Artist Bios
Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives
By Geoffrey Himes
Marty Stuart was making the best music of his life in 2006.
If you caught him in Nashville in September, for example, you'd
find him in front of his band, the Fabulous Superlatives, a name
that sounded less and less like hyperbole with each show.
"Cousin" Kenny Vaughan, on guitar, wore a white cowboy suit with
cactus embroidery; "Brother" Brian Glenn, on bass, wore a black
jacket, bell-bottom jeans and white boots; and "Handsome" Harry
Stinson, on drums, sported a matching tan jacket and boots.
Out front, his hair rising improbably into the air, his black
cowboy jacket outlined in red piping, and his black-leather
pants blending into his black boots, was Stuart himself, picking
his guitar and mandolin and singing with unprecedented
authority. His show was full of terrific original songs, but
periodically he played a touchstone of country music history,
beginning with the bluegrass of "In the Pines," continuing
through the Bakersfield honky-tonk of "Buckaroo" and climaxing
with the gospel original, "It's Time To Go Home."
As he shifted gears through all these styles and more, Stuart
never lost momentum. His stabbing mandolin notes and aching
vocal evoked the desolation of the abandoned lover in the pines;
his jumping electric guitar captured the abandon of a
Saturday-night buckaroo, and his yearning drawl revealed the
peace that can be found in accepting death.
Where did this new-found confidence and charisma come from?
How, at age 48, when many country-music veterans are slouching
towards oblivion, has Stuart so improbably reached new heights?
Unlike most show-biz success stories, he doesn't claim the
credit himself. He knows his current achievement would never
have been possible if he hadn't walked every single mile of the
highway that got him here. And he never would have made it if
not for the mentors who showed the way and the partners who
walked beside him. Those are his "Compadres," and his story
can't be told without them. Stuart realized as much when John L.
Smith, the researcher who compiled the Johnny Cash discography,
started on one for Stuart.
"When he started sending me session sheets," Stuart explains,
"I started seeing all the collaborations I had done and I
realized how well they told my story. I strung them together on
a CD, let some fall by the wayside, and put the remainder on
another CD. What was left told the story of a young man's
journey, starting with Lester Flatt and arriving at the Fabulous
Superlatives. It was the story of a kid who showed up with a
mandolin and a dream, became a guitar player in the Johnny Cash
Band and became a songwriter, an arranger and a producer. I look
at it and see the unfolding of a life."
Visit Marty Stuart's website at:
www.martystuart.net
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