Stewart released the first live album of his career in 2003 with Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, an album that proved that despite his low profile he was still a formidable honky tonker. Stewart took his own life in December of 2003 following the death of his wife of 43 years in November. He was 59. His heyday was in the ’70s, but Gary Stewart deserved to be celebrated for his considerable talent, tenacity, and influence. While much of what passes for contemporary country music in the ’90s and 2000s sounds like reheated Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd, what’s really annoying is what a youth-driven market it has become, leaving many great country performers of the ’60s and ’70s out in the cold. This is especially irritating when considering the career of Gary Stewart, one of the greatest of the hardcore-honky tonk school who, at his peak in the mid- to late ’70s, could write and sing circles around just about any contemporary country star you could mention.
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