28 November - Houston, Texas - 8,613 - $99,964
29 November - Dallas, Texas - 9,915 - $114,023
1 December - Boulder, Colorado - 6,556 - $77,021
3 December - Oakland, California - 10,193 - $105,637
5 December - Tempe, Arizona - 14,261 - $129,497

Not a bad turn-out considering John was playing a solo acoustic set!

To be fair, though, I should add that the presence of Stevie Nicks as the headline act probably helped to bring in the punters.....

From John's point of view, one more positive thing that came out of that tour was a new song, 'Blonde Star in the Texas Sky,' written about Stevie Nicks and recorded for his new album.

His new album.....

Yes, there is a new album, though we shall have to wait just a little longer before it becomes available.

Here's the story. Tiring of making demos for record companies who showed a sad lack of interest or, in some cases, gave him a lengthy runaround before turning him down, John decided to back his talent with his own money and went in to record an album that would please him.....and to hell with trying to please the cloth-eared A&R men.

In recent months John has gone back to playing acoustic gigs, dispensing with a group that economics dictated he could no longer afford. When he wasn't playing solo he would add the talents of an old friend Chuck McDermott, on additional guitar and vocals. The result - ''We're getting a really good reaction and I'm having more fun than I've had in years."

It's not a total return to the softer, folkier sound, though - "Live, the acoustic guitars are plugged straight into the board. They sound like cannons!  Real strong."

They toured across the United States.  Played The Roxy in Los Angeles with Richard and Linda Thompson and, not surprisingly, John was impressed - "His guitar playing was so hopeful, bright and stirring.  Lots of " reds.  Really showed up both sides of his character..."
Went up to Canada.  Played Edmonton in Alberta but missed seeing Ian Tyson - ''I'd love to see him again. What a guy!''

The remainder of his time was spent in the recording studio.  Chuck McDermott was in there, of course.  Linda Ronsdadt came in to add her vocal talents.  Lindsey Buckingham, the new Fleetwood Mac album in the can, couldn't keep away from a studio where John Stewart was recording and who could blame him?  John could not have wished for a more welcome guest on this new album.

"It's all acoustic - there's no electric guitars or keyboards."

So that makes it very different from the demos heard and written about in OR28, but quite a few of those songs have survived in their new form - four of them, in fact.

There are eleven songs recorded and ready to go on the album.  It's been so long since John had a new record for us that I hope they all make it.

There are the four talked about in OR28.....

JENNIE WAS A DREAM GIRL
THE WINGS OF ST.MICHAEL
SAME OLD HEART
TH.E QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD HIGH

Then there are the seven new ones.....

BLONDE STAR IN THE TEXAS SKY
JUDY IN G MAJOR
DREAMERS ON THE RISE
THE EYES OF SWEET VIRGINIA
CRYING IN THE STORM
GOLDEN GATE
HEARTS AND DREAMS ON THE LINE

The trouble with John is he's such a prolific writer he can go in and cut a new album and not include a song as good as 'Angeles.'  John, how could you?  See what was written about it in OR28.  I'm hurting to hear it on record.  It's enough to drive an honest person into the bootleg business!

Anyway, the album is recorded - so what now?

Having cut it at his own expense, John can now look to license the record around the world.  That may be done through one company.  Or it could be done through different labels for different countries or areas USA, Europe, Australasia.....

Hoyt Axton has done something sirnilar, by setting up his own label (Jeremiah) and distribution deal for the United States, and then licensing the album elsewhere in the world.

Talks are going on with several major labels but unless the deal is exactly right I would not be at all surprised to see John take the same route as Hoyt Axton.

It's all speculation at the moment.  Anxious as we all are to hear a new John Stewart record, we have to remember that he is part of the music business, and it's on that business side that the wheels grind so slowly.

If we find that frustrating from the consumers' side of things, consider how the artists must feel.  The never ending round of managers, agents, record companies.  The raised hopes, the let-downs, the insensitivity of the music business people who talk about 'product' and might as well be marketing baked beans.

"There is no art in pop music,' John once told Pete Frame.

By going his own way and backing his judgement as an artist with his own money, John Stewart is ready to give the lie to his own statement.

Without the music of John Stewart there would be no Omaha Rainbow.  We 'loyal friends and front row dancers" can be proud and thankful that our rnan is once more back in the ring.

And as he prepares to go one more round, the man who has seen and done it all so many times before can just smile and say, "Life's a tape loop, Peter."