A new song is here from Marty Stuart. The Grand Ole Opry member just released “Sitting Alone,” a song that Stuart, perhaps ironically, wrote before the world shut down because of COVID-19.

“I wrote this song in Buffalo, NY, before the pandemic started,” Stuart recalls. “I was on a writing spree and when the words appeared on the paper they didn’t quite make any sense to me, but I liked them. I instantly heard [Fabulous Superlatives band member] Kenny Vaughan playing a 12-string Rickenbacker part along with me playing a Clarence White guitar solo in the middle of the song along with Byrds-style harmonies.

“When the pandemic hit, I took another look at the words and thought, ‘This makes a lot more sense to me than it used to,'” he adds. “It’s become a meaningful song now that I understand it on a deeper level and I think we made a good record out of the song.”

Altitude, Stuart’s first album of new material in six years, will be out on May 19.

“I’ve been quoted as saying the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee, these days is to play country music,” Stuart said when announcing the release of Altitude. “It can be done. On [the song] ‘Altitude,’ there are twin fiddles, steel guitar, and the legendary Pig Robbins playing piano on what turned out to be one of his last recording sessions.

“The song is a reminder to me, and to anyone else still interested, that there’s a few of us out here who still know how to make authentic country music,” he added. “I have an absolute belief that there’s a world of people out there who still love it, as my wife  Connie Smith says it’s the ‘cry of the heart,’ Harlan Howard said ‘it’s’ three chords and the truth’—that’s country music.”

In 2021, Stuart was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with Dean Dillon and Hank Williams, Jr.

“I am so honored to share this night with Dean and Bocephus,” Stuart said during his induction “What a deal. I was downtown one day after the announcement, and I saw the billboard, with all three of our pictures. I just started laughing. I said, ‘That is three of the chief knuckleheads of all time. I’m so proud of them … I am indeed honored to be inducted with the two of them.”

Stuart will resume his headlining tour on March 24. He will perform at Stagecoach Festival on April 29, and hit the road with Chris Stapleton this summer. Find music and tour dates at MartyStuart.net.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Missing Piece Group / Alysse Gafkjen