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Marty Stuart Setlist
Tour Dates
04/19 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
04/20 - Buffalo, NY - The Tralf Music Hall 04/22 - Stafford Springs, CT - Palace Theatre 04/23 - Phoenixville, PA - Colonial Theatre 04/25 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair 04/26 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom 04/28 - Mt Tabor, NJ - At The Tabernacle 04/29 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere 04/30 - Wilkesboro, NC - Merlefest 05/03 - Charleston, SC - Charleston Music Hall 05/04 - Orlando, FL - The Social 05/05 - Birmingham, AL - The Lyric 05/06 - Knoxville, TN - The Bijou Theatre 05/11 - St Louis, MO - Off Broadway 05/12 - Kansas City, MO - Folly Theatre 05/13 - Denver, CO - Oriental Theater 05/15 - Berkeley, CA - Freight & Salvage 05/16 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues 05/17 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern 05/18 - Los Angeles, CA - Largo at the Coronet 05/20 - Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room 05/21 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory 05/22 - Seattle, WA - The Triple Door 05/23 - Portland, OR - Star Theater 05/28 - Cumberland, MD - DelFest 06/07 - Nashville, TN - Late Night Jam 06/17 - Hunter Mountain, NY - Mountain Jam 06/18 - Brownefield, ME - Stone Mountain 06/23 - Bremen, GA - Mill Theatre 07/30 - Floyd, VA - FloydFest 08/13 - Regina, Sk - Regina Folk Festival 09/22 - Historic Watermelon Park Fest 10/19 - Baton Rouge, LA - Raising Cane's * 10/20 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center* 10/21 - Bossier City, LA - CenturyLink Center* 10/26 - Austin, TX - Austin360 Amph* 11/04 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena* * w/ Chris Stapleton Read More
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“Trust me and take my hand, I’ll take you to the edge of the Mojave Desert. I’ll take you on a twang-ified, palm tree, blue-eyed, blue sky, space psychedelic journey on a magic carpet through the desert”—Marty Stuart describing the new album.
This was a night of classic country sounds from two very distinctive approaches, and all it took for a guaranteed good time was a guy from Philadelphia (MS not PA) and a girl from a place called Monkey’s Eyebrow (KY) to show us what country music is really made of, as Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives with opener Kelsey Waldon hit the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis.
Kentucky singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon was up first this evening, with a nine-song/forty-five minute set in support of her second full-length, last summer’s I’ve Got a Way (Monkey’s Eyebrow Recordings)and opened with a couple of cover songs, Bill Monroe’s ‘Down this Lonesome Road’ followed by Vern Gosdin’s ‘There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)’.
She charmed the crowd that arrived early with a wry southern accent, slight twang in her voice as she sang, and the dexterity of her four-piece band with slide guitar, on this, their first time in the state. ‘High in Heels’ was written about people she knew growing up, and her own ‘I’d Rather Go On’ shows she isn’t one to not let go of the past.
“You can’t place a crown on the head of a clown and hope he turns out to be a king” she sang on the charged ‘False King’ and Waldon and band finished with an anthemic ‘Are You Ready for the Country’ (a Neil Young cover via Waylon Jennings), appropriately setting the table for the main act.
After a short break, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives emerged and hit the ground running, opening with a series of driving/highway songs, to get us all on a musical trip, headed way out west.
Way Out West (Superlatone Records) also happens to be the name of the band’s latest release, a spanning album of varied sounds that demands to be listened to as a whole, and was produced by Mike Campbell, guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
It was clear from the beginning that the band (Kenny “Cuz” Vaughan on guitars; Chris “Professor” Scruggs on bass/slide; Harry Stinson on drums/percussion) was whip smart and polished, tight but loose, and more than able to keep up with Stuart and his five decades of being on stage.
Stuart’s ‘Whole Lotta Highway’ led perfectly into “one of the greatest truck driving songs in the world, recorded right here in Minneapolis”, referring to Dave Dudley’s 1963 classic ‘Six Days on the Road’, put to tape locally at Kay Bank Studios.
“Minneapolis, the surf music capital of the world!” Stuart shouted as he and the band dove into ‘Mojave’ from the new album followed by cowboy ballad, ‘Old Mexico’, inspired by Marty Robbins and showcasing the band’s vocal harmonies. Guitarist Vaughn then took over for a couple of stompers that had great call and response from the receptive audience.
The trippy title track from the new record was followed by a pitch-perfect cover of ‘El Paso’, a Marty Robbins classic that featured guitar work by Country Music Hall of Famer Grady Martin and some 469 words to the song.
After a Chris Scruggs solo song, Stuart pulled out his mandolin, his earliest self-taught instrument, on a Stinson-led Woody Guthrie cover then after briefly reminiscing about his first time here (playing the Cabooze with Lester Flatts' band), blazed into a mando version of the fiddle classic, ‘Orange Blossom Special’.
Referring to Tom Petty as “one of the best country bands, The Heartbreakers”, any doubters were left speechless as Stuart said, “I can prove it to you, it goes like this” as he and the Superlatives transformed Petty’s ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ into a backwoods knee slapper.
The gospel ‘Angels Rock Me to Sleep’ was done with stand-up bass, street corner multi-part harmonies, and a vocal nod to Elvis, and the band ended the main set with the jumping ‘Boogie Woogie Down The Jericho Road’.
The five-time Grammy winner soon returned with a second wind, the band throwing the clutch into ‘Quicksand’ and the Heartbreakers-sounding ‘Time Won’t Wait’ from the new album, before slowing things temporarily with a Cash-inspired ‘Long Black Veil’, taking requests and finally ending with the rollicking ’Tear the Woodpile Down’ and 2014’s ‘Look at that Girl’.
Stuart’s choice to first play smaller clubs for the new album (“real rooms in front of real people” he called it) was a wise move and for the fans, this was a rare chance to see a music legend still in his prime.
Taking the best of classic country, mixing it with some new, and his own seasoned distinct style, Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives took us on a trip for one of the most musically satisfying nights of the year.
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Kelsey Waldon |
Kelsey Waldon |
Setlist |
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
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Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives |
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Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (11 April 2017) |
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