John Stewart- Seattle- 1985- John and the Banjo

In May of 1985, John Stewart, accompanied by Dave Batti on bass, Dennis Kenmore on drums and Thure Gray on keyboards, appeared at the Backstage Tavern in Seattle. One of John's great fans, Jim Roberts, recorded the show on his VHS camcorder. Forget the quality of the video. This clip is a step back in time with John playing the banjo. I would like to point out the very young Dave Batti on bass and vocals. Dave has aged rather well despite the years of abuse that he suffered at the hand sof John Stewart.

[@erasmusomnius]

Saw John LIVE many many times in early '70's. Never did he play banjo at any of those shows. What a great treat. Thanks for this treasure of a post.

[@DustySoul2557]

Love John. R.I.P. I was at this show, too. The exact date was May 5th, 1985 at the dearly missed Backstage in Ballard. And I'm a friend of Thure, this being one of his rare appearances with John. I saw John at the Backstage quite a few times.

[@smhaack63]

I saw him at the Backstage in 1986!

[@JCKAMK]

Thanks for the post. RIP to Johnny Stew, a great songwriter that too many missed.

[@smhaack63]

I saw John Stewart 2 or 3 times at The Backstage in the late 80's. This video brings back great memories. I sure miss him and other performers featured on KEZX.

[@aln53]

What a treat. Knew him, loved him, miss him.

[@davidzitzman4171]

thanks Lindsey Buckingham for turning me on to the Kingston Trio after 45yrs. of not knowing who they were.I can hear Lindseys influence in Johns' edgy banjo mix

[@nocknock57]

It's the other way around. John came first.

[@charliekucharski2079]

Never saw this video before. This is so cool. John is really cookin' on the banjo in these two pieces. Thanks for posting this.

[@LMUDewey]

Paul. You don't know me, but I appreciate all the grweat stuff you post. Thanks, Tom DuRoss

[@davidraddatz9861]

Paul Rybolt, yep. Any Bloodliners still around? I would have been at this show also as I saw John at the Backstage many many times. Thanks for this.

[@kenyuers]

Thanks Paul, for sharing this rare clip

[@barrysmith8193]

What a treat to see John on this. Brings me to this question.. is John playing the banjo part in “Durango”? Thanks Paul for all of these posts.keep ‘em coming.

[@averillvision]

Exceptional performance!

[@tantraman10]

Love this. Of course, I celebrate anytime something I haven't seen of John's appears. But, seeing some live Stewart from the 80's is a rare treat, even if Batti abuse is almost certainly impending!

[@3Pitous]

A gem .Thanks

[@PRR5406]

Is this the same banjo he played as a member of the Kingston Trio?

[@lb4lb871]

This looks to be either a Vega Longneck or a Deering Folk Era Longneck. Either way, Deering makes Vegas, these days. John's original Pete Seeger model had a beautiful blonde finish. He switched to a Gibson RB 180 longneck for a time, (Using it on the trio's #16 album.) but went back to his Vega, because it "cut" better. It's interesting to compare the banjo styles of John and Dave Guard (who also played a Vega), when they were with the Kingston Trio. To answer your question, due to picture quality, I can't really tell if this is the one he used with the trio. Just by looking at the headstock and clear head, I'm thinking it's the Deering Folk Era model. Now, the Kingston Trio has two great banjoists in the group at the same time; Bill Zorn and George Grove.

[@marknewton6984]

Saw him live in Tampa 1973. Great show. Miss him.