Music City, Inc. today announced the sixth class of inductees to the Music City Walk of Fame, presented by founding sponsor Gibson Guitar: Dr. R.H. Boyd, Cowboy Jack Clement, Mike Curb, Marty Stuart, Josh Turner and CeCe Winans. The honorees will be recognized officially with the unveiling of commemorative sidewalk markers on Sunday, April 19, beginning at 2:30 p.m. in the Hall of Fame Park in downtown Nashville. The induction ceremony, which is sponsored by Great American Country (GAC), is free and open to the public.

The Music City Walk of Fame is an official project of Music City, Inc., the charitable foundation of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau (NCVB), and is produced with the support of presenting sponsor Gibson Guitar and sponsors GAC, the City of Nashville and Metro Parks.

“It’s a privilege to honor the great accomplishments of this impressive class of inductees,” said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Each honoree represents the immense talent, creativity and diverse musical styles that have made Nashville, Music City.”

Created in the fall of 2006, the Music City Walk of Fame, on Nashville’s Music Mile, is a landmark tribute to those from all genres of music who have made significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and have contributed to the world through song or other industry collaboration. With the induction of this new class of honorees, there will be 37 total stars along the Walk of Fame.

Permanent sidewalk medallions made of stainless steel and terrazzo, with each honoree’s name displayed in a star-and-guitar design, will be installed in the sidewalk along the Music Mile. The plaques for this class of inductees will be inlaid in Hall of Fame Park on Demonbreun, between 4th and 5th Avenues South.

Nominations were open to the public and accepted in the categories of Artist, Musician, Songwriter, and Producer/Music Industry Executive. Application forms were reviewed by the Music City Walk of Fame anonymous selection committee.

“The Music City Walk of Fame continues to celebrate Nashville as one of the most exciting cities in America with exceptional musical talent on every corner,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “It continues to be an honor to be involved with the Walk of Fame program and the many artists it represents.”

The April inductees for the Music City Walk of Fame:

Marty Stuart
The journey began in Philadelphia, Mississippi where Stuart spent quality time with his dad watching the syndicated country-music shows on TV. Even on the family's small, black-and-white set, the stars’ costumes sparkled and dazzled, exerting a magnetic pull on a small-town kid with big ambitions.

At age 12, Stuart began playing mandolin with the Sullivan Family, and at age 13, Stuart moved to Nashville and joined Lester Flatt & the Nashville Grass.

After brief stints with Vassar Clements and Doc Watson in the wake of Flatt's death, Stuart landed the job he’d always wanted, playing in the Johnny Cash Show. Cash, Stuart knew, was the professor who could complete his education. And, away they went, down the road for tours that included June Carter, the Carter Family, and the Tennessee Three.

After six-plus years with the Johnny Cash Show, Stuart pulled together his own band and hit the road. The first single, “Arlene," snuck into the Top Twenty, and the second, “All Because of You," snuck into the Top Forty.

Later, Stuart launched on his new label, MCA, with the 1989 album, Hillbilly Rock. The title track became a Top Ten single. The next album, 1991’s Tempted, used that approach to put four more singles into the Top Twelve. Fueled by success, Stuart started writing songs as fast as he could come up with them.

He co-wrote “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’," but he didn’t need the song, so after hearing a young singer named Travis Tritt on the radio Stuart decided to send a demo of “Whiskey” to him. Not only did Tritt want to record the song, but he wanted Stuart to recreate the guitar part he’d put on the demo.

“The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’” became a #2 smash, and it was followed by such duets as 1992's #7 hit, “This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)," and 1996's #23 hit, “Honky Tonkin’s What I Do Best." In 1992, they hit the road on the “No Hats Tour,” an irreverent rebuke to the many “hat acts” dominating Nashville at that time. Stuart contributed songwriting to Tritt's next three albums, played guitar on two of them and sang a duet vocal on “Double Trouble” from the last one.

Meanwhile, Stuart continued to rack up hits of his own. The 1992 album, This One's Gonna Hurt You, yielded not only the title-track duet with Tritt but also three other Top Forty singles: “Now That's Country,” “High on a Mountain Top," and “Hey Baby." Stuart produced three more albums on MCA Love and Luck in 1994, the 1996 disc, Honky Tonkin’s What I Do Best, and The Pilgrim.

In 2002, Stuart formed The Fabulous Superlatives. Since then he has released 6 CDs: Country Music, Souls’ Chapel, Badlands, Live at the Ryman, Compadres and Cool Country Favorites.

Marty Stuart is country music’s Renaissance man. His energetic enthusiasm has gone outside music, yielding impressive work as a photographer, writer, collector and arts executive. Stuart recently launched his own television show, The Marty Stuart Show on the RFD network and published his second book of photography titled Country Music: The Masters. Stuart’s collection of music memorabilia, Sparkle & Twang is currently on display at the Autry National Center of the American West, after having been exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Keen to broaden the scope of his life-long passion to uncover the depths and eccentricities of Southern culture, Stuart now finds himself in the opening stages of combining music and the arts to continue his ambitious story. In all his endeavors -- much including his songwriting, singing, playing, and producing -- there is a storyteller at work, a man who listens to and translates the world he knows.

###