Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505240033
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JEAN PRESCOTT KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``I figure there's enough hard-core staged events and phony stuff out there,'' he says, sounding more than a little bit road weary. ``What we do is really sorta just jammin' up there.''
``Up there'' is the stage of Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, which for the purpose of the telecast has been dressed to look like a cartoon back porch. Stuart's signature rocket ship appears to have crash landed into the ``back-yard'' turf.
And the Mississippi-born and -bred star tells the truth when he says it's a feel-good down-home jam. This special brings to mind TNN Saturday nights of yore, when ``American Music Shop,'' which paired unlikely musicians for the same sort of jamming, and ``Texas Connection,'' Jerry Jeff Walker's eclectic prime-time get-together, aired back-to-back.
Stuart's guest list includes Travis Tritt, Kentucky HeadHunters and old masters Vassar Clements on fiddle and dobro picker Josh Graves. Of course Stuart's Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy Band is there.
From the first number, ``Down Home,'' through the dozen that follow during the hour, good music and camaraderie make a mix worth watching.
``It's just findin' people you know who work together,'' Stuart says from the other end of the telephone line. And it crosses the mind that if Stuart made a list of the people he knows in country music, he could do 10-times-four ``Marty Parties.''
``Yeah, I've worked with a lot of 'em,'' he says.
Anyone who knows anything about Marty Stuart knows he learned his licks behind bluegrass great Lester Flatt, with whom Stuart hit the road at age 13. That was 20 years ago. And when Flatt died in 1979, Stuart found himself taking graduate courses on the road with Johnny Cash. That's when and where the young man began to develop his unique hillbilly style.
``Those older guys,'' he says referring to Clements, who steered Stuart's early development, and Graves, ``they have recorded with every star on earth who ever made any difference (in country music). It's a familial bond.''
Stuart obviously has bonded with some of his contemporaries, too, most notably ``the Georgia Flash, my brother, Travis Tritt.''
And he refers to the HeadHunters as ``one of the most original things to slip under the fence here in Nashville.''
But the music, after all, is why the audience shows up, and this audience likes it so much, many of them end up dancing in the aisles. They enthusiastically join in, too, for a HeadHunters singalong to ``Doomis Walker's.''
Tritt does ``Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof.'' No matter that Stuart rags him about being only ``5-foot-10 and waterproof,'' and the closing number alone is an improv jam worth the effort it takes to find the remote and punch the right button.
Party No. 3 is being taped this week, ``And we go rockin','' Stuart says, ``with Steve Earle, The Mavericks and Jerry Lee Lewis. That one'll be on in August.'' The fourth is due in November.
Meanwhile, he tours, does TV and benefits, writes tunes in the studio, and on June 5 will co-host ``TNN Music City News Country Awards'' with Martina McBride and Charlie Pride.
Does he ever slow down, ever relax?
``It seems like from December to March, things are pretty quiet,'' he says, ``and then it breaks wide open.
``I just like acomplishing things,'' he adds. ``I never seem to get satisfied ... never pay attention to what lays behind.''
by CNB