Marty Stuart

Stuart was among the artists interviewed in the 2019 PBS documentary Country Music, directed by Ken Burns.

Stuart is host of The Marty Stuart Show, which features traditional country music in the vein of The Porter Wagoner Show, Flatt & Scruggs, The Wilburn Brothers Show, and Hee Haw. The Marty Stuart Show began airing at 8:00 p.m. on November 1, 2008, on cable's RFD-TV. Although no new episodes have been produced recently, the network continues to air old episodes of the show under the name The Best of the Marty Stuart Show.

His collection of music memorabilia and photography was exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum in 2007 as "Sparkle & Twang: Marty Stuart's American Musical Odyssey." The "Sparkle & Twang" exhibit later appeared at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and at the Arkansas Statehouse Museum. In early 2018, Stuart co-curated, along with the Grammy Museum, an exhibit at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, entitled "Marty Stuart's Way Out West: A Country Music Odyssey." The exhibit highlighted the West Coast impact on country music, featuring items by artists including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Stuart himself. Many of the items in the exhibit came from the private collection of Stuart, including the last portrait of Cash (taken by Stuart four days before Cash died).

The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart's band since 2002, includes him on guitar and mandolin, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Harry Stinson on drums, and from 2002 until 2008 Brian Glenn on bass. From 2008 until 2015, Paul Martin on bass. In 2015 Chris Scruggs replaced Paul Martin on bass, and also playing steel guitar. Every member also sings.

In 2000, Stuart performed the voice of Reverend in the animated film Tom Sawyer. Stuart left MCA in 2000, joining Columbia Records, releasing a new album in 2003; however, this album was credited to "Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives." The lead single just missed Top 40 status. In 2005, Stuart launched a custom record label, Superlatone Records, to issue overlooked Southern Gospel and Roots music recordings. Stuart released three critically acclaimed collections on Superlatone, Souls' Chapel, Badlands and Live at the Ryman. In October 2005, Stuart released a concept album, Badlands: Ballads Of The Lakota, which pays tribute to the Sioux culture in what is now South Dakota. In 2007, Stuart produced country legend Porter Wagoner's debut album on the predominantly punk label Epitaph Records.

In 1997, Stuart married country music singer Connie Smith. Connie and Marty met back in the 1960s, when he saw Connie performing at one of her concerts, and he told his mother that day, that someday he would marry her. In 1998, he helped produce Smith's comeback album on the Warner Bros. label, Connie Smith. He also co-wrote 8 out of 10 songs on the album. Stuart released another album in 1999 called The Pilgrim, along with another unsuccessful single, that failed to even make the Top 40.

Stuart has been married to country artist Connie Smith since July 8, 1997. Stuart was formerly married to Cindy Cash, a daughter of Johnny Cash.

Stuart is a member of the board of the Country Music Foundation and is a past president. Stuart has also been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.

In 1991, Marty co-wrote a song with Travis Tritt called "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'." The song was recorded as a duet on Tritt's 1991 album It's All About to Change, and became Marty's biggest hit. In 1992, his former record company, Columbia finally released his album Let There Be Country. That same year, Stuart released the album This One's Gonna Hurt You on MCA. The album's title track, a duet with Travis Tritt, was released as a single, and became another Top Ten hit for Stuart. This One's Gonna Hurt You became Stuart's first gold album.

Between 1991 and 1992, Marty and Travis went on the road for the No Hats tour, referring to "hat acts," as it seemed at the time every mainstream country singer was wearing a cowboy hat on stage. Although Stuart built quite a fan following, follow-up success was hard to find. In 1994, Stuart contributed the song "Up Above My Head / Blind Bartimus" with Jerry Sullivan and Tammy Sullivan to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. The release of his 1994 album Love and Luck turned out to be less successful than hoped. Three singles were released from the album, but only one ("Kiss Me, I'm Gone") made the Top 40. His record sales began to slip. This led to MCA releasing the album The Marty Party Hit Pack in 1995. This also led to a series of "Marty Party" concerts on the Nashville network. The year 1996 saw the release of another album, Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best. Once again, sales were less than hoped. Stuart released three singles, with only one reaching the Top 40.

Stuart soon returned to Nashville. He landed a deal with MCA Records in 1989, formerly Decca Records. That year, Stuart released his first album on MCA, Hillbilly Rock. In 1990, he found commercial success with the album, when two songs from Hillbilly Rock became hits. The title track, "Hillbilly Rock," was his first Top 10 hit on the Country charts. The other song, "Western Girls," broke the Top 20. The album received positive reviews from critics, who compared Marty's work to that of country singer Dwight Yoakam. The album featured a cover version of the Johnny Cash hit "Cry! Cry! Cry!." In 1991, he released another album, Tempted, and the title track became Stuart's first Top-5 hit.

His marriage to Cindy Cash ended in divorce in 1988, leading to Stuart's return home to Mississippi. Roland White invited Stuart to rejoin his band as their fiddler and this helped Stuart build his confidence to try again at becoming a singer.

In 1985, Stuart accompanied Johnny Cash to Memphis and played on the Class of '55 album that also featured Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. At the end of the session Perkins presented him with his guitar. Later that year, Stuart left Cash's band and landed a recording contract with Columbia Records. The following year, he released a self-titled album on the label, which produced a Top 20 hit on the Billboard country charts in the song "Arlene." Stuart garnered his first cover story in 1986, appearing in a Mid-South magazine article titled "Nashville's New Hopes." Also in the article were Vince Gill, Sweethearts of the Rodeo and Lisa Angelle. Although he had a hit with "Arlene", the album itself did not sell well. Stuart recorded a follow-up album, Let There Be Country, but Columbia failed to release it after Stuart had a heated discussion with the label head over its decision to drop Johnny Cash from the Columbia roster.

In 1982, he released a second album called Busy Bee Cafe on Sugar Hill Records. Both of these releases were bluegrass albums, and they failed to garner any success. In 1979 he dated Karen Darlene Graham, daughter of Junior A. Graham. In 1983, Stuart married Johnny Cash's daughter, Cindy. They divorced five years later, and had no children. In 1985, Stuart left Cash's band to pursue a solo career.

After Flatt died in 1979, Stuart pushed forward and worked with fiddler Vassar Clements and guitarist Doc Watson. In 1980, he joined Johnny Cash's backing band. The previous year, Stuart made his first solo album, With a Little Help From My Friends, on Ridge Runner Records.

From an early age, he was obsessed with country music and taught himself how to play the guitar and mandolin. At the age of 12, Stuart started performing with the bluegrass group The Sullivan Family. He later met Roland White, a member of Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass, and White invited Stuart to play with them at their Labor Day gig in Delaware in 1972. After this, White asked him to join the band permanently and Stuart accepted. This made White responsible for the rest of Stuart's education. Fourteen-year-old Stuart appeared with the band on the season five finale of Hee Haw. Marty stayed with Lester Flatt until Flatt broke up the band in 1978 due to his failing health.

Stuart's guitars also include 'Clarence', the familiar two-tone Fender Telecaster, once owned by Clarence White. This instrument, either a '54 or '56 (different sources) is the original B-Bender guitar, built by White and Gene Parsons around 1967, designed to allow the guitarist to manually raise the guitar's 'B' string one whole step to play pedal steel style licks. Stuart bought this unique guitar in 1980 from White's widow.

John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is a multiple Grammy Award-winning, American country music singer-songwriter, known for both his traditional style, and eclectic merging of rockabilly, honky-tonk, and traditional country music. In the early 1990s, he had a string of country hits.