Head Butler - Music

This One's Gonna Hurt You
Marty Stuart

The ultimate test of country music is how it sounds when you're drunk. Not elite-drunk, sipping single malt in your library with super technology giving you every bit of production value. No, we're talking barroom drunk, high on beer or boilermakers, with the music coming out of a jukebox and couples dancing in the corner.

Like this: “I try to keep my train of thought/from going down that track/To the woman who once loved me/She's never coming back/I try to live in the moment but it hasn't happened yet/I keep forgetting to remember to forget.” (That's Bob Woodruff, from a CD you've never heard of: “ Desire Road .” We'll get to it for sure another day.)

Clever lyrics, yes? Now….fuel them with alcohol, stir in a dose of maudlin, add a dash of self-pity and a big old spoonful of twang --- and you're looking at a classic.

Marty Stuart's 1992 masterpiece, “This One's Gonna Hurt You,” does all of that --- on all of its ten songs.

Consider the title song, sung as a duet with Travis Tritt against a deep and throbbing guitar:

Baby, close that suitcase, let's turn this thing around
We've got everybody talking all over town
But if you have to leave, well keep one thing in mind
This one's gonna hurt you for a long, long time

There's a bottle on the table, to help me understand
How love can go so wrong between a woman and a man
But just beyond the door, here's what you will find
Girl this one's gonna hurt you for a long, long time

A long, long time is forever
And will I get over you, probably never
You can't walk away from true love
And leave your feelings all behind
'Cause this one's gonna hurt you for a long, long time

Does that guy feel sorry for himself, or what? At the bottom of a relationship, is that the truth of how you feel, or not? And it's done so simply: a suitcase, a bottle, a table, a door. As a painting, it would be a Cezanne.

In the cold light of the morning, there are many other reasons to appreciate Marty Stuart's blend of rockabilly, bluegrass, country and rock. The duet with his onetime father-in-law and idol, Johnny Cash. The straight-from-the-1930s bluegrass. The mastery of country basics. The straight-ahead rock tribute to “The King of Dixie” --- that's Elvis, to you. The goofy opening track, which frames the rest of the tunes: a conversation in Heaven with Hank Williams. (Hank tells Marty to carry on. The CD is the proof he can.)

Who is Marty Stuart? A kid from Philadelphia, Mississippi who learned how to play guitar from another kid, a child prodigy. Marty practiced at home with an adjustable-speed phonograph. "I'd take records and slow 'em down, so I could get the licks, then speed it up and play along." At 12, he met Bill Monroe, who handed him a guitar pick. At 13, he asked Lester Flatt for a job --- and got it. A few years later, he was playing with Johnny Cash.

Stuart is a collector. He plays a Martin D-45 formerly owned by Hank Williams, Sr. and Lester Flatt's D-28. He used to tour in Ernest Tubb's bus. But for all his love of the classics, he's a wonderful goofball on stage --- black hair blown high and swooping down into a modified mullet, rhinestone suits, and way too much attitude.

“This One's Gonna Hurt You.” See if you don't find yourself singing with Marty and Travis one night when you've had more fun than you should have. And see if, in this heartfelt plea, you too don't find --- just for openers --- the secret of, say, the universe.

--- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com

To buy "This One's Gonna Hurt You" from Amazon.com, click here.