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Interview With Al Stewart

Review by Karl Lozier
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  The well-known Al Stewart was the featured entertainer at this year's Audio Division of the CES at the Alexis Park Hotel. The overflow adoring crowd enthusiastically received an unexpected bonus with some encores. Stewart appeared obviously appreciative of the reception accorded him by the possibly sophisticated audience, a debatable description at best. We had pictures taken and setup an appointment for an exclusive interview at noon the next day.

He confirmed that indeed he was from Glasgow, Scotland but had been living about a dozen miles north of San Francisco for the past twenty-five years. Casually speaking he seemed to have lost much of the tell tale traces of accent from so many former inhabitants of the British Isles. That made me meditate on the question, is there a typical California accent to account for his current accent or almost lack of one? When asked about what kind of musician he considers himself to be, he seemed to give careful consideration before replying. Words and phrases then came seemingly easy. Examples were a singer/songwriter, a historical folk rock performer, an acoustic music performer, and sees himself as a do it yourself sort of person and performer.

Curiosity really got the better of me and I asked if he might compare himself with any American born singer/songwriters. As he pondered the question I asked, how about Jimmy Buffet? "Yes" he responded "someone like Buffet or Paul Simon - definitely more so than Lisa Minnelli." Then he broke out laughing and I couldn't help laughing with him or later at him as I realized that he was probably thinking of the gender difference between them while my immediate thought was simply vocalist versus songwriter/singer. You had to be there to really appreciate it as some famous person once said.

The discussion somehow turned to poetry and music or perhaps poetry versus music. When asked, he was very familiar with so called "slam-poetry". "That's the short powerful message poems delivered by twenty or thirty year olds usually in rapid words or phrases" he commented. I replied that a neighbor, Chris Bluemer, has been the driving force behind the local slam poetry group that had been invited to the national championship tournament last year. Further, Chris has been thinking about social security benefits lately and that seemed to amaze Al Stewart. Having seen Chris is action I am not surprised.

When I mentioned that I had long been under the impression that the only English word that could not be rhymed was "orange" he instantly shot back with "ha, I did it long ago". He admitted that he had managed to do so only with an appropriate French phrase. He added that "dessert" was the only word that had no rhyme. I simply accepted that comment, and only much later on questioned it as I thought of at least one word that rhymed with it. Was Stewart simply "pulling my leg"? That seems likely as he seemed to enjoy subtle forms of humor and much of his songwriting is obviously subtle - I better he careful as obviously subtle may be an oxymoron type of phrase.

He decided long ago that composing songs about love, falling in love, wondering about love or singing the blues about a lost love were simply not for him. What more, what new can be said about those fundamental song subjects he mussed. He decided that he would not write about famous or well-known subjects or things. Searching through his song titles quickly revealed that. Knowing that he had written about obscure places I suggested that some day he write about a trip or tour. Start with a place or reason and write songs about places or events along the way, with an eventual destination or conclusion. Of course his low key or introspective approach to his cause limited his fan base to large rather than gigantic as for another Stewart also born nearly sixty-years ago in relatively nearby London.

How much can one interview tell about a person? He simply exudes the aura of a person at ease with himself doing what gives him great pleasure. Of course he is content knowing of a large and seemingly thoughtful fan base ready to listen to whatever his musical story telling has to offer. They do this with appreciative applause and lack of hysteria.

Quick quips he threw at me included the fact that he has lost about seventy-five percent of his memory information but nothing important --- as far as he could remember. When asked if he would like to perform on live television he said he preferred not to unless Monty Python or David Frost were reincarnated and then he would seriously consider doing so. That statement may tell us a great deal about Al Stewart. Our thanks to him for years of listening pleasure.

Postscript:

Al Stewart's most famous album (and title song) Year of the Cat and more current recordings are available in most stores or can be ordered. The CD entitled The Best of Al Stewart does contain the better-known studio version of his Platinum award winning Year of the Cat.