'Hillbilly rock' just scratches surface
June 21, 2007
Marty Stuart, who has been appropriately dubbed country music's renaissance man, plays Stuart's Opera House on Sunday evening.
Along with his band, the Fabulous Superlatives, Stuart can be expected to deliver spirited but tighter-than-a-drum hillbilly country, bluegrass and roots-rock music. In particular, if you're a fan of high-and-lonesome vocals and session-caliber guitar work, this should be the show for you. Stuart, who's an expert guitarist and mandolinist, has the sizzling Kenny Vaughan on guitar, Harry Stinson on drums and Brian Glenn on bass.
In a recent article, Stuart said, "I've followed the sound of music all around the world, and it led me right back where I started from ... home in Mississippi. From the perspective of the delta land, it's not just about country music, the blues, gospel, or rock & roll. It's about all of it."
Stuart got his start as a child prodigy on a variety of stringed instruments in Mississippi. At the age of 13, after meeting bluegrass pro Roland White, Stuart had the opportunity to play with the legendary Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass. Not long after, Stuart got hired as Flatt's rhythm guitarist.
Later he played with Vassar Clement's Hillbilly Jazz, then with Doc and Merle Watson, and then before he turned 20, with Johnny Cash's band.
In the 1980s, Stuart got a commercial breakthrough with the 1989 MCA release, "Hillbilly Rock," which won him status as a mainstream country artist. He stayed mainstream for a good while, even though he mainly played the sort of bluegrass-tinged hillbilly country that never stays fashionable on country radio for very long.
His critically acclaimed concept album, "The Pilgrim" (1999), sealed his status as something more than just a Nashville "hat," and won him wide acceptance in alternative-country circles.
Since then, he has released several solo records, all of them winning critical praise.
The show starts at 7 p.m.
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