Wolf+Salmon To Publish Jimmy McDonough’s Final Biography Gary Stewart: I Am From The Honky-Tonks

January 21, 2026 - Today, Wolf+Salmon has officially announced the April 2 publication of Jimmy McDonough's Gary Stewart: I Am From The Honky-Tonks,the definitive telling of the life of the late, great honky-tonk legend Gary Stewart. An epic tale of sex, drugs, and country music almost 40 years in the making, the book is the eighth and final biography by Jimmy McDonough (Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen), and once again reaffirms his status as America's greatest chronicler of popular culture.

An unsung hero of 20th century American music, Gary Stewart is regarded as one of the most talented singers, songwriters, and vocalists of his generation. In the mid-1970s, crazed hits like "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" and "Drinkin' Thing" rocketed Stewart up the charts and earned him the admiration of Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers, Tanya Tucker, and more. Within a few years, he had flamed out and all-but-vanished from the music scene. Until Jimmy McDonough barged his way into the spooky, Florida doublewide Stewart was hiding out in, beginning a four-decade obsession with the elusive musician.

Utilizing the unique combination of oral history, vivid prose, and personal experience that made McDonough's Shakey: Neil Young's Biography a bestseller, Gary Stewart: I Am From The Honky-Tonks follows a feral Kentucky family who surfed success and rear-ended disaster in drug-soaked, 1970s Florida. At its core is the tempestuous, tragic love story of Gary Stewart and his wife, Mary Lou, that will leave readers haunted long after they turn the last page. Featuring hundreds of hours of interviews with Gary, his wife Mary Lou, family members, band members, producers, cohorts, dealers, and fellow stars such as Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson, Dickey Betts, Dean Dillon, and Charley Pride, this intense and exhaustive 544-page book - filled throughout with rare and unseen images collected by McDonough, and an exclusive cover image by Grandal Stewart (Gary's brother) - reveals the complete, untold, and torrid history of a man who lived life as if "the plane could crash tomorrow."