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Winford Lindsey Stewart (born June 7, 1934 in Morrisville, Missouri, died July 17, 1985 in Hendersonville, Tennessee) was an American country music performer. He was one of the progenitors of the Bakersfield sound. Although not a huge chart success, he was an inspiration to such greats as Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.
Biography The Stewart family moved west from Missouri during World War II and his father found work on a submarine base, finally settling in Huntington Park, California in 1948. While still in school, Stewart formed a band and started touring clubs, with his father chaperoning. It was at this time that he also made his first recording -- a cover of Eddy Arnold's Anytime. After graduating high school in 1951, he began entering talent contests sponsored by a local radio station. It was there that he met long-time collaborator, pedal steel guitarist Ralph Mooney. Career In 1954 he signed his first recording contract with the independent label Intro Records, where he recorded the single I've Waited a Lifetime b/w Strolling. This gained the attention of Skeets McDonald, who set him up with an audition with Capitol Records. His first hit with Capitol was Waltz of the Angels, which featured a young Eddie Cochran in 1956. Unhappy with the direction Capitol was taking with the Nashville sound, Stewart left the label after only a few years. He next signed with Gene Autry's Challenge Records in 1958. Attempting to catch onto the Rock and Roll craze, his first release was a rockabilly tune called Come-on. This was followed by a few others, including Long, Black Limousine. Not finding success in rock, he decided to switch back to traditional country. In 1959, he released Above and Beyond, which was later a Nightclub owner Stewart was part owner of a Las Vegas, Nevada, nightclub called Nashville Nevada during the early 1960s. He performed there six nights a week and also hosted his own television show. A young Merle Haggard sat in with the band while Stewart was out of town. Stewart returned early, was impressed with Haggard's performance, and hired him as his regular bass player. He wrote Haggard's first hit Sing a Sad Song. "Wynn's sound was what influenced Buck and me both," Merle Haggard has said, "and in a strange twist of fate, his band was the heart of the old Frizzell band -- Roy Nichols was part of the Lefty band, and he went to Wynn Stewart and ran into Ralph Mooney, who played the steel, and they were the basis of the modern West Coast sound." After a string of moderate hits with Challenge, Stewart re-signed with Capitol in 1965, and in 1969 had a In 1972 he left for RCA, and then moved to Playboy Records in 1975, where he had a Top Ten hit with After the Storm. He started his own WIN Records an 1978, but changing tastes in music and problems with alcohol brought his career to a standstill. While preparing to launch a comeback in 1985, Stewart suffered a heart attack and died at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. His final release, Wait 'Til I Get My Hands On You became a minor hit, posthumously. | ||||||||
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