12/23/2023 0 Comments They called it the hillbilly rockAfter playing with Charlie Monroe, Flatt joined Charlie’s brother, Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. In fact, his “G-run” became a standard lick among guitarists in the bluegrass idiom. Flatt’s style of rhythm guitar fit perfectly with Scruggs’ more progressive banjo work. Lester Flatt and his banjo-playing partner Earl Scruggs were synonymous with the word “bluegrass” for more than 20 years. Stuart has served as President of the Country Music Foundation (1994-2001) and is currently making plans to build the Marty Stuart Center for Country Music in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. He formed the Fabulous Superlatives (Harry Stinson, Kenny Vaughan, Paul Martin, replaced by Chris Scruggs in 2016) and together, Stuart and the band have taken the best of the tradition – first-rate musicianship, stellar vocal harmonies, matching Western wear, energy and passion – and created a hillbilly band with a sound that always looks forward, wowing audiences around the country. In 1999, he released The Pilgrim, a concept album rooted in tradition, yet distinctly progressive in its approach. The sound passed down from the Maddox Brothers and Rose to Flatt, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash. But he longed to get back to the true sound of country music. He found his way to a successful solo career in Nashville, releasing the albums Hillbilly Rock and Tempted, both spawning hit singles that saw him forge a path as an artist in his own right. He witnessed first-hand how great artists communicated and connected with an audience. By age 13 he was on the road with Lester Flatt, followed by years in Johnny Cash’s band. He began performing with the bluegrass group, the Sullivans. Marty Stuart is a five-time GRAMMY Award winner who has spent his life steeped in the music of his rural Southern upbringing. Most importantly, he and his band, The Fabulous Superlatives, serve as statesmen-like emissaries who provide a link to all that has come before while telegraphing a vision of what is yet to come in country music. From classic Nudie suits to handwritten lyrics, treasured instruments to concert posters and photographs, Stuart has devoted his life to preserving artifacts that document the music and the people who make it. Stuart maintains an abiding commitment to the world of country music by honoring the community of artists that created it and those who keep it moving forward. A sound that would be changed again by the Byrds, Gram Parsons, the Flying Burrito Brothers and modern day artists such as Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Jason Isbell, and Stuart himself. Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison” and “At San Quentin” offered release and respite to audiences both inside and outside those prison walls. These artists and others whom they inspired created a sound that ultimately stood apart from the country music coming from Nashville. Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart would plug in and electrify their music, with Fender Telecasters, bass, drums and steel guitars creating a hard-hitting, blue collar brand of country music, which was perfect for the honky-tonks of Bakersfield. Mixing hillbilly and boogie woogie, they pioneered the sound of rock-a-billy music in America. Here, the Maddox Brothers and Rose are celebrated as the first family of West Coast country music. Marty Stuart’s Way Out West: A Country Music Odyssey tells the story of a transformation in country music through the lens of the American West. It wasn’t grand or ornate, but it was music of the people and it told their life stories. They also brought their music, which in those days was called hillbilly or Okie music. Countless families migrated west and with them they brought an adventurous spirit and a willingness to work. In the Dust Bowl days, the Golden State represented a second chance, a place of opportunity and hope. From the Dust Bowl to the Depression, through the economic growth following World War II, to the striking cultural and political changes of the ‘60s, right up to the innovations created by the digital revolution, California lives on as a land of dreams. For decades, the West has been a place of hope and transformation.
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