4 highlights from Marty Stuart's 2023 Late Night Jam at the Ryman
It doesn't actually feel like CMA Fest week until Marty Stuart kicks off the Late Night Jam.
Stuart and his band of cosmic chameleons — AKA the Fabulous Superlatives — returned Wednesday to the historic Ryman Auditorium to celebrate a 20th anniversary of his after-hours shin-dig by welcoming rock 'n' roll royalty, country noisemakers and lightning-fast bluegrass pickers to the storied stage.
The annual show raises funds for Stuart's expansive Congress of Country Music, a museum, concert hall and educational space planned in his hometown, Philadelphia, Mississippi.
"Everybody on this show is either going to be in a hall of fame or already in a hall of fame," Stuart said early in the night. "We got Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Country Music Hall of Famers, Bluegrass Music Hall of Famers."
With help from the aforementioned Hall of Famers — Joe Walsh, John Oates, Connie Smith and Del McCoury— and a few of today's rising talents — Sierra Ferrell, Chapel Hart, Jake Worthington and Lukas Nelson — Stuart and his band curated a night of singing, song-swapping and storytelling unlike any in Nashville this summer.
Read on for highlights from the 2023 Late Night Jam.
Joe Walsh jams
The last time Stuart and Joe Walsh shared a stage together? The mid-1970s, when Lester Flatt — of all pickers — booked a run of shows at rock festivals. One of those gigs took Flatt and his band, including Stuart, to Camp Springs, North Carolina, to share a bill with Walsh's band the James Gang.
Fast-forward five decades, Stuart and Walsh reunited — with the guitars turned up.
The rock 'n' roll oddball dug into his grab-bag of fan-favorite riffs Wednesday night, enlisting Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives for a freewheelin' renditions of "Funk #49" and "Rocky Mountain Way" (talk-box included).
"Lemme see ...," Walsh said after taking the stage as the final guest of the night. "Jam night at the Ryman? Hell yes."
As the clock passed midnight on the three-hour show, Walsh kicked into his third and final number — the aptly-titled "All Night Long," a solo song recorded for 1980 film "Urban Cowboy."
"This is a national treasure, this room," he said as he thanked onlookers for filling the Ryman pews.
A new class of country stardom
Between spinning surf rock riffs with the Superlatives, sharing duets with Connie Smith and singing polished cuts from his atmospheric new album "Altitude," Stuart welcomed a rotating cast of catch-'em-while-you-can talent to the Jam stage this year.
Mississippi breakout trio Chapel Hart took the stage to foot-stompin' hit "You Can Have Him Jolene." The three-piece vocal outfit also performed the title track off 2023 album "Glory Days," and covered Loretta Lynn's "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin'" at Stuart's request.
Later in the show, Jake Worthington — a Texas singer embracing a neotraditional country sound — sang a solo rendition of his 2023 ballad "State You Left Me In" before Stuart surprised him on stage with an invitation to make his Grand Ole Opry debut later this summer. Worthington took off his cowboy hat off and wrapped Stuart in a bear-like hug after accepting the invitation.
Ferrell, a magnetic artist who spins captivating tales with eccentricity and tact, stood out with a stripped-back takes on her 2021 song "Bells of Every Chapel" and "Jeremiah" before singing an ovation-earning rendition of Willie Nelson's 1960 song "Night Life." Nelson's son Lukas Nelson followed Ferrell by teaming with Stuart for a take on another country song his father helped canonize: "Pancho and Lefty."
John Oates remakes dreams
John Oates — one-half of classic hitmaking duo Hall & Oates — reimagined a rock radio staple with Stuart and company. After performing 2023 cover of Timmy Thomas song "Why Can't We Live Together," he sang Hall & Oates signature tune "You Make My Dreams" with the Superlatives adding a rockabilly twist.
"Marty and I have something in common: We're both from Philadelphia," Oates said in a joking nod to his Pennsylvania roots and Stuart's Mississippi hometown of the same name.
Del McCoury (and the bluegrass bandits?)
Del McCoury may need to change his band name to the Bluegrass Bandits, because those pickers know how to steal a show.
The first guest of the night, McCoury and his family band circled a pair of microphones on one corner of the stage to deliver a gleeful take on the Lovein' Spoonful's nod to Music City talent, "Nashville Cats." After sending onlookers to their feet for "Cats," McCoury and company covered folk song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning before inviting Stuart into the circle for a few fiery, solo-swapping jams. The tight-nit band of cross-generation McCoury players shared the microphone with Stuart as he picked up the mandolin to join on passed-down bluegrass numbers "Long Journey Home" and "Day Break In Dixie."
"There's no better bluegrass music on the planet earth than you guys," Stuart said to the band. "You represent the culture and you representing this town ... I love you with all my heart."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 4 highlights from Marty Stuart's 2023 Late Night Jam in Nashville
