Mark Stewart a/k/a Stew

Mark Stewart a/k/a Stew is my favorite songwriter. I don't think I'm being outre by picking someone few people outside of L.A. or New York know. I'm too old to play that game. And I'm not saying he's the best songwriter in the world because what a ridiculous claim that would be. Stew's songs -- highly stylized baroque pop that comment on everything from romance to race -- never fail to connect with me, even if they're not exceptionally composed -- although his best stuff is. He's just really melodic and literate. Even though he never releases the lyrics to his music.

Stew is probably the most unfiltered enigma performing popular music. For years, he fronted a band called The Negro Problem, in which he was the only "Negro" member. The band were critical darlings and huge scene-makers in L.A. Stew's first solo album, Guest Host, released 20 years ago, was named Album of the Year by Entertainment Weekly. His second full-length recording, The Naked Dutch Painter ...  and Other Songs, received the same accolade two years later.

He and his writing partner, Heidi Rodewald, wrote the 2008 Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange, the last performance of which was filmed by Spike Lee.  Stew won the Tony for Best Book. The show is a semi-autobiographical tale of a young black man who leaves his home in Los Angeles to discover himself (racially and sexually) and his musical voice in Amsterdam and Germany. The musical features several melodic themes from Stew's earlier work.

Here is a lovely song from late in the show, where the narrator, Stew, explores the connection between performance and pain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UckfZ8rds-g