Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives- Altitude
Label: Snakefarm
Producers: Marty Stuart, Harry Stinson, Kenny Vaughan, Chris Scruggs, Mick Conley
Marty Stuart’s reputation as one of country music’s great gatekeepers has never been called into question as mere hype or self-prophecy. It’s for his passionate championing and education of the artform’s core musical values and roots as much as his actual body of work that landed him in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2020. Both aspects of his legacy are in full-frontal display on Altitude, his newest LP with his ever-accurately titled band The Fabulous Superlatives, and his first studio set overall since 2017’s excellent Way Out West. Stuart’s core sound has always been a bedrock of electric country sound that pulls from the genre’s most respected subsets, namely Bakersfield, Outlaw, and of course the 90s neo-trad movement that he is a grossly underrated contributor to. For Altitude however, Stuart is drawing his greatest inspiration from the era of Cosmic country-rock, specifically The Byrds’ 1968 landmark, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. To say that he and his troops effectively captured that magic sound is the understatement of the year. My God, does this album sound fantastic. Stuart himself sounds as vocally convicted, charming and smooth as he always has, but good Lord is the guitar work throughout so breathtakingly clear and resonant. That’s nothing new for the Superlatives, but it shines in a completely new light on this record. I can’t wait to hear these guitar fills echoing from my turntable. The highlights of this album are generously abundant, from the lonely honky tonk narratives of singles like “Country Star” and “Sitting Alone” and the spooky country noir of cuts like “Space” and “Nightriding”, to the lush steel-laced California country of the title track and rip-roaring surf jamming of “Tomahawk”. There’s truly not a bad pick in the litter. Altitude lives up to its title in exemplary fashion, and achieves a level of pure musical excellence that would be challenging to match in any genre and in any era. Superlative, indeed.
Track Listing:
- “Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 1)” (Marty Stuart)
- “Country Star” (Stuart)
- “Sitting Alone” (Stuart)
- “A Friend of Mine” (Stuart)
- “Space” (Stuart)
- “Altitude” (Stuart)
- “Vegas” (Stuart)
- “The Sun Is Quietly Sleeping” (Stuart)
- “Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 2)” (Stuart)
- “Nightriding” (Stuart)
- “Tomahawk” (Stuart)
- “Time to Dance” (Stuart)
- “The Angels Came Down” (Stuart)
- “Lost Byrd Space Train (Epilogue)” (Stuart)
The 706 
Leave a comment