Newton Theatre to welcome Marty Stuart

NEWTON — The Newton Theatre will welcome country superstar Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 8 p.m.
For more than 40 years, the five-time Grammy winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, photographer and historian has built a rich legacy. With acclaimed albums, hit songs like The Whiskey Ain’t Working, Tempted, Burn Me Down, Little Things and Hillbilly Rock, and one of the greatest bands of our time, Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives will rip up the stage in classic country music style.
“I've always thought that country music had a really unique relationship with gospel music,” Stuart said. “It is interesting to me that country stars can sing drinking and cheating songs authentically, then at some point during the evening or the broadcast, take their hats off and say, 'Friends, here's our gospel song.' If it’s the right messenger it seamlessly flows. That's a time-honored tradition, from Jimmie Rodgers to Hank Williams to Johnny Cash. Rogue prophets and rogue preachers. That is my world!”
Born in the small town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, Marty Stuart caught the music bug early, displaying prodigious talent on every stringed instrument he picked up. At an age when most kids are running bases in little league, 13-year old Stuart was logging cross-country interstate miles as a mandolinist with the legendary Lester Flatt's road band. In his 20s, Stuart toured with Johnny Cash, and also played with other legends such as Bill Monroe, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. By the late 1980s, Stuart was a solo artist, rising faster than mercury in the heat of a hillbilly fever. But amidst the hits and hoopla, the bright lights eventually revealed a deeper truth.
“I had such a great run, playing butt-wigglin' songs in coliseums, and it was just wearing thin,” he said. “I remember spinning around one day at Foxwoods, up in Massachusetts, there was a full house, the band was really loud, we were doing good, the crowd was screaming and hollering, and I thought, 'I am not enjoying this music.' And then I told myself, 'Well, get back to enjoying it, because you’re on top of the world right now.’ Platinum records, Grammys, it was all coming. But I did not like the way my legacy was shaping up. So I took the better part of a year to unwind it. Another issue that fueled that decision was that radio was starting to cool on my records. I was beginning to chase after hits, and it was tearing me apart. I had one record left on my contract with MCA, and I vowed to get back to the music I’ve always loved the most, and let my heart be the chart.”
To get some clarity, Stuart consulted his friend and mentor, Johnny Cash.
“I went to his house and said, 'J.R., I've got a record in my mind called The Pilgrim. I laid it out to him, and he said, 'Well, just know you're stepping up for rejection. Potentially.' I said, 'I understand, but I've got to do this.' He said, 'If you've got to do it, that's all the reason you need.' So I made the record. It was a great critical success, and it was a line-in-the-dirt artistic moment of reconnecting with my true self, a piece of myself that I had hidden away years before, to go exploring. From that moment forward, I realized that there's a different way to live a life as a musical citizen.”
Stuart knew he didn't want to travel this new path alone, so he recruited fellow musical missionaries Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson and Paul Martin.
“From the Superlatives' first rehearsal, I knew this was the band of a lifetime,” Stuart said. “I knew this was my Buckaroos, my Strangers, my Texas Troubadours — my legacy band. Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson and Paul Martin are not only musical geniuses, but statesmen. The Fabulous Superlatives are without question one of the greatest bands of our time. We have played ourselves out of the woods and (latest album) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is one of those milestone projects in the band’s legacy that truly brings the spunk and fire of the bandstand to the studio.
With acclaimed albums, as well as The Marty Stuart Show, a musical variety program on RFD-TV, Stuart says. “I’ve found my place to drive a stake in the dirt, and proclaim, this is what I believe in.”
Tickets for Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives range from $34 to $49. Purchase tickets by visiting www.thenewtontheatre.com or contact the Box Office at 973-383-3700.