Come To The Marty Party!

No current artist embodies country music as thoroughly as Marty Stuart. But reaching a point where the public and the industry not only appreciated but understood the concept has taken time and dedication.

"I truly feel like I came, defied, and set out to do what I came here to do and I got my point of view across," he once said. "For a long time a lot of people only saw tight jeans, big hair and flashy clothes. Now, though, they're doing a book on my country music and guitars.

"I mean, I've been working on honing a direction, sound and image and the whole ball of wax, and I've been honing it down for about ten years now. Every album I make, I think I get a little better and the band gets a little better. But that's okay with me because I'm not interested in tearing it up for about two years and then being forgot about and pushed off to the side. I'm much more interested in doing it the way I've always done it, and I've been here twenty years."

He recently remarked, "I hope a lot of these guys and girls who explode out of the box, I hope they have a grassroots following. You've got to have something to fall back on because eventually there will be a cold season. If you don't have a fan base, you wind up out of work and out of a career. It's real important for me to get out and take the time to enjoy the fans."

Stuart is currently doing his favorite thing--touring. He's headlining his own shows and explained to a reporter the premise behind what is a huge production. "I got a deal we're doing called 'The Marty Party,' " he said, "It's the coolest. I can't explain it. It started in Canada in March and most of the dates are already sold out ... we have an incredible set. It's like Roy Acuff's tent shows meet The Grateful Dead. Figure it out for yourself. It's just basically a portable honky tonk all across the world, you know, It's going to be a real fun tour."

He quipped, "I don't write serious songs, but I'm into making people dance, cut up and have fun. There are a lot of heavy things going on in the world. My job is to be an entertainer right now--and of course stop at every Waffle House in America. That's the main thing--to be on a first-name basis with every Waffle House waitress in America!"

He concluded, "I'm on this earth because of music. Music makes me tick. Music is that thing that when you meet somebody you don't know and they look at your and wonder--you don't have to say a word. They know you've got something inside of you."

[Did you know .... Marty Stuart has been on the road professionally since he was 13, when he joined Lester Flatt's band on mandolin? He has released six solo albums and toured with everyone from Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan.]

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