Album Reviews

Marty Stuart – Nashville Vol. 1: Tear The Woodpile Down (Sugar Hill)

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According to Marty Stuart, “Today, the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee is play country music.” By that standard, Nashville is the most outlaw record currently on the shelves—not that there are actual shelves anymore, but you get my meaning.

The highlights are plentiful as Stuart provides a primer on playing traditional country music. “Sundown In Nashville” is a bittersweet homage to Music City that Gram Parsons would have been proud to record. “Hollywood Boogie” is a Buckaroos-style instrumental. “Holding On To Nothing” is the kind of heartbreaker that George Jones used to turn out regularly. The steel intro to “Going, Going, Gone” is guaranteed to transport you to 1965.

Hank 3 joins Stuart for “Picture From Life’s Other Side” (a song most associated with Hank’s grandfather) while Lorrie Carter Bennett (daughter of Anita Carter) sings on “A Song Of Sadness.” Their presence provides an obvious link to country music’s past. For some time now, Marty Stuart has been vocal about his mission to preserve that past and carry it forward into the 21st century. With Nashville, he has done that, and so much more.

– Steve Frazier

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