MARTY STUART
In Nashville’s legendary
RCA Studio B, in the very space
where so many Elvis Presley smash hits were recorded as were classic sides by Charley Pride,
Connie Smith, Porter Wagoner,
Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings,
is where the latest Marty Stuart release, Ghost Train
(The Studio B Sessions),
was recorded.
“The first recording session I ever participated in was in this room,” Marty Stuart says, looking around Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio B, “playing mandolin, in Lester Flatt’s band, when I was 13. Lester walked over and said ‘Why don’t you handle the kick-off on this one?’ This place has a profound pedigree; it’s where so much of American music’s legacy was forged, certainly country music’s. And sonically, this is a room that welcomes music. It seemed to me that in order to authentically stage a brand new traditional country music record we should bring it home to Studio B. Even though Studio B is now regarded as a museum of sorts, I had a feeling that all it would take to bring the place to life were songs and a good band. The Country Music Hall of Fame, who operates the facility, gave me permission to come here and work. It is indeed an honor.”
Since starting out singing gospel as a child, the bluegrass stint with Lester Flatt in the ‘70s, the six years with Johnny Cash in the ‘80s, and coming up with his smash “hillbilly rock” hits of the ‘90s, the four time GRAMMY-winner, platinum recording artist, Grand Ole Opry star, country music memorabilia preservationist, stylist, designer, photographer, songwriter, all around renaissance man, charismatic force of nature, and (first of all, perhaps), leader of the extraordinary, versatile touring and recording band The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart has shown a showman’s zest for every conceivable flavor of country music. Not to mention, a missionary’s zeal for bringing the importance of the music and its themes home to long-time fans and newcomers alike.
“In reality,” Marty recalls, “our band started on this record years ago when we first formed. ...All music mattered to us. Everyone’s music seemed to contribute to the founding of the Superlatives. We were encouraged and inspired by so many people when we were gathering our power and locking in our own identity. Those influences continue to follow us to the bandstand. One of our main goals has always been to bring the bandstand along with us to the recording studio, every time we go.”
That live on stage, alive on records presence is also seen regularly by TV viewers these days, on RFD-TV’s The Marty Stuart Show, which adds a new chapter each week to the tradition of simple, electrifying country TV with varied live sounds, and top level guests. The Marty Stuart Show is currently the number one program on the network, as it has been for the last two years. “It gives me a good feeling to know that country music is alive and well on television on any given Saturday night,” states Stuart. “After people work hard and cope with the pressures of life throughout the week, going out to a show or tuning in to watch some characters in cowboy clothes, singing and playing songs about real life is something I relate to. The show is not only a staging ground for legends and icons, but it especially welcomes a new wave of kids coming along in need of a place to sing and play authentic country music."
CONNIE SMITH
Connie Smith was born to sing. Following her high school graduation, she began singing locally at area frolics and on area television shows. It was at the country music park, Frontier Ranch, near Columbus, Ohio where Connie met Grand Ole Opry Star Bill Anderson. Anderson heard her perform and was impressed with her singing. Six months later Anderson invited her to Nashville to be a guest on the Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree.
Within a year following her first visit to Music City, Connie was signed to RCA Victor Records by Chet Atkins and released the first recording of her career. The song, Once A Day, topped the charts at number one where it stayed for an unprecedented eight weeks. Once A Day became the first debut single in country music history by a female artist to reach number one, a record that Smith maintained for the next 25 years. Her self-titled LP also reached number one, and served as the first of over 50 albums Smith has recorded to date.
The wake of Connie’s success carried her onto the stage of WSM’s Grand Ole Opry as a featured guest performer. Her first 22 performances resulted in 22 encores. On August 21, 1965 Connie Smith was welcomed as a member of the Grand Ole Opry family. The king of country music, Roy Acuff gave her the title of “The Sweetheart of the Grand Ole Opry.”
As the ninth decade of the twentieth century rolled on, so did Connie Smith. After a chance encounter with fellow country star, Marty Stuart, she asked him if he’d be interested in working with her. They co-wrote most of the 1996 self titled Warner Brothers project which Stuart co-produced. Their working relationship became an unexpected romance and today, they have been married for more than a decade. They continue to collaborate as artists and songwriters. Smith and Stuart have now written more than 40 songs together. Two of particular note are “Farmer’s Blues” and “Hearts Like Ours.” “Farmers’ Blues” is the song that Stuart recorded with Merle Haggard. It was included in Stuart’s duets projects entitled Compadres. “Hearts Like Ours,” one of their rare duets is also featured on the same project.
In 2002, Smith was voted in at No. 9 on CMT’s Greatest Women of Country Music. Connie Smith’s favorite male country singer, George Jones, returns the compliment by naming her as his favorite female country singer of all time. Dolly Parton has also credited Smith by once saying, “There’s only three real female singers; Barbara Streisand, Linda Ronstadt and Connie Smith. The rest of us are only pretending.”
Fans of Connie Smith will soon have new projects from her to listen to. She and Stuart have been writing and gathering songs and as Stuart puts it, “We are well on our journey back into the recording studio to begin work on one of the three projects that we have in mind to do. The first is a traditional country collection; in wings are a gospel set and an acoustic offering.”
Connie and her band, The Sundowners, still maintain a regular concert schedule as well as appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. She can also be seen as a regular on Stuart’s new, weekly television series, “The Marty Stuart Show,” that airs on Saturday nights on the RFD network.