The series puts some fine late 1980s and early 1990s material back into play and serves as a kind of pre-alt-country primer (that is, this stuff was considered country and some of it was played on country radio, but most of it would now be billed as alt-country). There are a couple of stories here, the most important of which is that some fabulous songs and performances are once again available through Sony Nashville/Lucky Dog's new Pick of the Litter reissue series. The seeds of his stardom were sown in such tracks as "Mirrors Don't Lie," "Matches," "Let There Be Country," and "I'm A One-Woman Man." His '80s stint at Columbia Records might not have brought him any big chart numbers, but this reissue of his 1985-88 work for the label proves that it wasn't because he didn't have the goods. Long before he had hits in the '90s like "Hillbilly Rock" and "Tempted," Marty Stuart was making powerfully individualistic music. Barnes and Harlan Howard, end things in a straightforward, New Traditional vein.įive years after it was recorded, Let There Be Country stands so strongly today that it raises a valid question that demands an answer: Why didn't Columbia, with New Traditionalists all around them in 1987, release the album then and give Marty's career a jump start? Barnes' ballad, "Stone Blind" and "I'll Love You Forever (If I Want To)," penned by Max D. The brief, bluesy instrumental track, "Old Hat," serves mainly as an opening for the last four songs. Smith who wrote and sold the rights to some classic country songs to other artists for peanuts. This is the true story of a hard-drinking Knoxville songwriter Arthur Q. He blazes through Merle Haggard's "Mirrors Don't Lie," mixing new songs with older material like Bill Monroe's 1951 gospel number, "Get Down On Your Knees and Pray," and Johnny Horton's 1956 hit, "I'm A One Woman Man," also a hit for George Jones in 1988.Įven in 1987 he had simple authority to put across a blockbuster like Harlan Howard's "Be Careful Who You Love (Arthur's Song)," recorded a couple of years ago by Hank Jr. The presence of Mark O'Connor and Emmylou Harris underscores that direction and it's further reflected in songs like the witty "Matches," with its Johnny Cash feel, and Peter Rowan's bluegrass blues, "Last Train Done Gone Down." The title track, an autobiographical Stuart original, says it all, crediting early mentor Lester Flatt for his direction and explaining his pursuit of youth and tradition with wit and flair. Let There Be Country, recorded after New Traditionalism made its mark, is far more indicative of what Marty does now with his producer Richard Bennett at MCA. The approach wasn't really that successful only one single, "Arlene," charted. Another was a remake of The Band's "The Shape I'm In." Taken as a whole, they reveal a far younger performer whose traditional interests were tempered by the desire of his record company to cut hit records on him. Two of the songs were written by Marty and producer Curtis Allen, two more by acoustic rocker Steve Forbert. The point here was to emphasize the country rocker side of Marty, and this was obvious in the material. The entire music business itself was in a transition phase between Urban Cowboy and the New Traditionalist movement. The first album, good in its own way, doesn't really reveal the Marty of today. The second, Let There Be Country, was recorded in 1987 but never issued. Not only has CMH reissued some of his early work with Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass, but here, Columbia has dug back in the vaults to reissue-for the first time-both of his LP's for them, his first major-label experience after leaving Johnny Cash's band in the mid-1980's.
Now that he's hot, Marty, who welcomes reissues as much as I do, is the focus of several himself.
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