Marty party
Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives show his love of both kinds of music — country and western
From the silk scarf around his neck to the fringe on his jacket, Marty Stuart clearly advertised his connection to classic country and western music on Sunday night.
But it’s the inside that counts — the inside of a venue that is — and five-time Grammy winner still puts on an incredible display of musicianship. Backed by his Fabulous Superlatives, there wasn’t a sour note during Stuart’s hour-plus performance at the Tower Theatre. Roughly 500 seated patrons filled the venue to catch Stuart, 59, who was just in Oklahoma last November opening for Chris Stapleton at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Stuart and Co. put just as much energy into the Jan. 21 show as they did in front of an arena-sized crowd. The band cruised through decades of material, touching on tracks from 2017’s sensational “Way Out West” and stretching back to play covers of Johnny Cash and Oklahoma’s own Woody Guthrie. Drummer Harry Stinson handled lead vocal duties “The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd.”
My evening’s highlight was the cover of Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” which contains more than 400 lyrics. The quartet, which included guitarist Kenny Vaughan and bassist Chris Scruggs, did justice to the supremely catchy number. They’re an incredibly tight band and can comfortably switch between TexMex numbers to surfy guitar riffs in minutes. They know how to rock and aren’t afraid to.
If you were a big fan of Stuart, then there was a lot to love and — as a recent convert myself — a lot to learn. Stuart strikes me as a music lifer who seems at home onstage and probably wouldn’t hesitate calling himself a luminary to old-school stylings. After all, his crew followed up the Oklahoma City performance with a stop in Tulsa, which coincided with an opening celebration of the “Marty Stuart’s Way Out West: A Country Music Odyssey” exhibit at the Woody Guthrie Cultural Center.
The Tulsa World noted the showcase includes rare photos, handwritten lyrics to Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Man in Black,” and Cash’s Martin D-45 guitar among pieces of Stuart’s childhood — including school report cards (he was better at band than math, go figure) and an essay about what he wanted to be when he grew up. That’ll be on display until May 6. Tulsa’s Travis Linville opened up the concert with a confident solo set. The singer-songwriter, who was born in Chickasha, has been performing original music for nearly 20 years and flexes his seasoned playing and laid-back lyrics like it’s second nature. There was no way of telling he’d been up since 3 a.m. traveling back to Oklahoma from the Sundance Film Festival.
After that, Marty started the party and it was a blast.