Johnny Cash calls "Marty Stuart's" new country concept album, "The Pilgrim," ". . .a fabulous journey." Actor/hillbilly personality Billy Bob Thornton calls it ". . .perfect. I can't quit playing it. I wish critics weren't allowed to listen to it." Old Billy Bob certainly won't get his wish, but I can't disagree with him or Johnny Cash. On his 12th album in 21 years, Marty Stuart reaches the creative career height that usually occurs to only the most talented and legendary of musicians in rock music. No country artist has put out a record this good in years.

In the impressive press kit sent along with the album, Marty tells the story and inspiration behind "The Pilgrim." It's about a cross-eyed man named Norman whom Stuart knew growing up. Norman lost his beauty queen wife to a home wrecking man they all called The Pilgrim. Norman's despair led to a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the head and then a hole in the ground. The Pilgrim was run out of town and made his life on the rails, which eventually brought him back to the arms of Rita, the woman he loved.

Stuart saw more than just a heartbreaking tale of love and jealousy in that story, and he was inspired to craft a sort of country opera, replete with characters, intermission and an all-star cast. In the end, Stuart's "The Pilgrim" evolved to include a tribute to country legend Bill Monroe, a dear friend and mentor of his. Over the course of three years, Stuart penned and recorded "The Pilgrim" from one end of the country to the other. The end result is a collection of full-length songs, snippets that pays homage to the roots of country, and shines a beacon down the rails as to where country is headed.

A slow moving choo-choo train churns along for 25 seconds in the opening "Intro" to lead into "Sometimes The Pleasure's Worth The Pain," a rollicking, twangy guitar song that reminds me of why I've long thought of "Marty Stuart" as one of the coolest country musicians in the world. This guy sings from the gut and from the heart, without copping the modern country-nasal-droning and falling into the tired cliches of tight jeans, black western hats and half-assed dedication to the origins of country.

I wish "The Pilgrim Act I" was longer than the short 54 seconds of stark beauty that it is. Emmylou Harris' piercing, soaring vocal, and the lullaby orchestral backing, sets up the concept of the album and flows right into "Harlan County." Ralph Stanley of The Clinch Mountain Boys adds a touch of down home bluegrass flavor along with a crying fiddle. The sweet vintage voice of Pam Tillis sounds perfect alongside Stuart's voice in "Reasons," inspired by Norman's guilt-riddled suicide note. It ends on the bitter lines "I didn't know that she was married/ That part she didn't tell/ Forget this town/ Ain't hanging round/ Love can go to hell."

"Red, Red Wine And Cheatin' Songs" skips in like the perfect "cry in your beer" love-gone-wrong song. Smooth vocal harmony and a two-stepping beat sounds just like somebody would sound if they had just found out that the one they love is married. I can almost smell the greasy food frying and taste the cigarette smoke in the air in "Truckstop." George Jones lends his uniquely sad Southern voice with Emmylou Harris playing the part of the angelic truckstop waitress consoling road weary George. Perhaps the prettiest song on "The Pilgrim" is "Hobo's Prayer," which features Stuart's deep soothing voice singing about life "under bridges, beneath trestles in the boxcars of dead trains. . .trading sorrows for tomorrows/ That's the hobo's prayer."

Written in Maui, "The Observations Of A Crow" sounds like it was inspired in the back alleys and bar rooms of Nashville. Stuart's mysterious words, guitar picking and somber singing style is just the authentic touch needed in country music as it line dances into the next millennium. The first "Intermission" flies by like an old fashioned Southern foot-stomping hoe down, only to be caught by the beautiful mandolin strains of "The Greatest Love Of All Time," with hurting lyrics like "And it's sad but true, that girl me and you/ Had the greatest love of all time."

With its hard driving beat and semi-rock riffs, "Draggin' Around These Chains Of Love" is exactly the reason why I've always liked "Marty Stuart." I've never bought a single album or seen him in concert, but every time I saw him on The Nashville Network, I'd stop and listen. He has a unique ability to appeal to a wide cross section of music fans similar to the way Willie Nelson and Neil Young can. I thought I liked him because of his massive collection of rare and historic guitars, but it was always the music that kept me taking notice when he happened along.

Stuart's incredible song writing talent comes through even stronger on the brief "The Pilgrim Act II" and "Redemption," but it is the touching tribute to Bill Monroe in "Act III" of "The Pilgrim" that is the stellar moment that brings the whole album together. As if giving Monroe a grand poetic send off to the grandness of Heaven, Stuart sings "As I stand before that valley wide/ It will lead me to the other side. . .I might be tired and weary, but I am strong/ Cause pilgrims walk, but not alone." Johnny Cash - The Man in Black - makes his cameo appearance in "Outro," with a booming, dead serious reading of "Sir Galahad" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, only to fade out to a faint train whistle and ending on the romping instrumental "Mr. John Henry, Steel Driving Man."

"The Pilgrim" is required listening from the first song to the last. Taken individually, each song would seem out of place on a modern country album, but as one cohesive album, "The Pilgrim" is a wistful throwback to country's past and a promising glimpse of "Marty Stuart's" staying power and influence.