Hillbilly Music Night

Last night a beautiful lady dragged me to a country music concert. She called it alt-country to get me there. It was country, or the headliner was- Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. It was some great stuff! Evidently Marty is well known in country music circles, including being known as a former band mate and son-in-law to Johnny Cash. He is a talented showman, a soulful singer and a passionate guitar player.

The band was a great set of musicians who were all excellent performers and singers, although they never let the guitar player sing harmony. They all did get a shot at the mic, and easily won the crowd over.

The show was a mix of country, soulful gospel, country rock and hillbilly music, aka bluegrass. Marty excels at all. I doubt there is any kind of music he could not cover. My only real complaint was that Marty kept slowing things down. He had three telecasters and an acoustic guitar. I kept referring to the telecasters as the rock guitar, the blues guitar and the slow guitar. I wanted him to strap on the rock guitar more than he did, but it did not seem to come out enough. He played the encore on a mandolin, and tore up some bluegrass.

Opening was Don Chambers and Goat, a surprising treat. They just tore the place up. As Flagpole Magazine said, "They go for broke, burning up the night like a petrol-soaked bonfire of dry mesquite and hickory scrub." I have never really seen a guy rock out on a banjo, but this lanky, gruff guy from Athens did that. The band sped along right beside him. The drummer literally beat the crap out of a small kit- they had to stop the show to try and put it back together near the end. No doubt he studied at the John Bonham School of Percussion. One of their CDs is on order and I will be making a road trip to Athens to see them with the locals.