Marty Stuart - WikiHQ

John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before beginning work as a solo artist in the early 1980s. He is known for his combination of rockabilly, country rock, and bluegrass music influences, his frequent collaborations and cover songs, and his distinctive stage dress.

His greatest commercial success came in the first half of the 1990s on MCA Records Nashville. Stuart has recorded over 20 studio albums, and has charted over 30 times on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His highest chart entry is "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a duet with Travis Tritt.

Stuart has won five Grammy Awards out of 16 nominations. He is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame.

Early life

John Marty Stuart was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, on September 30, 1958. Later that year, Stuart left Cash's band and landed a recording contract with Columbia Records. He recorded a second album for Columbia titled Let There Be Country, which charted two singles in 1988: Merle Haggard's composition "Mirrors Don't Lie" and "Matches".

His second MCA album, Tempted, followed in 1991. The album charted four singles on Hot Country Songs between 1991 and 1992: "Little Things", "Till I Found You", "Tempted", and "Burn Me Down", of which all except "Till I Found You" reached the top 10. Jana Pendragon of AllMusic gave the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, comparing it to Dwight Yoakam's Hillbilly Deluxe in style and saying, "Stuart kicks country-pop in its well-defined hindquarters[…]But Stuart is just as deadly when he slows things down and does a ballad."

Also in 1991, Stuart co-wrote a song with Travis Tritt called "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'". Recorded on the latter's 1991 album It's All About to Change, this song was released in between "Tempted" and "Burn Me Down". It went on to become Stuart's highest chart entry, reaching number two on Hot Country Songs in early 1992. This song's success also led to the two touring in 1992 as the No Hats Tour, because unlike most contemporary country musicians, neither Tritt nor Stuart sported a cowboy hat.

1992-95: End of MCA tenure

200px|thumb|left|Stuart is a frequent collaborator of [[Travis Tritt's, pictured here in 2014.]]

His next MCA album, This One's Gonna Hurt You, came out in 1992. The lead single "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)", also a duet with Tritt, was a top-10 hit in 1992, but the followup singles, "Now That's Country", "High on a Mountain Top", and "Hey Baby", were less successful. Johnny Cash provided duet vocals on "Doin' My Time", while the track "Me and Hank and Jumpin' Jack Flash" sampled voice recordings of Lester Flatt, Hank Williams, and Ernest Tubb. Also in 1992, Columbia issued Let There Be Country. Also included were two covers: Billy Joe Shaver's "If I Give My Soul" and The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Wheels", as well as the mandolin instrumental "Marty Stuart Visits the Moon". Daniel Gioffre of AllMusic highlighted these three tracks in particular as being among the strongest on the album. Nash rated the album "B", stating, "As a singer, Marty Stuart has all the zip of unbuttered toast, and as a writer, too many of his songs float aimlessly...Yet Stuart has genuine love for the early country greats and injects his own work with such impassioned strains of old hillbilly styles, that he charms in spite of his limitations."

Following this album, MCA issued a compilation called The Marty Party Hit Pack in 1995, which contained singles from his previous MCA albums, as well as "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", the previously unreleased "The Likes of Me" and "If I Ain't Got You", and two cover songs previously found on multi-artist tribute albums released in 1994. These were a rendition of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel", featuring The Jordanaires and previously found on It's Now or Never: The Tribute to Elvis, and The Band's "The Weight", featuring The Staple Singers and previously found on Rhythm, Country and Blues. Both of these cover songs were produced by Don Was, while Don Cook handled production on the two new songs. "The Likes of Me" was previously cut by Conway Twitty on his 1993 album Final Touches, on which Cook was also a producer. Both of these new songs were issued as singles in 1995, but neither entered the country music top 40. The Marty Party Hit Pack became Stuart's fourth and final gold album in 1998.

Career since the late 1990s

Stuart released another album in 1999 called The Pilgrim. It charted only one single that year with "Red, Red Wine and Cheatin' Songs". After this album proved to be commercially unsuccessful, Stuart left MCA in 2000. Included on the albums were covers of Porter Wagoner's "A Satisfied Mind", Carl Butler and Pearl's "Sundown in Nashville",

In 2005, Stuart launched a custom record label, Superlatone Records, to issue overlooked Southern gospel and roots music recordings. Stuart released three critically acclaimed collections on Superlatone, Souls' Chapel, Badlands, and Live at the Ryman. In October 2005, Stuart released a concept album, Badlands: Ballads of the Lakota, which pays tribute to the Sioux culture in what is now South Dakota. In 2007, Stuart produced Porter Wagoner's final album on the predominantly punk label Epitaph Records.

