Published in Flash! April 12, 2000

Old country saved by a veteran artist

In recent years, country music has become unidentifiable. Is it the pop sounds of
Shania Twain or the arena folk rock of Garth Brooks? Somewhere in the middle of all of
that is the forgotten country. Just when all seems to be hopeless for “country” country
music, along comes a savior. His name is Marty Stuart.

On his latest release, “The Pilgrim,” Stuart presents something rare in country
music, a concept album. While famous in rock music, the concept album has been
ignored by country music nearly altogether.

“The Pilgrim” is the true story of a man who is in love with another man’s wife,
although he doesn’t know she’s married. The love is not meant to be however, the
husband confronts the two together and kills himself in front of the two lovers. “The
Pilgrim,” as he is known begins a journey ranging from desperation and drunkenness to
riding the rails as a hobo and ultimately, redemption.

Each song is a piece of the pilgrim’s mind. For this task, Stuart has called upon
some friends of his to lend a hand. Pam Tillis, George Jones, Emmylou Harris, and Earl
Scruggs all make guest appearances as a different voice in the tale. Johnny Cash,
appropriately enough, is the final voice of a redeemed pilgrim as he recites an excerpt
from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Sir Garland.” This recitation of the pilgrim’s life is so
moving in it’s reading by Cash that chill bumps are instantaneous.

However, it is Stuart who makes the album great. A consummate country purist,
Stuart sheds some his rowdy “honky-tonkin’s what I do best” attitude for a more subtle,
melancholy rendering on “The Pilgrim.” Even the upbeat numbers have a sense of
sorrow and heartache in them. “Going Nowhere Fast” is a great example. While up-
tempo, the song reveals a man who is at his wit’s end and has nowhere else to go.
Stuart also displays more of the fine musicianship he is well known for in Nashville on the album.

Featuring more acoustic instruments, the album is a call to a
return to country’s history and honesty in the music. Stuart’s mandolin playing is more
superb than ever on “The Pilgrim.” The album showcases some of Stuart’s bluegrass
roots more frequently than any previous release. The guitars on the album are tastier than
catfish fried down in the Mississippi Delta region. The only downfall of the album is that
sometimes Stuart seems to want to let loose but the rhythm just doesn’t seem to want to
go with him.

While, lyrically, the album focuses on the pilgrim’s journey, it is some of the
finest work Stuart has ever written. Perhaps the best example is the line “Seems like the
fire of trouble/ claims you like next of kin,” from “Truckstop.” “The Observations of a
Crow” is another example of Stuart’s brilliant lyricisms. Of course there are the standard
love ballads filled with crying steel guitars. However, even these don’t seem contrived
like much of Nashville’s work.

Just when country seems to be dead, along comes someone like Marty Stuart to
save its soul. Stuart appears to be drawing a line in the dirt signifying what is real
country and what is merely pop music sold to a country audience. While a generation of
country stars like Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Johnny Cash still put out great
music, the fact remains that they are in the twilight of their careers. The torch has been
passed to a new generation and Marty Stuart is leading the charge.

My Grade: A+++