Marty Stuart Confirms Reissue of “The Pilgrim” w/ Bonus Tracks
As first announced by Saving Country Music earlier this summer, Marty Stuart’s Magum Opus The Pilgrim is being reissued and for the first time on vinyl, along with an accompanying CD with 10 bonus tracks taken from the project and other recorded material Marty has amassed over the years. The 20th Anniversary Edition of The Pilgrim will be released on October 18th by MCA Nashville/UMG Nashville.
“‘The Pilgrim’ is a record I dearly love. This recording changed the course of my musical life. Year after year, since its original release in 1999, I’ve heard stories from people all around the world about how ‘The Pilgrim’ made its way into their lives and touched their hearts,” Marty Stuart says.
Marty Stuart released his conceptualized 20-song magnum opus The Pilgrim as his final album on a contract with MCA Nashville. A commercial flop that rendered no radio singles, it nonetheless went onto become one of the most revered releases in the Marty Stuart collection, and for some fans, one of the most cherished albums in all of country music. It joined the canon of country music’s conceptualized works such as Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken, and Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.
Emmylou Harris appeared originally on The Pilgrim, as did other notable performers such as Pam Tillis, George Jones, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, and Marty’s former boss, Johnny Cash, who helps conclude the album with a haunting performance. Consisting of instrumental interludes and recurring “acts” that lend corresponding sonic shades to compliment the arc of the story, the linear narrative of the album is based on a true story from Marty Stuart’s hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. It was the last album he recorded while working with his backing band The Rock & Roll Cowboys. Afterwards Stuart would form his current band, The Fabulous Superlatives.
Along with the original material, 10 bonus tracks also accompany the release, including the song “Been Lonely Too Long” that can be heard below.
“Going into my archives to search out Pilgrim-related material for this release was like reaching into a dusty old treasure chest,” Marty Stuart says. “I found songs that I’d written and forgotten, photographs I never got around to looking at, unfinished recordings from ‘The Pilgrim’ sessions, and a string of archival recordings with Earl Scruggs, Johnny Cash, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, Emmylou Harris, Connie Smith, and Uncle Josh Graves that I made while they were doing their parts on ‘The Pilgrim’. Upon listening, those recordings stand as cherished, sacred documents of American roots music that have waited nobly in the shadows for their invitation onto the world stage of the twenty-first century. So many life lessons were offered in the creative process of making ‘The Pilgrim.’ Perhaps the toughest of them all was letting go when the record was considered unsuccessful. However, in letting go, I learned that some things do, in fact, come back around.”
The new edition is now available for pre-order.
Marty Stuart’s The Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Edition Track Listing:
VINYL #1- SIDE A
1)- Intro (Marty Stuart/The Pilgrim)
2)- Sometimes The Pleasure’s Worth The Pain
3)- The Pilgrim (Act I)
4)- Harlan County
5)- Reasons
VINYL #1- SIDE B
1)- Love Can Go To…
2)- Red, Red Wine And Cheatin’ Songs
3)- Truck Stop
4)- Hobo’s Prayer
5)- Goin’ Nowhere Fast
VINYL #2- SIDE A
1)- The Observations Of A Crow
2)- Intermission
3)- The Greatest Love Of All Time
4)- The Greatest Love Of All Time
5)- Draggin’ Around These Chains Of Love
VINYL #2- SIDE B
1)- The Pilgrim (Act II)
2)- Redemption
3)- The Pilgrim (Act III)
4)- Outro (Marty Stuart/The Pilgrim)
5)- Mr. John Henry, Steel Driving Man
BONUS CD Track Listing
1)- The Pilgrim (Act IV)- with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Connie Smith, Emmylou Harris, and Marty Stuart (Unreleased Alternate Take)
2)- That’ll Be All Right With Me- with the Rock & Roll Cowboys: Steve Arnold, Brad Davis, Gary Hogue, Gregg Stocki, Marty Stuart, Adam Wood, and Jim “Moose” Brown(Unreleased)
3)- Been Lonely Too Long- with Richard Bennett, Harry Stinson, Glenn Worf, Barry Beckett, Terri Wilson, Mick Conley, and Marty Stuart (Unreleased Pilgrim project demo)
4)- I Think We’re In Texas- with Manuel and Emmylou Harris (Unreleased)
5)- Shout Little Lulie- with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Marty Stuart (Unreleased)
6)- Call and Response- with Uncle Josh Graves and Marty Stuart (Unreleased)
7)- Evelina- with Uncle Josh Graves and Marty Stuart (Unreleased)
8)- Tennessee Wagoner- with Earl Scruggs and Stuart Duncan (Unreleased)
9)- Even Trains Have To Cry- with Fabulous Superlatives; Paul Martin, Harry Stinson, Kenny Vaughan, Marty Stuart along with Gary Carter (Unreleased Pilgrim Project Demo)
10)- The Vanishing- with Marty Stuart and Mick Conley (Unreleased Pilgrim Project Demo)
September 11, 2019 @ 8:38 am
What are some of Marty’s other must have albums? I have Way Out West, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, and the Studio B Sessions.
