Abbey Road On Dickson Street

Classic Albums Live just might be every classic rock lover's dream -- besides getting to go back in time to experience the music firsthand. The series employs professional musicians to travel across the country playing the greats in their entirety -- cut for cut, note for note.

"This is music that has endured and I think it will continue to live on. In 50 years, we'll still be playing these songs. The '60s and '70s were the acme of excellence in rock music," says Craig Martin, mastermind behind the series. "My show is all about excellence. All of our focus and attention goes in to the music. We don't dress up, don't run around, we don't even talk to the audience."

The music of Pink Floyd, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and now David Bowie (among other enduring works of the time) grace Martin's stages across the United States and Canada. The musicians he hires, mostly classical by definition, need to be able to hear the album and play the album; Martin says he doesn't care what they look like.

"I got really fed up going to bars and clubs and seeing people putting more time in to dressing up than in to learning to play their instruments properly," he says. "This is really important music -- we grew up with it -- so when people play it improperly, it really affects us. The audience is brought back to a time when they were able to sit down and listen to an entire album. It's a really nostalgic show."

Martin says he is excited to get back to Arkansas and plans to bring several more shows through the area in the coming years. This time around, it's The Beatles' "Abbey Road." Released in 1969, the group's swan song was voted in the Top 20 on Rolling Stones' list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

"I think of us as curators," Martin says. He admits the albums chosen for Classic Albums Live are the ones he likes, but they're also "albums that have stood the test of time. They're still being discovered today by teens and kids pulling out their parents' records."

The show at the Walton Arts Center will present "Abbey Road," beginning to end, for the first set. The second set will include some of The Beatles' greatest hits and some deep tracks for the real fanatics, Martin says.

He's also quick to point out he employs some of the best musicians in the world. "If there's a better band than [our musicians], I want to know about it, but I never find them. I have the best musicians because if there were better ones, I'd hire them. I really care about this music. I don't want to hear it dumbed down."

NAN What's Up on 01/29/2016