Marty Stuart

On Marty's latest release, This One's Gonna Hurt You, he carries on the hillbilly rock tradition with pride. Let's take a look at what he had to say.....

Country Beat: Are you happy with your latest album?

Marty: I'm happy with This One's Gonna Hurt You.

Country Beat: What about the song "Doin' My Time" with Johnny Cash?

Marty: When I was working in his band, that was the arrangement we always did onstage. So basically, we took an old arrangement and that's the way we recorded it. I'm real proud of it.

Country Beat: Do you want to hear a few songs geared for radio airplay on your new album?

Marty: Oh yeah. The album itself has about four songs on it.

Country Beat: Where did you get the idea for "Me & Hank & Jumpin' Jack Flash"?

Marty: I was driving through Oak Hill, West Virginia. That's close to where Hank died in the limo on the way to Canton, Ohio for that New Year's show. I was sitting in the back room of the bus writing and that's where the song came from.

Country Beat: You have a lot of older ladies who are your fans. Why do you think that's so?

Marty: Because older women [want love] too!

Country Beat: Who would play you in a movie?

Marty: I don't know if I'm ready to be played yet [laughs]. If I'd want to get egotistical, I'd say Marlon Brando or Jack Nicholson or Robert DeNiro. Those are my favorite actors.

Country Beat: Would you ever consider acting at this time in your career?

Marty: No, because it would mean coming off the road and I'm too happy playing country music right now.

Country Beat: Marty, you have a great deal of style in your stage outfits. How do you feel about getting dressed up in flashy boots, belts, jeans and jackets for your stage show?

Marty: Nudie, the old western tailor to the country music legends, once told me, "It's better to be looked over than to be overlooked." I really believe in that. We're in this to be stars, you know. We're not supposed to look like we would in normal life. I look one way when I don't have to work and be Marty Stuart. But, I believe that I have an obligation to have an image for my fans.

Country Beat: So you're not going to trade in the custom made Nudie jackets?

Marty: No.

Country Beat: What separates Marty Stuart from anybody else?

Marty: I don't think that I'm all that different from everybody else.

Country Beat: As far as the music goes.

Marty: Well, I think that I've always had a different point of view in that I've always believed in country music even though it was real unpopular. At one time, the word hillbilly was real unpopular when I first started promoting it. I just simply believed in it and I stayed with it.

Country Beat: So you are still playing your brand of hillbilly rock music?

Marty: Yes. I committed to it for better or worse.

Country Beat: Do you feel a challenge to do better on your latest album?

Marty: Well the new record is selling real well.

Country Beat: What was the last record you bought that wasn't country?

Marty: It was one by a beat poet Jack Kerouac from the Fifties and I bought Crowded House's new album.

Country Beat: What are your favorite guitars to play?

Marty: It depends upon the song. They're all different animals.

The writer of this article is unknown.