September 11, 2019 @ 8:57 am
A few recommendations:
Hillbilly Rock (1989)
Let There Be Country (1992)
Nashville, Volume 1: Tear the Woodpile Down (2012)
September 11, 2019 @ 8:58 am
I’ve heard the Woodpile is really good.
September 11, 2019 @ 9:18 am
If you like Martys current style as it seems you do, you might enjoy Ghost Train and another one called Country Music. Country Music has been overlooked in my opinion and it features a duet with Haggard called Farmers Blues. Sundown in Nashville is on that too ad well as a great take on Satisfied Mind.
But I’ve followed Marty from the eighties on, so I’ve always liked Tempted and his most commercially successful, Hillbilly Rock. The production on those two admittedly sounds dated, but they showcase his Sun era rockabilly sound that he was doing in part because of his long relationship with Cash. You’ll hear his rendition of Johnny Hortons Wild One, Cash’s Blue Train , his monster hit Hillbilly Rock, and a great take on Joe Elys masterpiece Me and Billy The Kid.
The Tempted album has one of my favorites Burn Me Down, and a nice Neil Young cover of Get Back to the Country. It’s kinda jingly-jangly sounding and rather commercial so I get it if it’s not your thing. Still, at least check em out to hear where Martys come from.
September 11, 2019 @ 9:13 am
Soul’s Chapel
September 11, 2019 @ 12:09 pm
Tempted, This One’s Gonna Hurt You and Country Music.
September 30, 2019 @ 9:25 am
“Country Music”
September 11, 2019 @ 9:36 am
My first Marty album. Great stuff. I think I found it in a Tower Records budget rack in 2000 or so. So yeah, not a commercially successful album. Got a feeling I’m going to pick up the reissue.
September 11, 2019 @ 9:38 am
He’s gonna be touring behind it, too. Should be good
September 11, 2019 @ 9:44 am
I dreamed that Marty Stuart confirmed the reissue of “This One’s Gonna Hurt You” with bonus tracks, but “then I woke up…”
September 12, 2019 @ 9:45 am
Haven’t listened to this in over 15 years at least. Dug it out the other day after reading this – I forgot what a GD great album this is. Shit hot. Can’t wait for this release.
September 13, 2019 @ 11:16 am
Was fortunate to witness the performance of this project during the first of Marty’s three Artist In Residence appearances at the CMA Theater this past Wednesday night. Marty & His Fabulous Superlatives, Emmylou Harris, Pam Tillis, Connie Smith, Gary Carter and Chris Stapleton provided for one amazing evening to say the least.
It’d been about six years since I last visited Nashville. Ater walking around town all day, seeing the the celebrity takeover (Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Jimmy Buffet and Kid Rock to name a few), and listening to cover bands pounding out Sam Hunt & Florida Georgia Line tunes, man was it nice to sit in that theater that evening, listening to Marty pour his heart and soul out through those songs (as well as the stories behind many of them).
The Pilgrim is a masterpiece and for those who only know of Marty from his Hillbilly Rock/Tempted days, the
depth and maturity of this album will really catch you off guard.
On a side note, I saw Rickey Skaggs and The Whites a few rows down and Marty mentioned that Garth Brooks was there that evening as well. I think that shows the tremendous respect other artists have for the the torch bearer of traditional country music.
September 13, 2019 @ 12:21 pm
Pilgrim is an amazing album. it is one of my all-time favs, and I recommend that you add it to your collection if you haven’t already. I also recommend buying the actual CD (or vinyl if its available) so you can listen to it top to bottom, because it deserves that kind of attention. For some reason this album never got the recognition it deserved, and I never understood why. Oh wait, its because the Nashville elite didn’t appreciate it due to its lack of snap tracks and songs about tailgates, trucks, and daisy dukes.
September 14, 2019 @ 5:55 am
It figures that Marty Stuart has more great material laying around in the vault than has been played on country radio in the last ten years.
September 14, 2019 @ 4:35 pm
It would be nice if they released an all CD set.
September 18, 2019 @ 7:36 am
I absolutely can not wait for this. Gary Hogue on pedal steel.
September 24, 2019 @ 7:27 pm
Been listening all day on Spotify and I love the new stuff. Now we can see how much work went into the album. Some of the stuff on the album were edits of what we hear now (the Outro came from That’ll Be All Right with Me), “Lonely Too Long” sounds like an early version of “Broken Promised Land,” (from Badlands), and some studio chatter.
So glad to hear this stuff.
September 26, 2019 @ 1:56 pm
I’d buy it on CD if it was for sale. This seems like what Tool just did, not sure if I like this particular model.
February 9, 2020 @ 10:24 am
Great show in B’ham last night.Bought the book and had it autographed by Marty, he seems like such a nice guy,genuinely glad all came to the show.
Problem, not sure who to contact-the CD inside the book is cracked.Would love to get it replaced.Thanks so much.