Stuart coming to BBQ

— Marty Stuart will be the featured entertainer for the Decatur Barbecue this year, according to Pat Austin, talent search coordinator.

Stuart will perform at the first scheduled Saturday Barbecue on August 6. His planned appearance was announced at the May 2 Decatur Chamber of Commerce meeting.

A Philadelphia, Miss. native, Stuart received his first guitar at age 3 and turned professional at age 12.

Stuart’s early performances were with the bluegrass band, The Sullivans, playing mandolin at festivals and Pentecostal churches in the South. He performed with Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass from 1972 until Lester’s death in 1979. In later years, he played guitar with Johnny Cash’s band, toured with fiddler Vassar Clements, worked with Doc and Merle Watson, toured with Bob Dylan and played as a session musician on albums by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young and Billy Joel.

His first album, Marty Stuart, was released in 1986 on CBS Records. The first single off the album, “Arlene,” broke the Billboard Top 20 and he was nominated for Best New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. In 1989 he joined MCA Records and released HillbillyRock, reaching the country music top 10 with its title track. 1991’s popular Tempted album featured “Burn Me Down” and “Little Things.” Partnering with Travis Tritt, Stuart won his first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration for “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’” in 1991. The pair toured together and scored another big hit with their “This One’s Going to Hurt (For a Long, Long Time)” that same year.

In 1993 Stuart won another Grammy Award - this time for Best Country Instrumental Performance. He joined forces with Chet Atkins, Vince Gill and several other country stars for the song “Red Wing.” He hosted the first of many Marty Party television specials that year.

Stuart married “Sweetheart of the Grand Ole Opry” Connie Smith on July 8, 1997, and they have written over 40 songs together. His latest album, Ghost Train, is in stores now and his Marty Stuart Show airs Saturday night at 8 p.m. on RFD-TV.

“Marty bridges the strong traditional/bluegrass/ gospel past of country music with the new rockabilly, Southern Rock, contemporary sound. The history of country music lives within him,” says Sherry Mattioli, a Stuart biographer.

News, Pages 1 on 05/25/2011