Country Star Marty Stuart Honors the Duke and the Lakota

As the sun went down on Saturday night May 23, 2015, in Winterset, Iowa, Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, with special guest star, Opry legend Connie Smith (and Stuart’s wife), celebrated one of the Nashville’s heroes, John Wayne, with a private concert for over 700 fans of the Duke—and the country star—to benefit the John Wayne Birthplace Museum that had been dedicated just hours—and less than a mile away adjacent to Wayne’s family home. Stuart, who has been in the country music business since 1972, when at 14 he joined the Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs tour, graciously met with fans as he tuned his instruments, just as he has for four decades, before the show behind the stage. During his two and a half hour show, Stuart, Smith and his band entertained the crowd with his roots-based songbook of American country, rockabilly, surf, honky-tonk and Gospel music. Like his mentor Johnny Cash, he dresses all in black, and speaks from the heart for his love of America, the underdog, family and God.  He spoke passionately about his admiration for John Wayne and his values, singing a fun Willie Nelson song in his honor, “Come on Back Jesus…and Pick Up John Wayne on the Way.” Like Cash, Stuart has become a pastor on a never-ending mission, spreading the Gospel of country music, and bringing voice to those whose voices have been marginalized or forgotten. He passionately recounted a tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana, in which he was inspired to the write the song, “Custer Wore an Arrow Shirt,” which he and the band performed with great enthusiasm to cheers from the crowd. In 2005, Stuart, also recorded an concept album dedicated to the Plains Indians of the Dakotas, “Badlands-Ballads of the Lakota.”  For thirty years, the award-winning musician has visited with the Sioux people at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, an annual pilgrimage that has made him a trusted friend of the tribe and a public champion of their traditions, history and culture.