Stewart dead: Kingston Trio will never be again!
John Stewart of Kingston Trio died at 68, here in San Diego, Saturday.
I remember learning all of the Trio's lyrics back when I was in high school
in '61. Too bad, they were pretty nice guys.
SAN DIEGO - John Stewart recorded some of pop music's most acclaimed solo albums, helping create a style that came to be called Americana, but he was always best known for writing the Monkees' enduring hit "Daydream Believer."
Stewart, who came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of folk music's Kingston Trio, died Saturday at a San Diego hospital after suffering a brain aneurism. He was 68.
"He was a lovely man and a very gentle soul and I guess the only thing you can say today is that the world is less one great songwriter," the Monkees' Micky Dolenz told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Stewart left the Kingston Trio shortly before the Monkees released "Daydream Believer" in 1967, then went on to record nearly four dozen solo albums, including the critically acclaimed "California Bloodlines" and "Bombs Away Dream Babies." The latter included the hit single "Gold," in which he dueted with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.
Still, as with "Daydream Believer," he was likely best known for writing songs for others, including Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, Roseanne Cash and Anne Murray.
"He was a cult hero, he never made it super huge," said his manager, Dean Swett. "He was one of those outlaw rebels, one of the people who refused to conform to what the record labels expected him to be."
A husky-voiced singer and accomplished guitarist who delivered his lyrics in a poignant, often longing voice, his music was hard to classify. It fell somewhere between rock, country and folk and eventually came to be called Americana.
He wrote "Runaway Train," a country hit for Roseanne Cash, and "Strange Rivers," which Joan Baez included on her 1992 "Play Me Backwards" album. Nanci Griffith dueted with him on "Sweet Dreams" and Murray, like the Monkees before her, had a hit with "Daydream Believer."
"There are certain songs that you just go in humming. It was one of those," Dolenz said of "Daydream Believer," which also was Stewart's best-known recording. Although he sang background to Davy Jones' lead on the Monkees' version, Dolenz performs the song himself at his solo shows.
"To this day it is one of the biggest songs that I do in concert," he said.
Stewart joined the Kingston Trio in 1961, replacing Dave Guard in the group that had helped usher in an American folk music revival in the late 1950s.
"John truly was the right fit. A first rate entertainer and gifted songwriter," the group said in a statement on its Web site.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22757984/
I remember learning all of the Trio's lyrics back when I was in high school
in '61. Too bad, they were pretty nice guys.
SAN DIEGO - John Stewart recorded some of pop music's most acclaimed solo albums, helping create a style that came to be called Americana, but he was always best known for writing the Monkees' enduring hit "Daydream Believer."
Stewart, who came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of folk music's Kingston Trio, died Saturday at a San Diego hospital after suffering a brain aneurism. He was 68.
"He was a lovely man and a very gentle soul and I guess the only thing you can say today is that the world is less one great songwriter," the Monkees' Micky Dolenz told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Stewart left the Kingston Trio shortly before the Monkees released "Daydream Believer" in 1967, then went on to record nearly four dozen solo albums, including the critically acclaimed "California Bloodlines" and "Bombs Away Dream Babies." The latter included the hit single "Gold," in which he dueted with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.
Still, as with "Daydream Believer," he was likely best known for writing songs for others, including Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, Roseanne Cash and Anne Murray.
"He was a cult hero, he never made it super huge," said his manager, Dean Swett. "He was one of those outlaw rebels, one of the people who refused to conform to what the record labels expected him to be."
A husky-voiced singer and accomplished guitarist who delivered his lyrics in a poignant, often longing voice, his music was hard to classify. It fell somewhere between rock, country and folk and eventually came to be called Americana.
He wrote "Runaway Train," a country hit for Roseanne Cash, and "Strange Rivers," which Joan Baez included on her 1992 "Play Me Backwards" album. Nanci Griffith dueted with him on "Sweet Dreams" and Murray, like the Monkees before her, had a hit with "Daydream Believer."
"There are certain songs that you just go in humming. It was one of those," Dolenz said of "Daydream Believer," which also was Stewart's best-known recording. Although he sang background to Davy Jones' lead on the Monkees' version, Dolenz performs the song himself at his solo shows.
"To this day it is one of the biggest songs that I do in concert," he said.
Stewart joined the Kingston Trio in 1961, replacing Dave Guard in the group that had helped usher in an American folk music revival in the late 1950s.
"John truly was the right fit. A first rate entertainer and gifted songwriter," the group said in a statement on its Web site.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22757984/
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Johnny, we hardly knew ye.
Rest is peace at the foot of the Lord.
Doug0 -
"Hang down your head Tom Dooley". Probably the first song I remember from them. They were the greatest ballad singers I have ever heard.
"Get Charley off the MTA" and some really good drinking songs. Tom0 -
The Kingston Trio was a great group, I still listen to their music today.
How sad that songs like "Tom Dooley" are not at the top of the charts today, instead we have rap crap.
Rest in Peace John Stewart you will be missed.0 -
That's too bad! Even though John Stewart replaced original member Dave Guard in 1961, Dave died in 1991 so the group will forever be incomplete. 0 -
In 1961 the Kingston Trio was about the biggest group in the country.
Dave Guard wanted to change their musical style. For about six months he kept trying to get the other two guys to start singing different musical styles, I think he wanted to go in a African/Caribbean direction. Well the other two members of the Kingston Trio did not want to change.
So Dave Guard gave an ultimatum, "Either we change or I will leave." The other two guys said, "Good bye."
Guard left and John Stewart took his place.
Dave Guard drifted off into obscurity, he had a couple of little tv specials in the middle sixties that went nowhere, he made a few albums that went nowhere.
One day in about 1966 Guard ran into John Stewart and they got to talking about the Kingston Trio.
Stewart asked Guard, "How is your life having left the Kingston Trio."
Guard replied, "I have learned a tough lesson. Never give up your power base."0 -
There was a special on PBS, I believe, about the Kingston Trio and in an interview with Dave Guard he alluded to it being a mistake to leave the Trio. I believe the Trio's best sound was with the original three, but I liked them with John Stewart as well!
There were some great groups back then; The Highwaymen and the Roof Top Singers to name two!0 -
"The Reverend Mr. Black was my old man..." 0 -
"Well they'll rope and tie you Johnny and they'll throw you to the ground. And they'll let you hang a week or two 'fore they cut your body down...."
RIP John.0
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