Bob Harris Country - 21/01/2010

Joining Bob is a man who is not only a visionary American roots musician, but also a worldwide ambassador for Country music and a leading music historian in his field - Marty Stuart. In a session recorded last September in Nashville, Marty Stuart talks about a career which began at the age of 12 playing mandolin in a bluegrass band. With a love of Nashville music and fashions harking back to childhood years watching country variety shows with his dad, Marty has gone on to become one of the most influential figures in Country and Americana music . He spent many of his early professional years as a sideman to some of country music's biggest names including bluegrass legend Lester Flatts and Johnny Cash (He was married to Johnny's daughter Cindy for several years). In the late 80s Marty had a successful solo career, with his rockabilly style appealing to the fans of the more roots based 'New Traditionalist' movement which was gaining in popularity. Hits included 'Hillbilly Rock', 'Little Things' , 'Tempted' and 'The Whiskey Ain't workin'' with Travis Tritt. In the late 90s he moved away from commercial mainstream country and released 'The Pilgrim', a concept album based on a true story from his home-town , the story of a man dealing with the challenges of infidelity, alcoholism, religion and death . Following this he formed his band 'The Fabulous Superlatives' made up of some the best Nashville session players including Kenny Vaughn, Harry Stinson and Brian Glen. Marty still spends much of his time touring with this band, and has recently performed with them on his new American TV series, which also featured performances from his wife, the 1960s country hitmaker Connie Smith. A lifelong fan of Connie's, Marty first saw her perform in 1970 when he was eleven years old and announced that night that he was going to marry her one day. The couple did marry in 1997! A member of the Country music Foundation and the Grand Ole Opry, Marty is also a huge collector of country memorabilia including the classic cowboy fashions of Nudie Cohn and Manuel Cuevas. In fact, at the beginning of his career, when he went looking for his first Nudie suit Manuel gave him a free shirt, saying that 'some day Marty would be able to afford every suit in the shop'.