Album Review – Vince Gill (and Marty Stuart) – “Marty And Me”
Traditional Country (#510) on the Country DDS.
Back a year ago when Vince Gill announced he’d signed an unprecedented lifetime record deal with MCA and would be releasing a 6-song EP each month for the next year, the worry was that it would be too much music released in too short of a window, and the EPs would ultimately just blend into the background during a busy era in music, and be mostly overlooked or forgotten. And frankly, that’s pretty much what has happened. Sorry Vince, we love you and everything. But there’s just too many new albums coming out each week to devote that much time to one specific artist.
That’s not to say there aren’t some great songs if you go sifting through the Vince Gill 50 Years From Home EPs. Of course there are. This is Vince Gill after all. Some of the EPs are better than others. Some feel a bit more Americana or adult contemporary, while a couple are much more country. But when you’re outpacing even Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan in song output, many of your most devout fans are still going to cry uncle. Saving Country Music reviewed the first EP, and then just relented.
So how do you re-engage a weary and worn-out public into this year-long EP dump? You reveal that the eleventh title in the twelve EP series is a collaboration with Marty Stuart. Then you have us dialed right back in. That new Zach Bryan EP will have to wait for it’s second or third spin. And lucky for us, Marty And Me lives up to the expectation presented by the country music star power in the title.
Marty Stuart and Vince Gill first crossed paths when Marty Stuart was still playing in the band of bluegrass legend Lester Flatt, and Vince Gill was just getting started with his first bluegrass bands out of Oklahoma. “We’ve been good, tight buddies ever since then,” says Gill. “I see Marty as one of the folks, like myself, who’s respectful and reverent of the past, and knows a lot about it. We have so much of our history intertwined. It’s a great friendship.”
Granted, this is not a full-on collaborative album. Marty Stuart only appears on one track. Steel guitar extraordinaire Paul Franklin appears on more tracks than Marty does. But all five original songs on Marty And Me were written by the two Country Music Hall of Famers. And ladies and gentlemen, they’re super country. As Marty Stuart says, “[Vince] loves it really, really country, like I do, and that shows up in all the songs.”
Marty And Me is twangy and tasty from the very start. “Praying Like Hell For Rain” is just about a perfect specimen of traditional country, with the two country legends narrating characters from their home states, and both taking opportunities to blaze out guitar solos. Hearing that inescapable tone from Marty Stuart’s guitar Clarence cutting through what’s ultimately a Vince Gill song is really what the best of country music collaboration is all about. And yes, that’s Clarence on the album’s cover, named after the notorious member of The Byrds Clarence White where Marty acquired the B-bender.
“Wanting Me” and “My Broken Heart Can’t Take It Anymore” are great examples of country heartbreak songs, the first rendered as a slow waltz, and the second as a faster shuffle. “The Girl That Calls My Name” might fool you as the lament of a touring musician, but it’s actually a country trucker song. And just like “Praying Like Hell For Rain,” “Marty and Me” is a superlative gem of the album. “You picked like the wind, and I sang like a bird,” Vince sings.
It’s just a shame that Marty doesn’t appear on the title track. And if there’s any bone to pick with Marty And Me, it’s that it didn’t materialize into a full-blown collaborative album, which telling by the result here, would have been a total gem. And as the eleventh EP of twelve to be released in a year span, Marty And Me runs the risk of being overlooked entirely. But make no mistake about it, for what it is, this EP packs a punch, puts the best foot forward from two country legends, and presents something greater than the sum of its parts.
8.3/10
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Stream/Download 50 Years From Home: Marty And Me
October 19, 2026 @ 7:32 am
Thank for the info. I would have missed this one, good stuff!
October 19, 2026 @ 7:50 am
Wow that is a heavyweight combination! You are so right, wished Marty had been on every song.
Would love to see Marty & Ricky Skaggs team up sometime-or Marty, Ricky, & Vince. Now that would be a Super group!
October 19, 2026 @ 7:55 am
The last song “The Bottle Let Me Down” was recycled from Vince’s Bakersfield album, which makes this EP a little less meaty in my opinion.
October 19, 2026 @ 8:06 am
All these EPs conclude with a retrospective song from earlier in Vince’s career. That’s that “50 Years” portion of it. I kind of don’t see the point in it, but all 12 EPs have this.
October 19, 2026 @ 8:37 am
I feel like some sort of guide to these EPs highlighting the best songs across them would be helpful. I haven’t kept up on them and at this point it feels a little daunting to find the time to listen to them all and figure out which tracks are keepers.
October 19, 2026 @ 9:30 am
I’d be lying if I said I’ve listened to all the EPs and would be able to put some sort of global review for them all together, at least at this point. I’ve listened to many of them. Some of them, I haven’t listened to at all. Artists can release music however they wish. But I feel like it would be unfair if not irresponsible to devote as much listening time as would be necessary to one artist in a given year with all the new music coming out each week, especially an artist that is already in the Hall of Fame.
October 19, 2026 @ 8:47 am
I had totally lost track of these EPs, but will give this one a listen. It was a very ambitious project but it was an awful lot for me as a fan to keep up with.
October 19, 2026 @ 9:10 am
“Sorry Vince, we love you and everything. But there’s just too many new albums coming out each week to devote that much time to one specific artist.”
Not sorry, Vince, I’ve listened to the EPs as they came out, and I continue to listen to them. They blow away the majority of new albums that have come out so far this year.
Gill can out-write, out-sing, and out-play most of the artists clogging up the music pipeline these days. He may not sell like he once did, but that’s okay, he has nothing left to prove.
October 19, 2026 @ 9:30 am
Yep. Gills following his muse at this point. He isn’t chasing radio or hits. Hes living life on his terms and making music to feed his own soul as it were. Lordy, this stuff sounds good!
I too would welcome more collabs with Marty and or Ricky as a commentor above mentioned. Im super thrilled to have seen him live on that last tour with the 3 hour set! Was it indulgent? You betcha it was. The kind of thing a true fan wishes for. And there it was, stories and all and worth every nickel spent to see it. And if you were blessed to see him with The Time jumpers that was another entirely different side of him, playing lead guitarist for the premier Nashville live band of live bands. Great stuff from one of the all time legends.
October 19, 2026 @ 9:33 am
Hey, if you’re a super fan and am willing to do that, that’s great. I’m already getting raked over the coals for all the artists I “won’t” cover, or “refuse” to cover, or “ignore,” or “insult” because I don’t cover their albums, when it truth there’s no way I can cover 25 albums a week. let along devote 12 dedicated album reviews to one artist in a given year. I do think Vince Gill is doing a disservice to his music be releasing it in this manner.
October 19, 2026 @ 9:27 am
customerservice@rfdtv.com
I am starting a campaign to request that RFDTV bring back the reruns of the Marty Stuart Show. Please join me by emailing RFD at the above email address. Marty’s show was great, and had the last televised performances of several country music greats, Charlie Louvin and Kitty Wells among them.
PLEASE email RFDTV and ask them to once more air the Marty Stuart reruns!