Watch Charlie Worsham’s Mellow Cover of Marty Stuart’s ‘Tempted’

When country music talks (or, in this case, sings or plays), musician Charlie Worsham pays attention. In celebration of Marty Stuart’s 25th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, frequent Opry performer Worsham filmed a tribute to one of Stuart’s earliest hits, “Tempted,” performing the song backstage at the Ryman Auditorium, while accompanying himself on guitar. 

Written by Stuart with Paul Kennerley, the British-born songwriter who was, at the time, married to Emmylou Harris, “Tempted” was a 1991 hit for Stuart who, like Worsham, is a Mississippi native. Reaching Number Five, it would be Stuart’s best-charting solo hit and one of several co-penned by Kennerley, including “Hillbilly Rock.” The “Tempted” music video, which includes a fiery introduction spoken by the late country-gospel musician Jerry Sullivan, playing the part of a radio evangelist, features the rhinestone-jacket-wearing Stuart playing along with his pre-Superlatives band on stage. In his tribute, Worsham mentions the song’s distinctive Everlys-meet-Roy Orbison guitar solo, which is actually played by veteran guitarist-producer Richard Bennett, and urges viewers unfamiliar with it to seek out the song to hear “one of the greatest guitar solos in all of country music.”

Worsham, along with Stuart’s wife, Connie Smith, Old Crow Medicine Show and the superstar performer’s longtime band, the Fabulous Superlatives, took the Opry stage in early December to celebrate Stuart’s milestone. In April 2017, Worsham released his excellent sophomore LP, Beginning of Things, and late in the year also published his first book, the inspirational Follow Your Heart: A Guitar, A Tattoo, And One Man’s Country Music Journey. The writer of the book’s foreword: Marty Stuart.

Beginning in March, Worsham will be a special guest on select dates of Miranda Lambert’s Livin’ Like Hippies Tour. He will join Lee Ann Womack for dates on her 2018 All the Trouble tour.