Al Stewart: The True Life Adventures of a Folk Rock Troubadour

Al Stewart: The True Life Adventures of a Folk Rock Troubadour by Judd, Neville. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781900924764.

Glasgow native Al Stewart emerged from the sixties London folk scene to enjoy success with his 1969 album Love Chronicles, but it was his million-selling Year of The Cat, and the Top Ten single of the same name, that made him a star. Along the way, Al bought one of his first guitars from future Police guitarist Andy Summers and took guitar lessons from Robert Fripp, before Dylans music inspired him to write his own songs and relocate to London where the coffee bar folk scene was blooming. He shared a flat with Paul Simon in Londons East End in 1965, befriended Sandy Denny, Jackson C. Frank and other folk-scene luminaries and worked with John Martyn, Jimmy Page, Yoko Ono and Fairport Convention, while singing finely crafted songs about love, loss, Napoleon and Nostradamus. Drawing on extended interviews with Al, his family, friends, and collaborators, and written with complete access to Als private diaries, journals and correspondence, this is an intriguing memoir of a 60s folk stars trails and tribulations through stardom in the seventies and cult success in subsequent decades. This revised edition brings Als story up to date, including the story of A Full Beach of Shells and his latest British and American tours. It also features significant additional material, a selection of new photographs and draws on brand new exclusive interviews with legendary guitarists Jimmy Page and Richard Thompson.