There’s a desert flare to the music here, a sweeping, spacious feel that conjures up wide-open horizons and endless stretches of two-lane highway. The production is raw and cinematic to match, tipping its cap both to Bakersfield and Laurel Canyon as it balances jangle and twang in equal measure. While it would be easy for an artist as accomplished as Marty Stuart to rest on his laurels, Altitude instead showcases the work of a searcher with an insatiable appetite for growth and reflection, one whose ambition, much like his keen wit and rich imagination, only seems to grow with every release.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, MS, Stuart got his start in bluegrass legend Lester Flatts’ band at the tender age of thirteen, and by twenty-one, he was working in the studio and on the road with Johnny Cash. Though Stuart built his early reputation backing up royalty, it wasn’t long before Nashville recognized him as a star in his own right, and over the course of forty-plus years as a solo artist, he’s gone on to release more than twenty major label albums, scoring platinum sales, hit singles, and just about every honor the industry can bestow along the way.