Time magazine crowned Gary Stewart the King of Honky Tonk, Bob Dylan was mesmerized by his sound, and the Allman Brothers counted him as a friend. Yet today the man with a number one Billboard country hit is practically a ghost in country music history, hiding in plain sight in the Nashville machine he refused to serve.

His story is a case study in the danger of being truly authentic: a quivering, hyper-emotional voice too wild for traditional country and too country for rock. From firing the music industry to play Florida dive bars, through devastating personal losses and a 41-year love story with his wife Mary Lou, Stewart lived every heartbreak he ever sang.

• A $30 session cutting countrified Motown demos became the golden ticket to his RCA record deal

• "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" rocketed str ...