On December 14, Marty Stuart discussed the making of the exhibit and book The World of Marty Stuart with the designers Karen Cronin and Robin Dietrick as part of the History Is Lunch series.
The World of Marty Stuart special exhibit at the Two Mississippi Museums explores the country music star’s life and highlights objects from his collection such as original handwritten Hank Williams manuscripts, guitars from Merle Haggard and Pops Staples, costumes from Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash’s first black performance suit. Stuart worked with his longtime friend and graphic designer Karen Cronin on a book of the same name that accompanies the exhibit.
"Marty’s a wizard on the strings, and his talent put him in a position to play with some of the most significant country music artists of the twentieth century,” said Cronin. “That proximity coupled with his love of the culture led him to put together a world-class collection that we showcased in the book and exhibit.”
The author Rick Bragg wrote that Stuart is “best known as the hillbilly rocker, a kind of blended whiskey of rockabilly, Southern rock, honky-tonk, the Grand Ole Opry, and the High Lonesome. A Grammy-winning, critically acclaimed performer who literally grew up in the footlights, he has become one of the genre’s greatest preservationists and, well, thinkers.”
History Is Lunch is sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The weekly lecture series of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History explores different aspects of the state's past. The hour-long programs are held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum building at 222 North Street in Jackson and livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
