The ache is real: Bob Dylan and the posthumous rediscovery of Gary Stewart
A new biography and streaming releases are bringing the late country singer’s raw, self-destructive genius back into the spotlight, praised by legends including Dylan and Strummer.
Bob Dylan has described the late US country singer-songwriter Gary Stewart as a vocalist who sings like a man arguing with destiny, noting that the ache and ruin in his music sound real. Stewart, who achieved chart success in the mid-1970s with hits such as She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles), is experiencing a significant posthumous resurgence following the release of Jimmy McDonough’s biography, Gary Stewart: I Am from the Honky Tonks, and a collection of early demos.
The Guardian Culture reports that Stewart’s work is being championed by a diverse group of admirers, including Willie Nelson, Joe Strummer, and John Waters. Rising artists such as Ella Langley, Zach Top, Karly Hartzman, Charley Crockett, and Ryan Davis are now covering his songs, with Davis comparing Stewart to a natural disaster from an earlier time who remains unfathomably real.
Stewart’s career peaked in the mid-1970s after producer Roy Dea convinced RCA to sign him in 1973. His debut album, Out of Hand, won critical accolades, and his raucous swagger and distaste for the Nashville establishment embodied the spirit of punk rock, earning him fans like Strummer. However, his intense emotional eloquence was eventually undermined by severe addiction, leading to his exile from the mainstream music business.
For the last quarter-century of his life, Stewart lived in a Florida trailer home with blacked-out windows alongside his wife, Mary Lou, where they consumed industrial quantities of quaaludes, meth, marijuana, and cocaine. Their son, Joey, died by suicide in 1988, and Stewart himself died by suicide in December 2003, three weeks after Mary Lou’s death.
Despite his reclusive later years, Stewart maintained a loyal following on Indian reservations and in Texas honky-tonks, where audiences connected with the authenticity of his music. His daughter, Shannon Ashburn, is now campaigning for his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, aided by the renewed interest sparked by McDonough’s book and Sony’s recent release of Stewart’s RCA albums on streaming services.
