Musician John Stewart passed away in San Diego this past weekend, at age 68.
Before his long solo career and a string of albums, Stewart had been part of the folk music revival of the late 1950's.
From 1961 - 1967 he was a member of The Kingston Trio, replacing original member Dave Guard.
From growing up in Mill Valley, California, I have many memories of John Stewart.
I went to elementary school with his kids, and the Stewarts lived right around the corner from my family for several years.
I'll guess that it was after the divorce that Mrs. Stewart and the children moved across town.
I saw less of them afterwards.
Jeremy Stewart and I used to play together sometimes prior to that; we were in the same grade.
I remember his Dad came in to our classroom to visit and perform for us a couple of times in first or second grade.
I still remember one of those times in the classroom, being fascinated by the leather fringe on his coat and his voice that reminded me of Johnny Cash. I also remember it feeling strange that I had just seen him on TV the night before on the Smothers Brothers show (or some such).
Over the many years following you'd spot him occasionally around Mill Valley. Kinda silver-haired, maybe sporting a big 'ol cowboy hat. Just another townie. Sometimes he'd perform at The Sweetwater, the local nightclub.
I've always liked his earlier solo albums, especially the song 'Never Goin' Back', off of the
'California Bloodlines' LP from '69.
He'd pretty much fallen off my radar by the time of his small resurgence of popularity in the '80's, but in recent years it'd been nice to see him attain something of a 'venerable' status in his career.
See also:
- John Stewart's obituary from the New York Times.
- ChillyWinds.Com - The official John Stewart homepage
- From YouTube - - John Stewart with The Kingston Trio performing 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone?' and 'The Early Morning Rain' on TV in 1966.
From growing up in Mill Valley, California, I have many memories of John Stewart.
