April 8, 2023

This past Thursday and Friday we saw Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives at the beautiful Barns of Wolf Trap. The shows were, as always, sensational. Seats were great and sound was perfect. If they were playing there tonight, we’d be at that show, too. They are simply outstanding.

The music is a mixture of country, blues, bluegrass, gospel and rock ’n roll (not “Rock”). It is expertly performed by every musician on the stage with an enthusiasm as if it were the first time they ever realized how great they sounded together. Marty says that they still consider themselves students of the music. To sit there and hear those twin Telecasters — or even just Marty’s solo mandolin — wash over you while the four of them harmonize about love, redemption, whiskey, Jesus, hillbillies or whatever, is to experience popular music at an unmatched suppleness, intensity and brilliance. We’ve seen these guys more than a dozen times over the past 10 years, and it’s always this good. Only the songs change.

For gearheads who might be interested, I discovered that Kenny Vaughan’s sparkly Telecaster is also a B-Bender, but I believe it’s a Glaser Bender, not one of Gene Parsons’ (the kind installed on Marty’s “Clarence”). For bar-fight fans who might be interested, Elizabeth successfully backed down a weirdo with a cane who threatened to beat me with it, all over a who-was-first-in-line argument at the bar. You don’t want to trifle with Elizabeth. Or miss a Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives show.

Here’s the setlist.