Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives Award Scottsdale Center For The Performing Arts A Binding Ride In History, Showmanship & Chops (SHOW REVIEW/PHOTOS)

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives had the crowd on the edge of their seats throughout the entirety of their sold-out concert on April 28th at the Virginia G Piper Theater at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

The four-piece started off with their theme song “La Tingo Tango” a twangy surf instrumental from their rare 2008 release Cool Country Favorites followed by their hillbilly barnburner, “Tear The Woodpile Down”, featuring exciting dual telecaster leads by Stuart and second guitarist, Kenny Vaughan. Stuart then sang a few of his classic hit songs, starting with 1991’s “Tempted”, the first song of the night to feature the incredible three-part harmonies of Stuart, drummer Harry Stinson, and bassist Chris Scruggs. 1993’s “Whiskey Ain’t Workin’ Anymore” earned Stuart and former Bud Light drinker Travis Tritt a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, with Stuart playing hot guitar licks that had echoes of Johnny Paychecks’s pedal steel player, Lloyd Green. 

Next came the “Arizona debut” of the Byrds-like “Sitting Alone” from their forthcoming album, Altitude, complete with 12-string Rickenbacker electric guitar and soaring vocal harmonies. This was followed by the Waylon Jennings classic “Just To Satisfy You”, opening with several minutes long jam with Stuart and Vaughan trading solos, while dedicating it to “all the folks who used to see Waylon at JD’s” in reference to the two-story Scottsdale nightclub where Jennings first developed a big following in the mid-60s. 

The band soon got back to surf territory as each band member received their formal introductions, to much applause, before “Cousin” Kenny Vaughan took lead vocal duties for the next couple of songs, both originals from his solo album, V.  These were the roadhouse rocker, “Country Music Got A Hold On Me” and the jump-blues swing of, “Hot Like That”, the latter featuring some very tasty lead playing by Vaughan and the first tune of the night with Chris Scruggs switching his electric bass for an upright. 

What will likely be the most memorable song of the night for many in the audience came next with Marty Robbins’, “El Paso”, The band played this western classic flawlessly with gorgeous three-part harmonies that would make the Glaser Brothers proud, and Vaughan played all of Grady Martin’s original Spanish guitar lines. Like Waylon, Marty Robbins first made a name for himself in the greater Phoenix area before being swept away by Nashville. Marty Stuart said his mom named him after Robbins and they received a standing ovation for their efforts and a massive roar of applause.

Stuart then did a tribute to the Lakota tribe of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, of which he and his wife, Connie Smith, are adopted members, with the driving “Badlands”, from his 2005 release, Ballads Of The Lakota.

With Chris Scruggs back on upright bass, it was time for him to show what an incredible singer he is with the Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys classic, “Brain Cloudy Blues”, and the first song of the night with Stuart tearing it up on mandolin. With the same instrumentation, they took on the surf tune, “Wipe Out”, in which their drummer played the classic drum solo solely by slapping his hands on his cheeks and with Scruggs doing some serious slapping his upright bass.

Next, it was drummer Stinson’s turn to shine, as a vocalist. It took about one line of Woody Guthrie’s, “Pretty Boy Floyd”, for the audience to be in total awe of his vocal mastery. Twice during the song he held a single note for an impossibly long time, receiving an ecstatic roar of approval from the crowd. Soon to follow, he strapped on an acoustic guitar and sang Roger McGuinn’s iconic, “Ballad Of Easy Rider”.

Beautiful and moving four-part harmonies came next with the Gospel spiritual “Get On Your Knees And Pray”. Stinson’s high tenor lines were a dead ringer for the song’s author, Bill Monroe. Stuart was left alone on stage for the next number, a stunning solo mandolin version of the classic fiddle tune, “Orange Blossom Special”, introduced with an amusing anecdote of when Stuart met the song’s eccentric author, Ervin Rouse. The set ended with the audience clapping along to another one from, Way Out West, “Time Don’t Wait On Nobody”.

After leaving the stage for less than a minute, the band played three songs for their encores starting with, “The Ballad Of Paladin”, the theme for the 1950’s TV western, Have Gun – Will Travel, after which Stuart introduced the song’s author, 88-year-old country music legend, Johnny Western, a local resident since 1963. He stood up to great applause from the audience. Next came Buck Owens’ instrumental, “Buckaroo”. This was followed by having another legend stand up, Buck and Bonnie Owens’ son, Buddy, who was born in nearby Mesa in 1948. This must-see band ended their brilliant concert with, “Space”, another from their soon-to-be-released album, Altitude, featuring more tight vocal harmonies and with Marty playing a sitar-guitar.

In the wave of mainstream Americana hitting festival stages of late; Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives remain rooted in showmanship, professionalism, tradition, and musical virtuosity that is hard to come by these days. 

Follow Western Swing, Jazz, and Blues artist and historian Joe Baker here.

Photos by Elias Butler Photography  IG (@eliasbutlerphotos) and Twitter (@EliasButlerAZ)

Copyright © Elias Butler Photography 2023

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives Setlist Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale, AZ, USA 2023

 

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One Response

  1. MARTY AND THE SUPERLITIVES WERE SHINING IN ARIZONA BOTH IN TUCSON’S FOX THEATER AND SCOTTSDALE’S PREFORMING ARTS.
    HONESTLY, BEST CONCERT I HAVE EVER SEEN….

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