10/02/2025
On the subject of Sonny Garrish, here’s another outlaw country musician from the 70s—Gary Stewart—who produced h***y-tonk and rockabilly signature hits such as An Empty Glass with Sonny Garrish on steel and the iconic She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles) with Pete Drake on steel guitar. Stewart’s steel player of choice on later projects was Steve Palousek who played on Stewart’s Live at Billy Bob’s album released in 2003, the same year as Stewart’s death 🎶
There wasn’t much call for h***y-tonk sounds in 1970s Nashville, with the country industry having shifted toward the polished productions of Billy Sherrill, Jerry Kennedy, and Owen Bradley for the time being. And yet Kentucky-born, Florida-raised Gary Stewart helped stage a h***y-tonk and rockabilly revival that resulted in a handful of signature hits and one classic album.
With 1974’s “Drinkin’ Thing,” Stewart found his way into the country Top Ten after years of playing the barrooms of southern Florida. The title track fared even better, reaching No. 4. Roy Dea produced Stewart’s debut album “Out of Hand,” a 1975 release that garnered positive reviews for its raw, back-to-basics approach to country music. “Stewart has a fine voice, capable of cutting through the smoke and pinning you to the wall with its unashamed emotion and energy,” wrote one critic in the "Houston Post."
The biggest single from “Out of Hand” was also the biggest of Stewart’s career. In 1975, RCA issued “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles),” a Wayne Carson song that Stewart recorded at RCA Studio B. A barroom weeper that Stewart sings with urgency and palpable frustration, it became the sole No. 1 hit of his career.
Years later, Stewart’s influence was still felt. Historian Bill Malone called him “one of the finest young h***y-tonk singers of the modern period” in his book “Country Music USA,” while Dwight Yoakam had applied Stewart’s lessons to his own career. “Gary Stewart was a very bright spot for h***y-tonk music about ’74 or ’75, ’76,” he told the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in an oral history interview. “There was an element of youth in that. There was an element of recklessness in the approach. There was an austerity of production. See, that’s the key in h***y-tonk music.”
