, it all comes rushing back to me. “Irresistible Targets,” “Seven Times the Wind,” and “The Man Who Would be King” are my favorites. Donald Trump should have adopted as his campaign song “The Man Who Would be King” like Reagan adopted “Born in the U.SA.”

I own several more John Stewart albums. Some are live albums with all or mostly new materials, some are re-recordings of older songs, some are collections of demos, and some are collections of ‘lost’ songs. All of these are listenable and listening to most of the songs is enjoyable. However, it is often not entirely clear what one is getting. I suppose this was fine for folks, who had followed Stewart throughout his career, had paid for a house, sent their kids to college and found themselves with considerable extra money and time, but for those of us who were younger, it became too difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the folk tradition Stewart often recycles ideas. New lyrics are sung over the music of an existing song, melodic lines reappear, themes reappear. For a while I was fascinated with the process behind Stewart’s music and after Punch the Big Guy even though the production quality varied widely Stewart did tend to pick more meaningful and emotional songs to include in the various collections. Even after listening through all the CDs I own, I must admit that I have found myself searching the Internet to find still more Stewart songs and odd versions of songs I have already heard. On the other hand, I own two versions of “Liddy Buck,” and no one needs two versions of “Liddy Buck” – though one could easily imagine a Jeff Lynne produced version of “Liddy Buck” with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers backing Stewart being a big hit in 1989 – but by 1989 I think Stewart was long past the need for hits.

The last Stewart album I have is The Day the River Sang from 2006. He sounds old, but the songs are good. The production is simple. In the photos he seems to have that distant stare old folks start to get when they seem to be all there but maybe aren’t quite. As old as his voice sounds, his fingers are fleet and strong. “Run the Ridges” is nothing but Stewart’s guitar and vocals. Henry Diltz, who wrote the liner notes on California Bloodlines and whose name keeps appearing on Stewart albums in one capacity or another, plays harmonica on a couple of songs including the moving “Golden Gate Fields”. It is hard to listen to “Sister of Mercy” without crying, but why would anyone even try. Here the experimentation with synthesizers on Trancas pays off as John Hoke backs Stewart’s playing with “keyboard cello” which is nearly as good as the real thing here. “Who the hell is Mister Earl?”  

Some Odd Songs

Many of Stewart’s songs are what you might expect from an American folk singer, but every once in a while, he sends us something out of left field.

It started early with “All American Girl” on the album Willard, where for some reason Stewart in 1970 decides that to tackle Catholic guilt as it relates to a masturbating teenage girl. It’s not a bad topic to address, but it is not clear that John Stewart was the ideal vehicle for the topic, However, perhaps the problem is that we are looking at things through modern eyes. In 1970 Joni Mitchell had only released three albums. Carol King did not release her first album, Writer, until 1970.  Janis Ian was already releasing albums. Laura Nyro was on her fourth album.  Buffy Sainte-Marie had six albums by 1970. Nope. There were women who could have tackled this topic, but whose to say a man cannot empathize with a woman. Still the song is a little odd.

Leap forward about 20 years, and we have “I Remember America” in which Stewart laments the fate of a 1990s America where “you jump at every sound, and you never look in the eye of any stranger, who could easily gun you down,” an America of “gangs and guards and guns and needles in the pool”. He wishes for a time “When freedom of speech wasn't every four-letter word a sailor never said” and “when kids could walk alone, go to the corner for a root beer float, and safely make it home.” Again, we need a historical context. In L.A. a jury had acquitted four officers of using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King triggering riots which in turn triggered the use of more than 10,000 armed military and law enforcement officers. This was the 1990s, and politicians were tough on crime because being tough on crime was popular. In 1993 Ruddy Guliani was elected mayor and had William Bratton operating on the "broken windows theory" which involved heavy use of stop-and-frisk.  This was the 1990s when Hillary Clinton was warning people about super predators. And the decade in which Malcolm Gladwell was writing his successful book, The Tipping Point, in which he praises the "broken windows theory”. With only slight modifications “I Remember America” could be played at a Trump rally, “I remember America, I remember my friends, I remember America, Let’s Make America Great Again.”

Who in the 1990s were saying those four-letter words instead of keeping “Rock N' Roll… cool and fun”? Whose eyes were Stewart afraid to look into? It is hard to swallow the fact that while working on Punch the Big Guy John Stewart had moved his family from the mean streets of Malibu into an ashram with Sri Swami Satchidananda to escape bad influences in the real world. 

John Stewart believed in the dream. He campaigned for Robert Kennedy. He walked from Selma to Montgomery. He loved the best in America. But I guess a well-orchestrated campaign of fear is enough to get any middle-aged man (even one with Stewart’s credentials) to rage against a world that is not real and to pine for a world that never was. Apparently, it was enough at least to get him in this mindset long enough to commit “I Remember America” to tape.

The Last Campaign

If you have never taken a good listen to John Stewart, you should.  All the recommended listening albums are available on Spotify as of April 2025.