Ian James Stewart

Ian James Stewart (born 14 March 1959) is a Scottish rock musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and founding member of the AOR band Strangeways (early 1980s to present). He now lives in Lincolnshire UK where he continues to write and record solo and Strangeways' albums and to collaborate with other artists.

Early Life

Ian was born on March 14th 1959 in a small Scottish farmhouse to the sound of his father's accordion. He started playing guitar in the mid-sixties, strumming along to his dad's records - Hank Williams and Johnny Cash as well as the popular music of the day.

Ian's sister Linda played piano, his brother Billy played violin, and later his younger brother David took up bass guitar.

Ian started playing in their dad's band. A mix of Scottish and country music. Next he found himself in a Glasgow band "The James Boys", playing material by such as Steely Dan, The Eagles, and Stevie Wonder.

After touring for six months in Spain with The James Boys, Ian returned home to work on his own songs.

He managed to get hold of an old reel-to-reel tape recorder, bouncing IDeaS back and forth until he felt he'd got enough possibilities down to write and record his own music in own way, which he's been doing ever since.

Music

Ian's most recent release was his critically acclaimed solo album "Junk DNA", which featured contributions from Robert Wyatt, among others.

Ian is currently working on two new studio albums: Strangeways' ninth studio release and a second solo ablum, both are as yet untitled and due for release in early 2015. For these projects, as well as regular contributors to his work, renowned pedal steel virtuoso BJ Cole will be performing on several tracks.

Strangeways was formed in Scotland by Ian and his brother David, who played bass guitar on most of the bands albums. Their first album, self-titled 'Strangeways', was released in 1986 with Tony Liddel on vocals. The album was a success, but Tony's tenure with the band was over by the time it was released, making way for American vocalist Terry Brock who would appear on the next two albums; Native Sons (1987) and Walk In The Fire (1989), which have since been heralded by many as The Two best albums in the entire AOR genre.

After Walk In The Fire, Terry left the band and Ian took over vocal duties, taking the band in a different direction with the next three studio albums: And The Horse (1994), Any Day Now (1997) and Gravitational Pull (2000). Two compilation albums have also been released: Living In The Danger Zone (1989) and Greatest Bits (1999)

In 2010, Terry rejoined Strangeways to perform at Firefest in Nottingham UK and they released their seventh studio album Perfect World (2010). The following year they returned to Firefest and released another studio album - Age Of Reason (2011).

Ian then spent the next year crafting his first solo release Junk DNA (2013).

Ian James Stewart and Strangeways music is currently released on the Dangerous Dogs Record Label.

References

• (2014) "IanJamesStewart.com"
• Brian Sidler (2013). "Heaven Knows It's Time For Ian James Stewart" The Critical Post Chicago
• Alison Boothe. (2013) Classic Rock Magazine Junk DNA