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Monday, January 21, 2008

In Memoriam: John Stewart 1939-2008 - One of the days the music died

1939 - 2008

Photo: Howard Bruensteiner Oh I'm believing, believing
Believing, that even when I'm gone
Maybe some lonesome picker will
Find some healing in this song

My friend John Stewart died this morning in San Diego, California ... in the hospital he was born in on September 5th, 1939 ... 68 years ago.

John suffered a massive stroke or brain aneurysm early Friday morning in San Diego. Doctors had determined that any difficult surgical remedies that might have been employed to save his life -- even if successful -- would had left John immobile and unable to speak. It wasn't generally known, but doctors had told John in recent years that he had apparently experienced various minorstrokes, likely in his sleep.

In the early 1970s, Stewart wrote "Cooler Water, Higher Ground," one of his many highly personalized songs, in which he sang "I was born in the heat of September, and I died in the cool of the fall ... borning and dying we do all the time, it don't mean much of nothing at all." But his passing will mean so much, to so many, around the world.

John's all-time companion and wife Buffy, and his children -- Mikael, Jeremy, Amy, and Luke -- were at his side when he passed peacefully around 7:30 a.m.Pacific time. John never regained consciousness after collapsing in his hotel room late Thursday/early Friday, and was not in pain during his time at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.

John Stewart leaves a compilation of musical excellence unparalleled in histime. He recorded over 45 solo albums following his seven years in the Kingston Trio, 1961-67. He worked all the way up to the time of his death, having recently completed his latest as-yet untitled album. It is estimated that he wrote more than 600 unique and highly personal songs, many of them constituting a modern musical history of his beloved America.

He leaves behind a wide-ranging group of fans who have felt a passion for him and his music that bordered on fanaticism. Chief among them are the Bloodliners, a hard-core legion of supporters who communicated via computer everyday in discussing John and his career.

It can now be said that John was told last summer, shortly before Trio Fantasy Camp 8, that he was suffering from the initial stages of Alzheimer's disease. That news was kept from the public in the hope that his condition would stabilize and allow him to work in the following years until the disease took itseventual toll. Indeed he had stabilized in the time since Camp, and was able to bravely perform several concert shows and do the studio work on his new album.

If there is a blessing in his passing, it is that he will now be spared the true ravages of that awful disease. He will not suffer the gradual personal mental reductions caused by Alzheimer's, though he had already lost his ability to drive, owing to California law. In fact, one of the new songs on the upcoming album is "I Can't Drive Anymore," a typically honest and emotional personal reaction to his situation.

Speaking personally, losing John creates a hole in my soul. I had agonized for months over the Alzheimer's prognosis. But after talking with many of his friends and family yesterday, I can see that -- facing a debilitating future -- it was -- and this is so hard to say -- the right time for him to go. This is what he would have wanted, in light of what he ultimately faced.

Johnny always drew a crowd, and there was a gathering of friends at the hospital in San Diego over the past two days. Starting with Nick Reynolds from John's Trio days and his wife Leslie, John's entire family had been joined at his bedside by longtime sidekick Dave "Dave" Batti, John Hoke, Chuck McDermott, Greg Jorgenson, John's boyhood best friend George Yanok, who flew in from Nashville upon hearing the news, and other family, friends, and acquaintances. Akind of "Irish wake" was held throughout Friday and into early Saturday, with the friends and old bandmates sharing many of the limitless John Stewart stories.

No plans have been announced yet for any memorial observations. I'll let youknow as soon as Buffy decides.

I'm so sorry to have to write this, to have to tell you this. Outside my closest family members, John was the brightest light of my life. This creates an emptiness that can never be filled. If you are tempted to mourn to great lengths today, as so many of us surely are, we have to remind ourselves of what a gift he was for all of us. And how lucky we all were to have had the opportunity to have shared in his amazing music and stage artistry. We might, each of us, have missed him, you know. But -- lucky for us -- we didn't.

He hated moping around, and looked for the bright side, and laughter, in everything. He wouldn't even allow me to be 'down' about having cancer. He even berated me at one point about it. He had amazing drive, and a creative force within him that was stunning in its intensity and breadth. And some day his amazing personal songs will be discovered by a mass audience, and the world at large, and he will receive the wide-ranging accolades he was denied in his time.

Trust me. Think about him today, listen to that incredible body of his work,think about the electric personality we experienced in EVERY show he did ..in the literally thousands and thousands of performances in which he gave us everything he had, stretching from venues big and small, from coast to coast, from 1957 to 2007. You will smile when you do; and eventually laugh when recalling the magic of his art and personality. We will not see his like again, but we have been so lucky to have shared him across the decades -- and found each other through him, because of him. It does not feel like it, but we are the lucky ones today. That will become evident in the time to come.

Because, like you ... I loved him too.

Tom DeLisle

http://www.chillywinds.com/

2 comments:

Michele Kearney said...

