Lone Star Webstation Archives Music News & Notes Updated: Jan. 27, 2008 Home | Greetings | Townes | Links | Contact NPR IN MEMORIAM: JOHN STEWART (Sept. 5, 1939 - Jan. 19, 2008) Videos: Kingston Trio member John Stewart, "Walk on the Moon" (Spring 2002) & "Gold" (1979). Obituary excerpt: John Stewart tasted pop success when his best-known composition, "Daydream Believer," was taken to the top of the charts by The Monkees in 1967. The song was later covered by everyone from Boyzone to U2, yet Stewart always regarded it as an unexpected blip in his long career, and it was as a thoughtful, sensitive performer steeped in the American folk tradition that he made his most enduring mark. (more)... John Stewart recorded more than forty albums and was at work on an as yet untitled album at the time of his death in California last Saturday. BIO LINK: "Clack's Cellar," created in 1996 as Ron Beffa's homage to John Stewart and folk music, was originally planned to feature a number of Beffa's favorite artists, but its direction quickly focused on John Stewart. News of upcoming memorial and tribute events will be posted on the site. CALIFORNIA BLOODLINES: Seminal John Stewart album often credited with jumpstarting the Americana music movement. TEXAS CONNECTION As one of the earliest tributes to the music of John Stewart, editor-publisher Peter O'Brien named his UK magazine, "Omaha Rainbow," after a song from California Bloodlines, Stewart's first solo album. Stewart was featured in every issue throughout OR's fifteen-year run (1973-1988). Read 1984 "Omaha Rainbow" interview with John Stewart. O'Brien went on to issue three records by John Stewart on his Sunstorm Records, a UK-based label that some years later helped launch the poetry and music of Texas multi-media artist Roxy Gordon. We don't know if John Stewart ever met Roxy Gordon or not. End note: Peter O'Brien also wrote a poem ("Townes Van Zandt's Jacket") that has an amusing reference to Stewart and "Daydream Believer." It was later published in Judy and Roxy's "Picking Up the Tempo," an early Texas music zine that has evolved into an excellent online country western journal for which Peter O'Brien is a regular contributor. We are grateful to Mrs. Gordon and to Mr. O'Brien for permission to post it on our Lone Star Webstation memorial page for Townes Van Zandt.

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