Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives To Release 'Space Junk' On October 31st

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES TO RELEASE SPACE JUNK, THEIR FIRST-EVER FULL-LENGTH 20 ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTALS LP, ON OCTOBER 31st VIA SNAKEFARM RECORDS

AVAILABLE ON VINYL, CD, AND, DIGITALLY

PREVIOUSLY ONLY AVAILABLE AS A RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVECONFIRMS “SPACE JUNK BLAST OFF” SHOW AT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM’S CMA THEATER ON NOVEMBER 1^st

Marty Stuart, the five-time GRAMMY® Award winner, Country Music Hall of Famer, Congress of Country Music Founder and AMA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, joined by his longtime band, The Fabulous Superlatives, announces the release of SPACE JUNK, their first-ever full-length double LP of 20 original instrumentals.

The album will receive a worldwide release on October 31^st via Snakefarm Records. “Instrumentals have always been a part of the Fabulous Superlatives repertoire, but this is the first completely instrumental album we’ve done, largely inspired by two of my favorite bands from sixties, The Ventures and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass,” Stuart says. “They did some dangerously cool instrumental records. We’ve done bluegrass, gospel, and country records. Our hearts just led us to this one. Space Junk turned us back into kids with our first guitars.

We thought the world needed a fresh instrumental album by a pretty good band, so we composed twenty instrumentals and took them to the microphones.” The album will be available as a CD, on vinyl, and digitally, and it was previously only available as a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive.

Watch the new visualizer for the album’s eponymous track, “Space Junk” below:

Pre-save Space Junk digitally here and pre-order it here.

Stuart and his band also confirm the “Space Junk Blast Off” album release show on November 1^st at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater. Tickets for this date will go on sale on Friday July 25^th at 10am local time. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives are also on tour now – current tour dates and tickets are available here.

In a career spanning over 50 years, dozens of albums, and too many shows to count, Marty Stuart is still restless and pushing himself to new heights. Space Junk showcases the inimitable interplay and bond between Marty and his longtime band The Fabulous Superlatives, Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson, and Chris Scruggs. The album’s origins can be traced to Marty’s years composing music for film and television, including the score for All The Pretty Horses, which garnered a Golden Globe® Award nomination for “Best Original Score” and earned him GRAMMY® Awards in the category of “Best Country Instrumental Performance” for “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and “Hummingbyrd.”  “Scoring required a cinematic way of thinking.” reveals Marty. “I had to make music for what the scene called for, which turned me into more of a visual player in an understated way. That kind of thinking followed me into the studio during the making of Space Junk. I knew the music had to be pretty, but it also had to say something without losing its drive.”

He and The Superlatives ventured to Hollywood to cut the bulk of what would become Space Junk at the legendary Capitol Recording Studios. “The creative atmosphere of California always gives me the feeling that the sky is the limit,” Stuart muses. “Space Junk is California music. If you want a specific sound, you go to certain places in the world. For the California sound, it’s Capitol. You’ve got the blue skies, the legacy, the romance, and a lot of friendly ghosts. The atmosphere makes you do a little better.”

“California Part 1 (Bobbie Gentry Please Call)” channels this spirit. Captured live at Capitol, Marty played Clarence White’s famous Fender Telecaster guitar. “It winks at me, because it’s purely California,” Marty says of instrument. “I close my eyes and see a Western sunset. Clarence played really softly and there was a magic bell tone to what he did. I finally found that tone on the guitar with this song.”

The songs are influenced by the California sun, palm trees, and the occasional flying saucer flyover. A dramatic drumroll gives way to ethereal guitar transmissions on “The Ballad of the Lonely Surfer.”  “Waiting on Sundown” alternates between tender low-string twang and echoes of sustained notes awash in waves of reverb. “The song is clearly under the spell of my romance with the Golden State,” Marty confesses. “It’s a reflection of the music, rhinestone fashion of Lankershim Boulevard, cars, the TV and movie heroes. In reality, it’s a love affair with the entirety of the landscape of California custom culture.”

