Marty Stuart - Badlands

Pros

• "Badlands"
• "Big Foot"
• "Walking Through The Prayers"

Cons

• None.

Description

• Produced by Marty Stuart.
• Co-produced by John Carter Cash.
• All songs written by Marty Stuart, except "Bigfoot" written by John R. Cash.

Guide Review - Marty Stuart - Badlands

I love theme albums. There might be a track or two that could be a "radio hit," but there doesn't have to be, because the entirety of the album is so much more rich when it's kept together. It's a more common phenomenon in rock music, where you can find such albums as Pink Floyd's "The Wall," or Meat Loaf's "Bat Out Of Hell," albums which are really self-contained operas, telling a complete story. But there are a few in country music, and Marty Stuart has done two of them. Back in 1999 he gave us the unequaled brilliance of "The Pilgrim," and now, we have "Badlands."

I grew up with a father who was a student of this exact period of history Marty takes on, from Wounded Knee to the Little Bighorn. There's never been a time in my life when I didn't know the names of the heroes of both sides, but most history leans, naturally, on the side of Custer and the 7th. Marty's songs tell more of it from the other side. He gives voice to Crazy Horse, Big Foot, Sitting Bull, and the other great chiefs who tried and failed to save their people and their way of life.

Sometimes I think we as a nation go overboard when it comes to being apologists for Manifest Destiny. Political correctness takes us too far in the opposite direction, and I don't see us Westerners pulling up stakes and moving back to Europe in our eagerness to make amends. But I think that remembering, honoring, and understanding those who fought is a step in the right direction. This disc remembers, and tries to understand.