"Pilgrims: sinners, saints & prophets"

I don't know how books get nominated for the prestigious Ralph J. Gleason music award, but if I find out you can bet I'm going to start lobbying for Marty Stuart to take home 1999's honors. And I didn't think Marty could out do himself when I heard his CD The Pilgrim a couple of months ago, but he has surely done it with Pilgrims: saints, sinners, and prophets, a book of memories, musings and photos.

Pilgrims is like a memoir in that the reader comes away knowing much about Marty, including that he is a natural-born writer and philosopher. The insights offered about artists including Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Merle Travis, Lester Flatt, Willie Nelson,the Sullivans, Jerry Lee Lewis and so many more are priceless, told in story and image. Marty shares some telling moments he's spent with these people, stories he's heard, bits of wisdom passed along. He takes you on tour with Lester Flatt, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins....in the studio with Roy Orbison, to a '50s party at Waylon & Jessi's house, to a songwriting date with Dolly, to a Nashville bar with Harlan Howard, backstage at the Opry with Chet Atkins and Bill Monroe. That's just for starters. Pilgrims is packed with wonderful words. Marty's own and others. For example, he quotes a lengthy comment by Woodie Guthrie that begins: "I hate a song that makes you think that you are not a good person." And then Woodie gets down to a discussion of song singers and ethics. In fact, as I read through Pilgrims, it occured to me that much inside these pages is about ethics -- about character and honesty. There's a beautiful story Marty tells of meeting an old man who recommended he only shoot pictures in black and white, because that's where you'll find the truth. Marty went right to the store and bought a roll of black and white film, and the old man still charged him five dollars to take the shot. Most of Marty's pictures are in black and white, and the truth finds them all.

By Patsi Bale Cox