Snakefarm Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Marty Stuart has certainly earned his stripes as a certified Country Music Hall of Fame, five-time Grammy winner and AMA Lifetime Achievement honouree. Now he's back with his first album in five years, backed up by his band of the past 20 years, The Fabulous Superlatives and he's sounding as vital as ever. Altitude is a widescreen expanse of an album full of the breezy, rolling Americana Stuart has forged his career on since starting out with Johnny Cash et al, but it's not a simple case of repeating the same tricks. There's a genuine hunger for new avenues of expression in these songs, and a sincerity in his voice as much now as when he first went solo back in the 70s.