Busy Bee Cafe

Billboard

July 17, 1982

My Kind Of Country

It’s common to hear today’s singers speak about their country roots, but it’s relatively rare to come across an artist who not only talks the talk but walks the walk as Marty Stuart has done. He was already a seasoned veteran at the age of 24 when his second solo album, 1982's Busy Bee Cafe, was released. Instead of using the album as a platform to propel himself to stardom, he seems to content to share the spotlight with the many guest artists — Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Watson, Carl Jackson and Jerry Douglas — who contributed to the project. It perhaps should have been billed as an album by “Marty Stuart and Friends.” An acoustic and heavily bluegrass-flavored collection, it seems like an odd choice for a young artist trying to make his breakthrough. Instead, it appears to be one of those rare projects made for the love of the music, without much regard for commercial considerations.

The album contains a few traditional numbers, a few written by Marty himself, and a few more written by his musical mentors Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and Johnny Cash. Cash lends his vocals to three tracks — the album opener “One More Ride,” Lester Flatt’s “Get In Line Brother” and a remake of Cash’s 1954 hit “Hey Porter.” All three songs are billed as duets, but Cash’s vocal is much more prominent than Marty’s on “One More Ride.” “Hey Porter” is strictly a Cash vehicle; Stuart’s voice can only be heard occasionally as he gives shout-outs to the other musicians playing on the track. “Get In Line Brother” is arranged more as a vocal quartet, with Cash again dominating. Marty’s voice can be heard, but it is overwhelmed by Cash and the other two uncredited singers. Marty’s singing is more prominent on tracks like “Blue Railroad Train,” “Busy Bee Cafe,” and “Down The Road” — which features the unmistakable banjo-picking of Earl Scruggs — but he sounds very little like the singer we’re familiar with today. His voice is not as strong, nor his style as distinct. The only glimpse of the singer who would one day break through with “Hillbilly Rock” is the album’s closing track, the rockabilly-flavored “Long Train Gone.”

Though Stuart was yet to fully blossom as vocalist at the time of this album’s release, this project is more noteworthy for the picking than the singing, as evidenced in its several instrumental tracks such as “I Don’t Love Nobody,” “Watson’s Blues,” “Soldier’s Joy,” and “Boogie For Clarence." The entire project has a feel of a bunch of friends sitting around the living room and just letting the music happen. It won’t appeal to those who don’t like bluegrass or instrumental music, but it will be very much enjoyed by those who do.

Grade: B+

By Razor X

New Country

Stereo Review

Doc Watson, who plays or shares the lead on all of Side One, and Stuart sets off that explosion, trading leads on I Don't Love Nobody. Watson continues to amaze me, but Stuart is no slouch in comparison. He doesn't seem to control the volume of as many strings at a time as Doc does, and stylistically he is more of a note-bender than a rippler, but he's impressive, particularly in the speedy Boogie For Clarence. He wrote that one, an instrumental, apparently referring to the late Clarence White, another great flat-picker. Stuart is also a fine mandolin player, beyond bluegrass and toward David Grisman country, and he does a good job as lead singer on five of the songs on the album. He has a soft-edged voice that sounds a little like that of Mickey Newbury. And his songwriting, what little there is of it here, is better than respectable.

This is a performers' album, though, and the performers seem excited about it. Earl Scruggs is in fine form and Doc Watson plays hotter runs than he generally does on his own albums. Jerry Douglas doesn't get much tone of the dobro, or it isn't recorded well--the bass also seems a bit squeezed--but the engineering generally is pretty good, especially around the singers and lead instruments. That's where the action is and plenty of it, but it's complementary rather than competitive and, for all the razzle-dazzle, there are no fills that don't fit. Busy Bee Cafe is quite something; an example of how good musicians, whether they are stars or not, can inspire one another when the conditions are right. And Marty Stuart, for a mere kid, is providing some pretty good conditions.

By Noel Coppage