Havana is John’s first new CD of studio recordings in five years, a cornucopia of ebullient rockers and bone-deep ballads that have been road-tested and honed before rabid audiences of “Bloodliners,” as John’s fans are known, across the country and in overseas Stewart strongholds such as the United Kingdom.

Havana features fourteen memorable Stewart originals that ponder modern life and materialism (“Davey on the Internet,» “Who Stole the Soul of Johnny Dreams«), mortality and existentialism (“Dogs in the Bed,» “Starman«), personal and public heroes (“I Want to Be Elvis,» “Turn of the Century [Diana],« about the late Princess of Wales), love (“Miracle Girl,» about wife and singing partner Buffy Ford Stewart, “Cowboy in the Distance«), and the mysteries of existence (“Star in the Black Sky Shining,» “Rally Down the Night«). John tackles these emotions with unquenched wonder and hard-won experience, a wry cynicism forged by reality but tempered with optimism based on faith in the individual. The one non-original composition on the CD is John’s interpretation of the standard “Lucky Old Sun,” a hit in 1949 for Frankie Laine that has since been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson and many more.