Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – Colonial Theater – Phoenixville, PA – April 18, 2026

Marty Stuart and his crack band brought their “country boy rock and roll” to the Philly area the other night, taking no prisoners in a guitar-vibed hoe down from one of the tightest units out of Nashville. An intoxicating gumbo of country, rock, surf, jazz, Tejano and more other influences than you can shake an ass to, the group put on a nearly two-hour master class of showmanship.

Promoting their 2025 all-instrumental album Space Junk, Stuart and the Superlatives pulled out a boot-scooting set list made up of Marty Stuart classics, instrumental jams and intriguing covers.

He set things off in a rocking fashion with the Dick-Dale-styled surf guitar tones of “La Tingo Tango.” This was the first of a few instrumental tracks spread through the setlist, although it was an older one. Stuart and the band later did three songs from the new instrumental album, including the galactic driving rhythms of the title track “Space Junk,” the extravagantly titled “Rhapsidio Sangre De Christo In E Major” and the caliente Mexican slow jazz of “Waiting on Sundown,” which Stuart acknowledged was inspired by a long-time fascination with 60s horn combo Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass – specifically the song “The Lonely Bull.”

Of course, lots of these songs had vocals, too. Some of the better examples included a country-rock take on “A Whole Lotta Highway (With a Million Miles To Go),” a powerful cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried,” the Johnny-Cash inspired country lament “Matches” and the chugging roadhouse blues of the indigenous history lesson “Tomahawk” (which he referred to as “Silver Tomahawk.”)

The hits came out with his country rock love-at-first-sight song “Tempted” (not to be confused with the Squeeze new-wave classic of the same title) and his twangy honky tonk lament “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’,” which was originally recorded in collaboration with Travis Tritt.

He also played what he called “the trucker’s national anthem,” a hard-driving take on Dave Dudley’s 1963 classic “Six Days on the Road” – a song which I absolutely swear I know from somewhere in my crazed musical past, however it seems to me I have heard it done with different lyrics which I now can’t quite remember. The rest of the song – the tune, the vocal inflections, everything – were just the same. But it’s been bugging me ever since that night how I know the variation on that song and it’s going to haunt me until I track it down.

Each of the three members of his band Fabulous Superlatives – Kenny “Cousin Kenny” Vaughan (guitar), Harry “Handsome Harry” Stinson (drums), and Chris “Professor” Scruggs (bass/steel guitar) – were allowed two songs as lead vocalists. Stinson’s cover of his own song “Don’t Make a Grown Man Cry” and Vaughan’s cover of the Rolling Stones’ early country-tinged rarity “Congratulations” stood out.

Speaking of The Stones, soon afterwards Marty did a very atmospheric cover of the gorgeous “Wild Horses” which brought the house down, with heartfelt vocals, Stuart on mandolin, and the band on standup bass, marching snare drum and acoustic guitar.

Walking out into the Phoenixville night, the buzz in the lobby said it all: Stuart and the Superlatives hadn’t just played a show, they’d thrown a party. A little surf, a little twang, a little space‑age weirdness – and a whole lot of heart from a band that never forgets to have fun.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2026 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: April 21, 2026.

Photos by Jim Rinaldi © 2026. All rights reserved.