Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives return to Penn's Peak with a new instrumental chapter

Last in Jim Thorpe in July 2024, the country band comes back Thursday, April 1, 2027 — with a double album of surf-and-space instrumentals released in between.

The last time Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives played the Lehigh Valley, it was high summer: July 18, 2024, at Penn's Peak. They're coming back to the same room on a very different calendar page — Thursday, April 1, 2027 — and with a very different record in their back pocket.

The details: Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives play Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe on Thursday, April 1, at 8 p.m. Tickets run $41.55 to $205.75 through Ticketmaster. The date was announced Oct. 14, and the room holds about 1,800.

What's changed since 2024 is mostly one thing, and it's a big one. In 2025 the band put out *Space Junk*, their first-ever full-length instrumental LP — a double album of 20 original instrumentals. It arrived first as a Record Store Day exclusive on April 12, 2025, through Snakefarm Records, with full CD, vinyl and streaming editions following later that year. Stuart has said the record was largely inspired by two of his favorite bands from the sixties: The Ventures and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Alpert himself painted the cover.

The band recorded most of it at Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood, and the title track goes all in on the concept, with steel drums, chimes and a sample of the Sputnik signal. It's a playful record, but it's also a showcase for how good this band is — Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson and Chris Scruggs alongside Stuart, a lineup that has always played like a unit rather than a backing group.

A double album of 20 original instrumentals, inspired by The Ventures and Herb Alpert

That matters for the live show. The Superlatives have always had a little surf twang and a lot of chops underneath the country songs, and *Space Junk* puts that side front and center. Expect the instrumental material to sit next to the songs people came to hear; through 2026, venues on the band's route — from Ruth Eckerd Hall to The Colonial Theatre — have been promoting the shows around the new record.

Before *Space Junk*, the band's most recent studio album was *Altitude*, released in 2023 and billed as their first new album in six years, per American Songwriter. So the stretch since their last Jim Thorpe visit has been a productive one, and this tour is the first chance for Lehigh Valley fans to hear what the band sounds like with that instrumental record fully in the set.

Penn's Peak suits them. At roughly 1,800 capacity, it's large enough for a real crowd and still close enough to watch hands on fretboards, which is half the fun with a band of pickers this sharp. The price range is wide, so it pays to look at the seating chart before choosing.

A Thursday night in early April isn't the obvious time for a big country show. But a band this tight doesn't need a Saturday to make the case — and after a couple of years away, Jim Thorpe is getting a version of the Superlatives that's been to outer space and back.

Sources: Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives announce Space Junk, their first-ever full-length instrumental LP – martystuart.net (martystuart.net); Marty Stuart's Surf Guitar Album is Finally On The Way – Saving Country Music (savingcountrymusic.com); Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives Announce Space Junk – Relix (relix.com); Marty Stuart announces first album in six years, Altitude – American Songwriter (americansongwriter.com); Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – Ruth Eckerd Hall (rutheckerdhall.com); Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – The Colonial Theatre (thecolonialtheatre.com); Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives at Penn's Peak – JamBase (jambase.com)