A Spinnin' Marty Party

 

Country traditionalist Marty Stuart played a Monday night show in Albuquerque with his band the Fabulous Superlatives. He seems as polite as the day is long, and the band shows up wearing crisply pressed suits, so it was a perfect show to take my visiting mom to -- not too loud or rowdy but with just enough of a kick to get the blood flowing.

Stuart continued his persona -- highlighted in Ken Burns' PBS series on country music -- as a cultural custodian. He mentioned his Congress of Country Music in Mississippi, a museum dedicated to the history of country and western, and a stash for all his collectibles.

Stuart treated the mostly full auditorium at the National Hispanic Cultural Center to a journey through time, reaching back to Jimmie Rodgers and sweeping through big names of country, folk and bluegrass, like Woodie Guthrie, Bob Wills, Bill Monroe, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Crystal Gayle. He gave two spotlight songs to each of his bandmates: Chris Scruggs on bass, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Harry Stinson on drums. Below are a few of the highlights.

There was his big hit, "Matches":

 The George Jones weeper "This Old, Old House":

A rollicking version of Rodgers' "California Blues":

Stuart is an old-fashioned guitar slinger who was barely out of junior high when he began playing with Lester Flatt's band. As devoted as he is to the Nashville sound, he shows a wide range of styles. Perhaps betraying his upbringing in the '60s and '70s, he leans toward the twang of the Byrds as filtered through Bob Dylan. His song "Sitting Alone" (which I can't find online) would have fit seamlessly on the Beatles' "Rubber Soul." He peppered the set with a few surf songs, and he launched an encore with a bombastic version of the Count Five psychedelic breakdown "Psychotic Reaction." But there was nothing like his solo turn -- the bandmates left the stage for a bit -- just shredding a mandolin through "Orange Blossom Special."

He concluded his encore with a heartfelt rendition of a song popularized by Crystal Gayle, "Ready for the Times to Get Better," from his album "Songs I Sing in the Dark":

 

BONUS TRACK

Here is the band a few years ago with Don Slack on KEXP doing a set that gives you a flavor of his latest lineup of the Fabulous Superlatives: