Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and musician Marty Stuart is living, breathing country music history. He's played alongside the masters, from Cash to Lester Flatt, who discovered him; been a worldwide ambassador for Nashville, Bakersfield and points in between; and safeguarded country's most valuable traditions and physical artifacts. But most importantly, Stuart continues to record and release keenly relevant music, records that honor country's rich legacy while advancing it into the future.

Way Out West, his 18th studio album, hits both of those marks. Produced by Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), the album is a cinematic tour-de-force, an exhilarating musical journey through the California desert that solidifies Stuart as a truly visionary artist. "If you go and sit by yourself in the middle of the Mojave Desert at sundown and you're still the same person the next morning when the sun comes up, I'd be greatly surprised," says Stuart. "It is that spirit world of the West that enchants me."

When it comes to transforming country songs into tangible experience, Stuart has a secret weapon: his longtime band the Fabulous Superlatives, which NPR Music said could "melt your heart with four-part harmonies, rock your bones with honky tonk, and dazzle you with picking worthy of their name." Made up of guitarist Kenny Vaughan, drummer Harry Stinson and new member, bassist Chris Scruggs, the Superlatives are an extension of Stuart himself, "The Superlatives are missionaries, they're fighting partners. They're my Buckaroos, my Tennessee Three, my Strangers. They're my legacy band and have been since Day One."

"I would play this record for Hank Williams, Merle Haggard or Ernest Hemingway and never bat an eye," adds Stuart. "There's something in there that would entertain each of them."