On more than one occasion I’ve suggested that Marty Stuart found the perfect name for his incredible band: The Fabulous Superlatives.
Best band name ever. Period. Full stop.
Comprised of “Professor” Chris Scruggs on bass, “Handsome Harry” Stinson on percussion, “Cuzin'” Kenny Vaughan on guitar, along with Stuart on guitar and mandolin, these four gentlemen can play anything with incredible skill and apparent ease.
Last week, the folks at NPR Music “graced the roots music world” with a release of a Tiny Desk Concert featuring Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. As The Bluegrass Situation noted, the group demonstrates how interconnected all of our roots music genres really are. “Stuart straddles limitless folk and country aesthetics, from classic, old-school sounds to bluegrass string band vibes to psychedelic surf rock.”
There’s a four-song set list—“Tempted,” “Streamline,” “Tomahawk,” and “Heaven“—spanning album releases from 1991 to 2023. The NPR folks give us the basics of Stuart’s musical history.
“When Stuart was just 12 years old, he went on the road for the first time with a Pentecostal gospel bluegrass group called the Sullivan Family Gospel Singers. Almost 55 years later, he’s still performing and is a five-time Grammy winner, Country Music Hall of Famer and AMA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.“
Along the way, Stuart played with just about every country and bluegrass icon: Johnny Cash, Doc Watson, and Lester Flatt among others.
This concert was recorded just a few days before Easter, and . . .
“. . . the set ends appropriately in the spirit of the church. ‘When we first put our band together, the way we learned to sing together was singing gospel songs,’ said Stuart. ‘I was in love with the Staple Singers as always, Mavis and Pops and Cleotha and Pervis, and they are all like family and so bluegrass music all figured in. So we finally got around to writing a few songs for ourselves and here’s one we got to do called ‘Heaven.’”
And then it really doesn’t get any better than a 2011 performance of Country Boy Rock and Roll on David Letterman. Kenny Vaughan just goes off in a way that is other-worldly . . . and all without any special effects. Then Stuart and Vaughan top it off with a few bars of double guitar leads. Oh my!
Just a magical twenty-five minutes between these two videos. Enjoy!
More to come . . .
DJB
See also:
Photo of Kenny Vaughan and Marty Stuart at Merlefest 2012 by DJB
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