Recorded at Shangri-La Studios, Malibu, CA
Mastered at Precision Lacquer
A royalty from this album will be paid to the RFK Memorial Fund
I first met Robert Kennedy when he was attorney General and I was a member of The Kingston Trio. We stayed in contact over the years and I was proud to be one of those who campaigned with him when he ran for President in 1968. Buffy and I travelled with the campaign and sang on the backs of trains, flat-bed trucks, town squares and high school auditoriums. I wrote songs as we went and the images of the people who loved him and believed in what he told them has been the inspiration for other songs, years after it was over.
This album is a collection of new recordings of these songs and I hope a musical movie of those magical days in 1968. I miss him. The memories will always live on. I dare say we won't see his like again.
-John Stewart
Special thanks:
Larry Samuels
Fred Koch
Carla Frederick
Buffy
Chuck McDermott
Joe Kennedy
Tommy Steele
(C) (P) 1985 Homecoming Records
P.O. Box 2050
Malibu, CA 90265-7050
CD Reissue Notes
JOHN STEWART
John Stewart was born in San Diego, California. His Father was a horse trainer and his mother a homemaker for three children.
Growing up on the race track and the streets of Pasadena in the Forties, he wrote his first song - for his summer camp, at the age of ten. Called "Shrunken Head Boogie" it became an excursion into the bizarre for all of Troop 39.
He had a rock group in high school called The Furies who did a lot of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Joe Turner, and Little Richard along with his own originals. They played at El Monte Legion stadium with Little Julian Herrera as well as other gigs with Richie Vallens and The Champs.
When Elvis went in the army and Stewart graduated into college, his writing and singing turned to folk music.
He had a record deal with Arwin Records who boasted Jan & Arnie as their roster stars. At this time he also was a staff writer with Johnnie Otis. He played some of his home made folk songs for the Kingston Trio, who were at that time the number one album sellers in America. They recorded two of his songs - Molly Dee and Green Grasses. After his first royalty check he left college and home journeying to San Francisco where he formed a group called the Cumberland Three and got a record deal with Roulette Records in New York.
When Dave Guard left the Kingston Trio in 1961 Stewart was a logical replacement. He played banjo and guitar, told jokes and most importantly, he wrote songs. During that time he wrote many songs for the Trio as well as the Limeliters and other groups. One of his songs, One More Town was named by Paul Simon as the inspiration for Feeling Groovy.
During his year's with the Kingstons they recorded Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Greenback Dollar, The Reverend Mr. Black, and Seasons In The Sun. During this time Stewart hung out with his friends in Greenwich Village: Eric Anderson, Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, Peter, Paul and Mary, etc. It was then that he knew it was time to move on and be a singer song writer. He was in the Selma March for Freedom and Campaigned for his friend Robert Kennedy when he ran for the Senate in the mid-sixties.
One of the many songs he wrote during this time of anticipating leaving the group was Day Dream Believer which became a number one song around the world for the Monkees.
He left the Kingston Trio to sing with Buffy Ford a young San Francisco singer. They recorded one album called Signals Through The Glass and spent most of 1968 campaigning with Robert Kennedy during his ill-fated presidential bid.
He decided to proceed as a solo artist and writer and recorded an album called California Bloodlines in Nashville with some of the best players in town. Dylan was across the street recording Nashville Skyline and the studio janitor was a new writer named Kris Kristofferson. The album received rave reviews around the World and was rated number 39 by World wide critics in a book called The Best 200 Rock Records Of All Time. With songs like July You're A Woman, Never Going Back To Nashville (A top ten hit for the Lovin' Spoonful) and Mother Country he created a unique niche for himself as an American writer. Stewart has recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Phil Everly, Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith, Nicolette Larson, and John Denver to name a few.
He was quoted by President Reagan in a White House speech and campaigned with Robert Kennedy. His instrumental album American Sketches was played for a year at the National Archives during their American West photo exhibit. Day Dream Believer has received well over 2,000,000 airplays and has been recorded by Anne Murray, Lobo, and The Four Tops as well as the Monkees. His song Runaway Train was a number one country hit for Rosanne Cash in 1989. His own record Gold was a top five Pop hit in 1979. The album Bombs Away Dream Babies was a Top Ten album; Midnight wind, and Lost Her In The Sun were top twenty hits from the album.
He has songs recorded by Nanci Griffith, Harry Belafonte, The Lovin' Spoonful, Eddy Arnold, Pat Boone, the Four Tops, Joan Baez (who recorded Strange Rivers in 1993) Red White and Blue Grass, The Monkees, Anne Murray, Rosanne Cash, and Boyzone - an Irish Pop Band who recorded Day Dream Believer in 1993.
Along with recording over thirty solo albums and having a world wide following, John Stewart has also written four books and had several gallery shows for his paintings.
He is an artist in residence at Penn State, where the university has initiated the John Stewart Library of American Folk Music, and can be found giving song writer workshops around the country in conjunction with his book Write From The Heart.
Other work by John Stewart in the LaserLight collection includes American Sketches, The Trio Years, The Last Campaign, and An American Folk Song Anthology.
CD Editing & Compilation:
John Hoke, Yorktown Studios,
Los Angeles, CA
(C) 1996 Delta Music, Inc.
2500 Broadway Ave., Ste. 380
Santa Monica, CA 90404-3061
Laserlight Digital is a registered trademark of Delta Music, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
Made in U.S.A.
Stereo
Compact Disc Digital Audio
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The Last Campaign (1985) - 