Marty Stuart works to bring country music history back home
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Country Music has taken Marty Stuart around the world, but these days he’s working to bring the history of the music back home to Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Stuart’s Congress of Country Music is designed to tell the story of the music through an impressive collection of memorabilia and artifacts, and celebrate the present and the future the genre with live performances at the renovated Ellis Theater.
Natalie Dreifuss, the Operations Manager for the Congress of Country Music was in Starkville on November 25, spreading the word about the progress being made in nearby Neshoba County.
Stuart left Philadelphia for Nashville in his teens and played with Bill Monroe and Johnny Cash before striking out on his own.
Along the way he began collecting memorabilia, and decided his hometown was the best place to bring it to the public.
“He’s got 22,000. Over 22,000 pieces, which were acquired by the Country Music Hall of Fame, so we are in now a partnership with them. These 22,000 pieces will be housed at the future museum in Philadelphia, Mississippi. His museum, or his collection, it has things like Manuel suits worn by many great artists. He has Johnny Cash memorabilia, and he’s got a multitude of instruments. It is very encompassing of the Country Music history,” said Natalie Dreifuss, Operations Messenger for Congress of Courtesy Music.
Marty Stuart is still touring, these days with his own band, The Fabulous Superlatives.