Monday, July 4, 2011

Piano and banjo

"...and he played piano and banjo in various outfits". That's where the story ended yesterday, and regrettably there's not so very much to add to it. The earliest, previously-unpublished pictures of Ian Stewart as a young musician, unearthed by William Nash for his book Stu (I haven't seen them yet!) show him looking pretty cool behind shades, strumming a banjo in a ribbed sweatshirt and slacks. The solid skin is determinedly Scottish.

Jack Bruce, Cream's bass-playing powerhouse from Pollock, Glasgow, says: "Stu should have been the lead singer of the Stones. And playing the banjo, I mean, what can be hipper than that?". Bruce may be biased. As a teenager, he also played boogie-woogie piano as a means of attracting girls: "That was what you had to do if you were a short Scot".

Source: Scotland On Sunday, April 16, 2004.

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