MR. EVERYWHERE

MARTY STUART MAY be the Forrest Gump of country music. The mandolin and guitar plucker’s presence at key moments over the past six decades is uncanny, from his prodigious teenage years working with Lester Flatt to his subsequent tenure in Johnny Cash’s band and his eventual emergence as a bona fide solo star. Stuart is a respected historian, instrument aficionado and flame keeper, so it’s easy to see why Ken Burns turned to him often throughout his Country Music documentary. Stuart appears in the film many times with his mandolin or an acoustic guitar in hand to exemplify musical matters and offer anecdotes based on his own singular history. “We call him ‘Zelig’ because he’s everywhere,” Burns told me when I interviewed him and Vince Gill for their Frets feature in our December 2019 issue. (The reference, of course, is to Woody Allen’s fictional human chameleon, who shows up at key historic moments in the 20th century.)

Stuart has been burning up the road with his aptly named Fabulous Superlatives band, supporting their Mike Campbell–produced 2017 studio release, . The tour includes a successful string of dates with the Steve Miller Band that are billed as Classic Rock Meets Classic Country. was present for their September performance in Napa, California, where they christened