Altitude SNAKEFARM
8/10
HAVING spent 50 years in Nashville, 30 of them as member of the Grand Ole Opry, Marty Stuart is fast approaching Music City royalty. He’s more active than most though, primarily on the board of the Country Music Foundation, dedicated to the preservation of country, not only in the traditional sense, but as part of a constantly evolving artform. And while Stuart’s various endeavours have not quite distracted him from his recording career of late, it’s been a good six years since his previous studio offering, Way Out West (2021’s Songs I Sing In The Dark being a digital-only release in which Stuart issued each tune at a rate of one per month).
All the more reason, then, to dig out the bunting for Altitude. It’s a terrific return, with Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – guitarist Kenny Vaughn, drummer Harry Stinson and bassist/steel guitar player Chris Scruggs – doing the damnedest to reclaim country’s authentic cry. These songs were largely inspired by his time on the road with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman in 2018, toasting a half-century of The Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, a work that Stuart calls “the blueprint for my musical life.” Its influence is certainly all over Altitude, from the Sweetheart…-style sleeve to its busy Bakersfield dazzle, honky-tonk smarts and thin veil of psych.
There’s some neat self-referencing too. Lead-off single “Country Star”, a barrelling celebration of the fast life, both real and imagined, alludes to Stuart’s teenage years with Lester Flatt’s band back in the ’70s: . Similar tropes shape the quicksilver rockabilly of “Tomahawk”, marked by an effortless Vaughn solo, and the satisfying deep twang of “Time To Dance”, which may well be intended as a tribute to Stuart’s wife, country legend Connie Smith. There’s the odd ballad
