John Stewart 1939-2008John Stewart, American singer, songwriter and folk guitarist, passed away today from either a stroke or an aneurysm.
His initial fame came as the 1961 replacement for Dave Guard in The Kingston Trio. He stayed with them until the group's (first) disbanding in 1967. He has been a solo act ever since. IMNSHO, he epitomizes the phrase "American Folk Singer" for the time-period from 1960 onward.
The critics loved him; but for the most part, his albums were commercial disappointments. The one exception is Bombs Away Dream Babies (1979), the album cover of which is at the top of this post. He followed this in 1980 with Dream Babies Go Hollywood, which was just as good as BADB, but which inexplicably failed to sell well.
I have 3-4 of his CD's, and about 6-8 of his LP's. His 1987 release, Punch The Big Guy, is fantastic. But that could be said about all his albums. He had a sweet baritone voice and his songwriting is as good as it gets. I am at a loss to say why he toiled in relative obscurity, while lesser talents like John Denver achieved fame and fortune.
Farewell, John. Perhaps you can team up with Dave Guard and Woody Guthrie now, raising the consciousness of heavenly spirits.
No comments:
Post a Comment