When Lester finally came out of the bus, the speech I'd planned for about seven years kind of got lost inside of me. Marty says, 'I stood by his bus to watch him come out. Marty first saw Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass at Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom Festival in 1971. It became a prized possession-carrying it to school in his pocket. Monroe's mandolin pick found a place in Marty's hand.

The music Marty absorbed went into his soul-and Mr. Marty's mom and dad loved music too and took Marty to see Bill Monroe perform. While kids Marty's age were more interested in after-school play, Marty was enjoying the sounds of Flatt & Scruggs and Johnny Cash on the stereo and remembers giving away his copy of Meet The Beatles. It appeared to be destiny that Marty would grow up to be the Hillbilly Rocker. In the sixth grade, Marty wrote an essay about what he was going to do, right down to the songs he was going the sing, the kind of music he would make, the awards he was going to win, and where he was going to live. His mom, who worked in a bank, loaned Marty the money to buy his first mandolin. Marty began teaching himself to play the guitar and began playing the mandolin a few years later. It was only the crank-up kind but it didn't take long for Marty to focus on music.

We have pictures of him lying in his crib holding that music box and listening to 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' over and over. We would keep winding and winding it for him. His momma says as an infant, Marty would hold on to 'this little music box and wouldn't let go. John Marty Stuart was born on Septemin Philadelphia, Mississippi to proud parents John and Hilda.

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