The New Yorker has said that Stew “writes sophisticated songs... Echoes of Cole Porter, Burt Bacharach, and Randy Newman can be heard in his work...”

The New York Times called Stew’s 2002 album, “The Naked Dutch Painter,” “Perhaps the finest collection of songs anamerican songwriter has come up with this year.”

The Chicago Sun-Times: “Generation X’s answer to Randy Newman or Graham Parker, only less bitter and more soulful than either of these two gents.”