Meet David Stewart

He walked…

David Stewart’s tale didn’t start with sound and fury. He was just a man – a man with a dream. He wanted to be a famous musician and songwriter. And most of all he wanted to play on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. One day while talking to his wife, Jackie she asked him a life changing question,

“What would you do to be able to sing at the Grand Ole Opry”.

David responded,

“I’d walk to Nashville if I could sing on the Opry”

And that sparked the path of over 1500 miles that David would embark on to literally walk to Nashville, Tennessee and be coined “The Walking Cowboy”. He had no contact with the Opry at all. His whole deal was that he was going to walk there and ask them if he could play.

Till he found a stage to share

For a man who walked from Wyoming to Nashville, Tennessee, David Stewart doesn’t get to travel much these days. He and his lovely Jackie have anchored themselves to an old hotel in the Wild West, The Historic Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, WY. That old hotel has had its day – replete with famous customers like Butch Cassidy, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill, Teddy Roosevelt, and Owen Wister whose Virginian finally got his man at that very same hotel.

The hotel got its man too – David Stewart – and now it’s ‘having its day’ all over again. David and Jackie welcome travelers from all over the world to the hotel and the historical Occidental Saloon.

But the real magic happens in the far corner of that saloon. The same dream that drove David to walk over 1500 miles still drives him. Countless hours in that corner have created a culture of music and community that is world – renowned. In 2006, David started The Thursday Night Jam. From humble beginnings, that jam has now become an incubator of musicians who will be playing bluegrass and living their dreams long after David lays down his guitar. In that corner, pickers from all over the world have joined together for hours of spontaneous music-making. Age doesn’t matter. Tuning does.

My shy daughter Morgan was just a kid when she started playing at the Jam about ten years ago. She found out that first night that she was actually standing in one of the greatest corners in the whole world. Growing up in that saloon, playing upright bass right next to David, she now regards him as one of her best friends. Nowadays, David often invites her band to join him as he opens for professional bluegrass musicians who have traveled all the way from the South to little ol’ Buffalo, Wyoming, dreaming of playing on the stage in David and Jackie’s Occidental Saloon. Turn around is the fairest play.

Karen Blaney
BigHorn Bluegrass Camp Director
David Stewart Fan