The band also recorded a handful of tracks in Nashville. Among those, “Graveyard” hinges on a quintessential surf guitar riff coupled with a dynamic beat and fast tremolo. “We recorded at the House of Blues studio,” Marty remembers. “Right behind it, there’s a big graveyard where people like George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Marty Robbins and Porter Wagoner are buried. The title worked.” Then, there’s “Space Junk” which includes steel drums, galactic chimes, topped off by a sample of the Sputnik signal. Kenny elaborates, “Sonically, it’s like you’re sitting in the window seat of a spacecraft and you’re seeing all of this stuff just drift on by.” Ultimately, Space Junk is another natural step for Marty and The Fabulous Superlatives, a worthy addition to their essential catalog.

“I hope Space Junk takes the listeners for a ride,” Stuart leaves off. “It makes me forget my problems and remember why I play guitar and get to dress up in cowboy clothes. It reminds me I’m okay, and I want it to do the same for you. Mainly, I want to inspire some kid to go to the store, buy an instrument, and make a difference. This concept was passed down to us from the old heroes. If we can serve the same role, mission accomplished.” 

Space Junk Track Listing

1.     Graveyard

2.     All The Pretty Horses

3.     Catalina

4.     Over The Moon

5.     Slipnote Serenade

6.     Space Junk

7.     El Zorro

8.     Coastline

9.     The Ballad of the Lonely Surfer

10.  Bat Patrol

11.  Till We Meet Again

12.  Waiting on Sundown

13.  La Tingo Tango

14.  Rhapsidio Sangre de Cristo in E Major

15.  Showcake

16.  Jody the Fly (Romance in Laguna)

17.  Malibu Dawn

18.  The Surfin' Cowboy

19.  California Pt. 1 (Bobbie Gentry, Please Call Home)

20.  Waltz of the Waves

Tour Dates:

FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER          London, UK  Royal Albert Hall

About Marty Stuart:

In a career spanning over 50 years, dozens of albums, and too many shows to count, Marty Stuart still charts a course through new territory at every chance possible. The five-time GRAMMY® Award winner, Congress of Country Music Founder, Country Music Hall of Famer, and AMA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient has left an indelible mark on successive eras of country music and culture.He went from accompanying Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash to launching a storied solo career highlighted by classic albums such as the Gold-certified Hillbilly Rock and Platinum-certified This One’s Gonna Hurt You as well as GRAMMY® Award-winning anthems, including “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’” [with Travis Tritt] and “Same Old Train.” Immersing himself in the world of film and television, he notably scored All The Pretty Horses, garnering a Golden Globe® Award nomination for “Best Original Score” and earning GRAMMY® Awards in the category of “Best Country Instrumental Performance” for “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and “Hummingbyrd.”

Recently, 2023’s Altitude incited widespread critical applause. Of the latter, Associated Press applauded how, “Guitarist Kenny Vaughan, drummer Harry Stinson and bassist Chris Scruggs match Stuart’s guitar virtuosity, with thrilling results,” and American Songwriter attested, “Altitude finds Stuart putting his own stamp on a traditional vein of country.” NPR put it best, “For millions, Marty Stuart is the very image of country music—splendid jackets, musical mastery and his respect for country’s traditions and a good jolt of humor.” You’d be hard pressed to find a corner of country music he hasn’t impacted though. Speaking to his influence, he hosted the long-running fan favorite television series The Marty Stuart Show and notably remains a member of the Country Music Foundation and Grand Ole Opry.

Moreover, the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted him during 2020. He also curated and launched Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music in Philadelphia, MS, preserving and celebrating the genre and its history. Joined by his longtime band The Fabulous Superlatives, he cruises into another stratosphere with his first-ever full-length double LP of 20 original instrumentals entitled, Space Junk. The cover art of Space Junk is a painting by Stuart’s longtime hero and pal, Herb Alpert, leader of the Tijuana Bass, a group Stuart considers to be one of the greatest instrumental bands of all time. The inimitable interplay between Marty, Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson, and Chris Scruggs fuels this cosmic cowboy trip with sun-kissed surf guitar, breezy California rhythms, soul stirring steel, and fluid fretwork all-around. Space Junk sounds like country music’s preeminent band crash landing on a Malibu beach and performing the most epic jam you’ve ever witnessed by starlight…

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