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Singer. Songwriter. Poet. Musician. Photographer. Movie score composer. Historian. Collector. Actor. Comic book hero. Marty Stuart is "Country Music's Renaissance Man." He may be as progressive as any artist out there but his country roots run deep and wide. He made his first appearance on the Opry as a 13-year-old mandolin-playing teenager traveling with Lester Flatt's band. After Flatt died in 1979, Marty branched out playing a kind of bluegrass fusion with fiddle player Vassar Clements and worked with guitar virtuoso Doc Watson. A six-year stint touring with Johnny Cash followed and Marty, who plays guitar, bass, mandolin, and fiddle, became a sought-after sessions and concert musician playing with Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Randy Travis and even Roy Rogers He produced his first solo album in 1982 - Busy Bee Cafe, on the independent Sugar Hill label and made his major label debut in 1986. He signed with MCA Records in 1989 breaking the top 10 for the first time in 1990 with the album Hillbilly Rock, which went gold. His second album Tempted, went gold with four hits: "Tempted," "Little Things," "Till I Found You" and "Burn Me Down." He wrote two songs that became award-winning duets with his friend Travis Tritt. Collaboration on "The Whiskey Ain't Workin" and "This One's Gonna Hurt You" brought the team a Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year (1992) and "Whiskey" won a Grammy (1993.) Travis and Marty's "No Hats Tour" was proclaimed one of the hottest shows on the road in '92 - so hot that it became the subject of a Pay-Per-View event. That same year, on November 28, 1992, Marty became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, 20 years after his first appearance at age thirteen. He won another Grammy (1994) for his performance on "Red Wing," from Asleep At the Wheel's "Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills." Love and Luck followed in 1994, The Marty Party Hit Pack in 1995, and Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best in 1996. What Marty does best is bring together all kinds of music - honky tonk, hillbilly, rock, traditional country, progressive - in a way that brings out the best of all styles. As he says, "It's just about being fearless and having fun. It's like somebody said to me, 'you sounded like you grew up, but you got over it.'" His "Marty Party" series of specials hit TNN in 1994 allowing him to play TV host for two years. The high-spirited series also inspired a Marvel Comics special edition comic book, "The Marty Party in Space." Tradition is everything to Marty. He plays country-rock pioneer Clarence White's 1954 Telecaster, a Martin D-45 formerly owned by Hank Williams Sr. and a D-28 that was Lester Flatt's. His stage clothes are jeans and hand-tailored sparkle jackets and high western boots right out of the old western movies. Marty has assembled one of the largest collections of country music memorabilia, including the Country Music Hall of Fame Hank Williams Exhibit, and is known round the world for his contribution to country music. He received the "Mayor's Metronome Award," the first time in 12 years Nashville had given the award. He serves as Ambassador of Tourism for the City of Nashville and is in his third term as president of the Country Music Foundation. He has performed many benefit concerts including Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Habitat for Humanity and Farm-Aid co-host. This past year, 1999, has been one of his biggest, busiest and best yet. In addition to his heavy tour schedule, he and the Rock & Roll Cowboys released The Pilgrim, - an album based on a true story - which received rave reviews from critics around the world. He received his third Grammy for a song he wrote and produced, "Same Old Train," from the Tribute to Tradition album with Merle Haggard, Joe Diffie, Pam Tillis and many more, on Sony records. He scored and produced the music for the upcoming Billy Bob Thornton movie, Daddy and Them and the soundtrack album with Dwight Yoakam, Sheryl Crow and Marty. (He earlier co-wrote two songs for the soundtrack of the movie Fire down Below starring Steven Seagal with Marty in a cameo acting role.) He has been honored by Martin Guitars with a limited edition signature series acoustic guitar and this year Fender Guitars is introducing a signature series Fender Telecaster. But Marty doesn't just sing, write, play and perform the country and bluegrass he loves so much. He photographs the people, the places, and the performers with the same soul he gives his songs. He has had photos published in Country Music magazine, People, Southern Living and a Cheekwood Gallery (Nashville) showing. His new book of photography Pilgrims: Sinners, Saints & Prophets, just hit the bookstores. This book of essays and photos of country greats - everybody from Earl Scruggs to Jerry Lee - captures the essence and soul of country. Marty Stuart - renaissance man - and heart and soul man of country music. |
September 30
Marty Stuart Fan Club |
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