From the All Music Guide- a nice little concise bio

From AMG Reviews

If ever there was an enigma in American music, John Stewart is it. How many people can claim to have been the last member of the Kingston Trio and become its frontman, to have been the official musician for the Robert Kennedy campaign, to write hits for the Monkees and Fleetwood Mac, to be admired by Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kinky Friedman, Emmylou Harris, and the entire L.A. Jackson Eagles studio mafia? Just one: John Stewart, who continued to still kick them out, record after record, albeit on smaller labels than Capitol or AM. While there are plenty of reasons to seek out Stewart's Kingston Trio material, this anthology on Raven doesn't do so, partially because that material is so well documented elsewhere and in part because as a solo artist Stewart was his own enigma. Like the Byrds, the Mamas the Papas, the Grateful Dead, the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Jefferson Airplane, the Beach Boys, and Buffalo Springfield, Stewart embodied a particular tract of California's musical terrain and its mystique. In Stewart's music, like "California Bloodlines," "Razorback Woman," "Some Lonesome Picker," "Willard," and other songs, his folk met country and the expanding textures of pop; his stories entered the listener without force but left their mark nonetheless. "Daydream Believer" is Stewart's voice in a real folk song, kissed by the brightness of pop and graced with California's sunshine. From "Anna on a Memory" to "Chilly Winds," Stewart seemed unaffected by the changing times.

He was still looking under the surface for the places in memory and in emotions that make listeners experience things in common. Most of the material here is from the late '60s and early to mid-'70s, but as late as Fire in the Wind, Stewart may have been using updated production techniques but was still writing paeans to truckers. Only on the material from Bombs Away Dream Babies with its smash "Gold" and "Midnight Wind" do the sounds embrace the modern day -- yet even here the lyrics don't. With Fleetwood Mac kicking behind him (and turning his questions into the very things he was begging the answers to), Stewart is still looking at society with bemusement and a wonder that expresses disillusionment at why others don't notice the glory and the grace in people who work in gas stations. Raven has done a fantastic job of revealing how large the myth of Stewart is and how great his enigma remains with this 24-track anthology. For the curious, dubious, and faithful, this is a fine way to spend your hard-earned money.
- Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Michele Kearney said...

John Stewart passed away on Saturday, January 19, 2008 after suffering a major stroke a day earlier. John will continue to live forever in our hearts through his music.

For the past 40 years, John Stewart has told the story of America in the Twentieth Century. Through his writing we have met many unique individuals ranging from little Ludi and E. A. Stuart to Angel Delgadillo. Each of these individuals becomes an Everyman and through their eyes we see the dreams and sometimes the frustrations of a country "trying desparately to remember itself". John's songs provide a looking glass into our national soul and it would not be surprising if, a hundred years from now, anyone studying the people of America will be directed to start with the songs of John Stewart.

John's recording career began in the 1950s with his own garage band, The Furies. He started writing contemporary folk music in the early 1960s and formed a group called The Cumberland Three. In 1961, John replaced Dave Guard as a member of the Kingston Trio. He brought a different feel to the Trio and his distinct voice and style added to a number of the Trio's hits such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Greenback Dollar". In 1967, John left the Trio to pursue a career as a solo artist. His initial recording, "Signals Through the Glass" with Buffy Ford was followed by his landmark masterpiece, "California Bloodlines". Since then he has recorded over 40 albums, cassettes, and CDs. John is featured prominently in the new show "The Kingston Trio: Wherever We May Go" currently airing on Public Television station in the US. His most recent CD "The Day the River Sang" has just been released by Appleseed Records. John has written hit records for other recording artists like "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees and "Runaway Train" by Rosanne Cash. His own major hits include "Gold" (with Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham), "Midnight Wind", and "Lost Her in the Sun".

The purpose of the John Stewart Lyrics Database is to make all of John's writings available to his fans in a form that is easy to search and read. This database is comprehensive and there is a wealth of lyrical treasure here. It includes all of the songs that John has recorded in his solo career and all of the songs that he wrote during his days as a member of the Kingston Trio and the Cumberland Three. You will find the lyrics to all of the hit records and the favorites here as well as the words to some songs that John hasn't even recorded yet. Enjoy it all.

A Brand New Feature of the John Stewart Lyrics Database is the addition of Guitar Tabulature for many of the songs in the database. Currently about half of the songs have guitar tabs and more will be added. The guitar tabs are the result of the hard work of Art Faller, Charlie Woodward & Jan Hauenstein with some additional help from Ken Swaitek and others. So all of you fans who have requested this feature in the past now have a searchable resource at your disposal.

We also offer an Online Ordering system that allows you to order many of John's newer CDs and videos directly from John at Neon Dreams. If you would like to order any of these products simply click on the "Start Shopping" button below.

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If you have any questions or comments about the John Stewart Lyrics Database,

please send an email to oldriley@strangerivers.com