Portrait of Johnny Cash taken in September 2003 by Marty Stuart.
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will present American Ballads: The Photographs of Marty Stuart from May 9-November 2, 2014 in the Conte Community Arts Gallery, which is free to the public.
American Ballads is composed of more than 60 photographs from three bodies of work: “The Masters” of country music; the “Blue Line Hotshots” he has met on his travels on America’s back roads; and the Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and others in the South Dakota “Badlands.”
In his introduction to the publication that accompanies the exhibition, Stuart writes “…I often found myself in the company of Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Porter Wagoner, Merle Travis, Grandpa Jones, Ernest Tubb, and Stringbean. They always welcomed me, treated me like family, and gave me reasons to believe I was a part of the tribe. Whether at a concert, the Opry, a recording studio, a truck stop, or poker game, any time any one of these people were present I viewed it as history in motion. However, other than the fans, I seldom saw anyone present with a camera to capture the proceedings.”
Stuart and his mother Hilda Stuart will discuss photography at a free event at the Frist on Wednesday, June 4 at 12:00 p.m.
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Sarah Skates has worked in the music business for more than a decade and is a longtime contributor to MusicRow.View Author Profile