In August 2022, he signed with Snakefarm Records, his first record deal in nearly 10 years. He also went on tour with the Fabulous Superlatives in Europe, with scheduled performances in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Sam Williams, Hank Williams' grandson, was his supporting act.

The Fabulous Superlatives

thumb|right|The Fabulous Superlatives in 2022: from left to right Stuart, Vaughan, Stinson, Scruggs

The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart's band since 2002, includes him on guitar and mandolin, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Harry Stinson on drums, and from 2002 until 2008, Brian Glenn on bass. From 2008 until 2015, Paul Martin was on bass. In 2015, Chris Scruggs replaced Paul Martin on bass, and also played steel guitar. Every member also sings.

Musical style

In a 1992 article for Entertainment Weekly, Kate Meyers wrote that Stuart "considers himself more a stylist than a singer, meaning he gets by with a mix of approaches...rather than relying on a fantastic voice of his own", citing Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, and Muddy Waters as his main musical influences. Stuart's musical image in the 1990s was also defined by his distinct clothing and hairstyle. Meyers described him as having a "striking black mane, speckled with well-earned gray...[o]ften tied in a black or pink bandana headband", faded jeans from Levi Strauss & Co., a black T-shirt, cowboy boots, a concho belt, and a rhinestone-studded suit jacket designed by Nudie Cohn (sometimes termed the "Nudie suit").

thumb|right|Marty Stuart, January 1993, with [[Clarence White's B-Bender guitar]]

Yvonne and Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers gave one of their father "Pops" Staples' guitars to Marty Stuart after Pop's death. Mavis Staples explained, "My father was Marty's godfather. My sisters and I took him in as our brother. He's the only one that I've heard who -- when he's playing guitar, he sounds like Pop. He can play just like him."

Stuart's guitars also include 'Clarence', the familiar two-tone Fender Telecaster, once owned by Clarence White. This instrument is the original B-Bender guitar, built and designed by White and Gene Parsons around 1967, to allow the guitarist to manually raise the guitar's 'B' string one whole step to play in a style similar to a pedal steel guitar. Stuart bought this unique guitar in 1980 from White's widow, and continued to play it in concert, as of 2025.

The Marty Stuart Show

Stuart is host of The Marty Stuart Show, which features traditional country music in the vein of The Porter Wagoner Show, Flatt and Scruggs, the Wilburn Brothers Show, and Hee Haw. The Marty Stuart Show began airing at 8:00 pm on November 1, 2008, on cable's RFD-TV. Although no new episodes have been produced as of 2022, the network continues to air old episodes of the show under the name The Best of the Marty Stuart Show.

Each episode features music by Stuart and his band the Fabulous Superlatives. Stuart hosts and produces the 30-minute episodes, with WSM disc jockey and Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs serving as the show's emcee.

Country Music Foundation

Stuart is a member of the board of the Country Music Foundation and is a past president. Stuart has also been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.

Personal life

Stuart's first wife was Johnny Cash's daughter Cindy, to whom he was married from 1983 to 1988. Stuart described encountering Smith many years earlier, after attending her concert: "I met Connie when I was 12 years old. She came to the Indian reservation in my hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi, to work at a fair. She hasn't changed a bit. She looked great then and she looks great now." Stuart said he told his mother then that he was going to marry Connie Smith. Smith explains how they have sustained their marriage : "Make the Lord the center ... and commit."

Discography

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable"

!Year

!width="250"|Association

!width="350"|Category

!width="350"|Nominated work

!width="65"|Result

| align="center" rowspan=1|1985

| align="center" rowspan=1|Academy of Country Music

| align="center"| Top New Male Vocalist

| align="center"| Marty Stuart

| align="center" rowspan=1|1990

| align="center" rowspan=1|Country Music Association

| align="center"| Video of the Year

| align="center"| "Hillbilly Rock"

| align="center" rowspan=1|1991

| align="center" rowspan=2| Academy of Country Music

| align="center" rowspan=2| Top Vocal Duet

| align="center" rowspan=2| Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt

| align="center" rowspan=3|1992

| align="center" rowspan=1|Grammy Awards

| align="center"| Best Country Collaboration with Vocals

| align="center"| "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'" (with Travis Tritt)

| align="center" rowspan=5|Country Music Association Awards