Marty Stuart's Country Passions have Local Roots

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A young Marty Stuart with members of Lincolnton's Lewis Family. Stuart cites a Lewis Family concert as a formative moment in his life.

Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives return to Augusta Saturday, March 15^th at The Miller Theater.

Starting at the age of 13, Stuart found his love of music as a child prodigy, playing with the likes of bluegrass legend Lester Flatts and country music icon Johnny Cash.

During a recent telephone interview, Stuart said it was a concert in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi that turned Marty on to music. The act was Lincolnton’s own Lewis Family.

“It all goes back to a Lewis Family ashtray,” Stuart said with a laugh. “When I was a kid the first live show from a nationally touring act that I ever saw was the Lewis Family. They came to the courthouse and played in the court room.”

Stuart said that after the concert he went to the merchandise table and bought a record. He said, despite his relatively young age, ‘Mom’ Lewis also convinced him to make another purchase.

“Mom’ Lewis sold me, I must have been 9 or 10 years old, a Lewis Family ashtray. So, it all goes back to a Lewis Family ashtray that made me want to do music for a living.”

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Marty Stuart is a lifelong collector of country music memorabilia. He said a Lewis Family ashtray, purchased when he was a boy, was among the first pieces he acquired.

Jeff Easter, a gospel music performer in his own right, performs with his wife Sheri, whose mother Polly was one of the Lewis family. He confirmed that the ashtrays were a merch table favorite. He said the family was aware of Stuart’s story.

“Marty called years ago and said that he had lost his Lewis Family ashtray and wanted to know if we had another,” Easter said. “He reached out to Miggie (Lewis) to see if they had any more of those ashtrays. She found a few at the Lewis Family Homeplace and sent one to Marty.”

Over the years Marty Stuart has played a lot of styles - including gospel, country, and bluegrass music. He said because of that, and because he fronts a band that is able and willing to be flexible onstage, the audience often dictates where the set goes.

“We kinda walk into a room and say this what we ought to sing tonight,” he said. “But by the end of the night I’ve heard country music come out of my bones and I’ve heard some gospel music come out of bones. I’m a Southern kid. I was raised on all of it so it all fits to me.”

Marty Stuart is a country music historian and collector. He owns one of the largest collections of country music memorabilia in the world. Some of his collection is in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and the rest is at the Congress of Country Music, a cultural center he helped establish in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Among the more notable items are Johnny Cash’s first black suit, the boots Patsy Cline was wearing when she passed away in a plane crash, and the handwritten lyrics to “I Saw the Light” by Hank Williams.

Marty led the charge in the early 90s to save the Ryman Auditorium and donated vinyl records from his own collection to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in downtown Nashville to help it keep its doors open. He said, as an artist, country music gave him everything. Now he gives what he can in return.