Marty Stuart

Marty Stuart

Marty Stuart – Tempted

MCA 10106
I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome – Paint The Town Tonight – Till I Found You – Tempted – Blue Train – Little Things – Half A Heart – I Want A Woman – Burn Me Down – Get Back To The Country

With Tempted, his second album for MCA, Marty Stuart takes all the elements that made hillbilly rock so successful, while further refining his vision.
Stuart has been compared to Dwight Yoakam, his neo-traditionalist colleague, but listening to Tempted, another comparison can be made with the Stray Cats. Like the trio led by Brian Setzer, Marty Stuart has updated the tried-and-tested formulas of his elders (in his case, Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Ernest Tubb), which, while applying a modern approach, respects the essence and soul of this music.
The other key to this album’s success is its apparent simplicity. There are no sophisticated arrangements or intrusive overdubs; everything played on the record can easily be reproduced on stage, which adds to the sincerity of the result.
Tempted offers a wide range of styles, Stuart moving from one to the other with disconcerting ease. The album opens with a vibrant, almost country-rock version of Bill Monroe’s I’m Blue I’m Lonesome Too (co-written with Hank Williams). With its drums, driving bass, and twangy guitar, this version must have made some of the most traditionalist listeners cringe, although the spirit—and this is the most important thing—of the original remains.
Paint The Town features steel guitar and incisive Telecaster exchanges, that capture the very essence of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, with a touch of George Jones thrown in for good measure. Till I Found You is a superb ballad, subtly enhanced by a twangy guitar. Then comes the title track, which evokes both Buddy Holly and the best of early 1960s Brill Building songs. Fans of the Wagoneers and Monte Warden will jump on this track without further ado. Blue Train is a Johnny Cash song from 1958. Stuart’s version is reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen’s I’m On Fire (we even find ourselves hoping for a medley). We then move on to modern Rockabilly/Rock’n’Roll with Little Things, a mid-tempo that doesn’t leave its cruising speed and moves forward relentlessly without taking any prisoners.
Half A Heart is a thoroughly traditional country song, with a shuffle and bass that represent the epitome of Honky Tonk. I Want A Woman, whose interpretation seems a little forced, sounds slightly weaker by comparison. However, the song includes an excellent guitar solo. Back to Rockabilly with Burn Me Down, before the brilliant finale with a cover of Neil Young’s Back To The Country, a festival of string instruments (guitars, fiddle, mandolin) that fight it out. This pure Hillbilly song, but written by someone who doesn’t hesitate to mix genres, suits Stuart’s state of mind perfectly. It is also, for Stuart, a way of coming full circle, having himself participated in the sessions for Young’s album Old Ways from which this song comes.