Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives bring Way Out West tour to Walker Theatre

Marty Stuart and his all-star band, the Fabulous Superlatives, stop in Walker Theatre on Saturday night for a show supporting their new album, "Way Out West."

The term Cosmic American Music is inextricably tied to the late Gram Parsons, referring to a musical crossroads where country, folk and rock collide in a psychedelia-kissed pileup.

And so it goes on "Way Out West," Marty Stuart's latest studio effort that was produced by Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell.

The deep, rich mystique of California culture provided a font of inspiration for 15 songs that found the Mississippi native taking his backing band, the Fabulous Superlatives, to the storied Capitol Records studio in Los Angeles to record a good chunk of the record.

"Everything that came out of California captivated my mind in Mississippi," Stuart said in a recent phone interview. "[Way Out West"] started with a song called 'Mexico,' and the idea was that I wanted to capture a mood that was cinematic and reflected the space you experience out in the Mojave Desert. It would reflect that kind of openness with a little bit of a psychedelic touch to it. I also knew that I'd have a better shot of getting that kind of cinematic sound that I was looking for in California that I wouldn't be able to get in Nashville."

With the album out, Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives are out on the road in support of "Way Out West." Their tour stops in Walker Theatre Saturday night, March 24.

The Fabulous Superlatives are a solid anchor for Stuart thanks to the efforts of guitarist Kenny Vaughan (Lucinda Williams), bassist Chris Scruggs (BR549) and drummer Harry Stinson (Steve Earle). With this kind of talent, Stuart and his compadres are firing on all cylinders.

With the high level at which he and his Fabulous Superlatives are playing, the 59-year-old singer-songwriter welcomes the challenge of bringing listeners into the fold by way of a live music experience.

"I think there's a time in every band's life, whether it's the Rolling Stones or anyone else, where they end up in a [creative] place with what I call a blue halo or blue aura around them, where they're at their peak if you go see them play live," Stuart said. "As a music fan, it's the kind of experience that you wind up having where 20 years from now, you'll look back and say that you saw that group at that particular time.

"I think that time is happening right now for the Fabulous Superlatives, and it's certainly giving us motivation to live up to the band's name," he said.