With Way Out West, Stuart holds up his end of the deal.Did you know that among all of the students in GRAMMY U, songwriting and performance is one of the most sought after fields of study? We want to create a space to hear what these students are creating today! “That’s the way it’s supposed to be in country music.” The job is to pass it along,” says Stuart, stretching out his arms. “Lester Flatt saw something in me and gave me his wisdom, wit, and music. As he sees it, there is no greater responsibility in music than to share what you’ve learned. “There’s something in there that would entertain each of them.”īut Stuart also made Way Out West for those who come after. “I would play this record for Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, or Ernest Hemingway and never bat an eye,” says Stuart. Way Out West is just the latest embodiment of that creative mission. In a way, his entire career has been “way out west.” While other artists chased popular trends in the name of radio play, he formed complete bodies of work, not unlike the greats he idolized. They’re my legacy band and have been since Day One,” Stuart says.Īlong with the playing of Campbell, who contributed guitar, B-3 organ, and piano, the Fabulous Superlatives are all over Way Out West and ensure that the mystical detours Stuart explores always remain of the moment. They’re my Buckaroos, my Tennessee Three, my Strangers. “The Superlatives are missionaries they’re fighting partners. Made up of guitarist Kenny Vaughan, drummer Harry Stinson, and new member, bassist Chris Scruggs, the Superlatives are an extension of Stuart himself. When it comes to transforming country songs into tangible experience, Stuart has a secret weapon: the Fabulous Superlatives. “But Way Out West just as easily could have been titled Lost on the Desert. “I asked Johnny about that song when I was in his band, and he said the only thing he remembered about it was changing some words,” laughs Stuart. Listeners too can feel the warmth of those Santa Ana winds over the album’s 15 tracks, a collection of newly written originals, instrumentals, and rare covers like the Benny Goodman-penned “Air Mail Special” and “Lost on the Desert,” once recorded by Johnny Cash. “This is a California record, and I knew that when I emerged from the studio at night I wanted to see palm trees and breathe that desert air,” Stuart says. Way Out West, with its atmospheric production, evokes those classics, as well as cowboy records like Marty Robbins’ Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs and Cash’s The Fabulous Johnny Cash, one of the first albums Stuart ever owned. Much of the early Heartbreakers music was recorded at Campbell’s, and that primal rock ’n’ roll energy is palpable throughout Way Out West, reinforced by Capitol’s own rock history: the Hollywood studio birthed iconic records like the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and the country-rock of Glen Campbell’s Wichita Lineman. Studio, a gritty space with a vibe all its own. They recorded half of the album at Capitol Records and the rest at Campbell’s M.C. Way Out West is a love letter to that.”Īs such, the album could only be recorded there, and Stuart, with his longtime backing band the Fabulous Superlatives, decamped for California. “Everything that came out of California captivated my kid mind in Mississippi,” he says. Growing up in Philadelphia, Mississippi, Stuart was taken by the mystique of the Golden State: the culture, the movies, and especially the music. Specifically, the promised land of California. “It is that spirit world of the West that enchants me.” “If you go and sit by yourself in the middle of the Mojave Desert at sundown and you’re still the same person the next morning when the sun comes up, I’d be greatly surprised,” says Stuart. Produced by Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), the album is a cinematic tour-de-force, an exhilarating musical journey through the California desert that solidifies Stuart as a truly visionary artist. Way Out West, his 18th studio album, hits both of those marks. Carter and an assortment of Cash’s black boots among his vast collection of memorabilia.īut most importantly, Stuart continues to record and release keenly relevant music, records that honor country’s rich legacy while advancing it into the future. The Grammy ® -winning singer, songwriter, and musician has played alongside the masters, from Johnny Cash to Lester Flatt, who discovered him been a worldwide ambassador for Nashville, Bakersfield, and points in between and safeguarded country’s most valuable traditions and physical artifacts-including its literal shoes: Stuart counts the brogan of Carter Family patriarch A.P. While he’s too gracious to admit it himself, Marty Stuart is living, breathing country-music history.
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