Casual country music fans will remember Marty Stuart as 1991's Country Star Most Likely to Blind Fans With His Outfits.
The man wore enough rhinestones to guide airplanes onto a landing strip, and he appeared to have a wheat field growing out of his follicles. The flashy image often overshadowed his time-tested talent and electrified honky tonk hits, such as "Hillbilly Rock," "Tempted" and "Burn Me Down."
Don't misunderstand: The Marty Stuart playing Palmer this weekend still appreciates a good sequined jacket now and again.
"Yeah, my style is totally ridiculous," Stuart said. "When I was a kid I loved Albert Einstein, Little Richard, Johnny Cash and Elvis -- people who had a loud image. I think people hear with their eyes, too."
Stuart's recent work paints a picture of a more substantive artist who has refocused on his roots: An album of duets with country's legends. A historic coffee table book about the Grand Ole Opry. An exhibit of his expansive country memorabilia collection at the Tennessee State Museum (aptly titled "Sparkle & Twang").
"I've always been a historian at heart. It seemed like the time to gather, to make sure a lot of things and people are firmly placed in the 21st century," he said last week on the phone from his Nashville office.
Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives kick it Nashville style at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Raven Hall on the Alaska State Fairgrounds. The concert will be followed by a hoedown with the Ken Peltier Band.
Before he even hit puberty, Stuart was a de facto country music conservator.
It started with Minnie Pearl's autograph when he was 4 or 5 and continued with records and 8-by-10 glossy photos. Then at age 12, when he was mandolin player for bluegrass legend Lester Flatt, and in his later teens on the road with Cash, Stuart would rescue a country star's tossed out necktie or wadded up set list from the backstage garbage can.
"It didn't look like garbage to me," he said.
Stuart started asking around and found that country music's cultural treasures were all over Nashville at thrift stores, pawnshops and yard sales.
The handwritten lyrics to Hank Williams' "Your Cheating Heart." Johnny Cash's first black suit. Jimmie Rodgers' railroad lantern. Patsy Cline's makeup case. Stuart made sure they ended up in museums instead of dumps.
So far he's collected more than 20,000 pieces of country music memorabilia. "At least, that's what my insurance guy tells me," Stuart said, laughing.
But he's preserving much more than cowboy hats and banjo fingerpicks; he's helping to preserve the music, as well. As one of country music's leading neo-traditionalists, Stuart has produced such historically important projects as Porter Wagoner's last album before he died. Stuart's 2007 album, "Compadres," is a collection of classic country duets with legends such as Cash, Flatt and Loretta Lynn.
Even with all those years on the road, all those memories and mementos, Stuart doesn't hesitate to name his favorite treasure of all: Connie Smith.
Stuart met the country singer while he was a teenager. She was 17 years his senior and at the peak of her career. "I told my mom then that I was gonna marry her. Twenty- five years later, I did."
Stuart said it's that same "adventurous heart" that convinced him to tour to Alaska in the dead of winter. "We came a couple summers ago and played the state fair, and it was beautiful," he said. "Like so many people, I had this misconception of Alaska as beautiful but frozen and never getting light. But when I got there, I thought it was breathtaking, the astounding beauty of Alaska. ...
"We are playing inside, right?"
Find Play reporter Sarah Henning at adn.com/contact/shenning or call 257-4323.
Marty Stuart: Juicy tidbits
• He once called Johnny Cash pa. Stuart's first wife was Cash's daughter, Cindy. They divorced in 1988.
• Stuart scored the instrumental soundtrack for the 2000 cowboy coming-of-age film "All the Pretty Horses" (Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz).
• Nudie Cohn, the designer behind Stuart's glitzy jackets, also created Elvis' gold lame suit and many of Roy Rogers' costumes.
• At age 12, he returned to school after a summer spent touring with the Sullivans, and promptly got himself kicked out. This allowed him to go on tour with Lester Flatt, who made sure the teen finished his education on the road.
-- Sarah Henning
Play reporter
Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives
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When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Raven Hall, Alaska State Fairgrounds
How much: $25-$45, 562-4800, www.ticketmaster.com
Web: www.martystuart.net, www.myspace.com/marty stuart
By Sarah Henning
shenning@adn.com