the Sturgill Simpson c/d

http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/sturgill

http://youtu.be/_70HJMikcBo?t=2m46s

dude's got pipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eWJmN8D820

Simpson's guitarist is really good. I love the solo on this one. I'd have to figure they are using the studio echo chamber on the solo, being that is a famous one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK4UFSNGRdE

FYI I live in Kentucky where this guy is a something of a local hero and I've never heard it pronounced any way other than to rhyme with 'Virgil.'

Album is great, hope he continues in the 'Reptilian overlords and DMT' mode, and hope he keeps whoever is playing lead guitar on this thing, damn.

Yeah his lead player is siiiiick as fuuuuuck

good interview with the guitarist: http://www.thefader.com/2014/09/18/another-country-interview-laur-joamets-sturgill-simpsons-estonian-guitarist

sturgill's a damn good guitarist too.

opening for Willie seems like a no-brainer

i've been off the country wavelengths for a while but just took a listen to this - as good as advertised!

his voice is very much in the classic merle mode and i can totally dig it

as anyone points out, correctly, he sounds a LOT like waylon

i'm not even a drug fiend but the lyrics to turtles all the way down are fantastic

estonian dude is becoming an american pretty quick when he says things like "amen to that"

next interview he'll be all "you're darn tootin!"

There must be a hundred guitar pickers in Nashville muttering 'coming over here, taking our jobs' like some UKIP neanderthal in a dead English seaside town...

saw these guys open for Willie Nelson last night and they were straight fire. Laur Joamets is indeed an amazing guitarist, he was very much the star of the show, although Sturgill is a pretty sick guitarist too.

Xpost There seem to be a lot of Aussies in Nashville.

i like him fine, but i'm reactionary wrt his rise in popularity - a) i'm not so fond of the voice (nor waylon's, of which he's too derivative), and b) he's caught too much of the dudebro-ish fetish for rock-enough-to-not-be-uncool "outlaw"/druggy country males that usually extends to dreck like Hank 3 and rarely crosses the gender barrier

i'm kind of a fan but he's not as good as probably a dozen other current country artists i can think of off the top of my head tbh

and the backlash begins

I think he's great. He's a great musician, his band is great, I like his singing and I like the songs he covers along with his originals. I like Waylon, and I like that he is not afraid to sound like Waylon. I don't get a dudebro vibe from him at all, if anything there's sort of a jam band thing going on at times.

i'm kind of a fan but he's not as good as probably a dozen other current country artists i can think of off the top of my head tbh

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, December 31, 2014 6:19 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

want this list

i think it's right to be wary of the "i hate all current country music, but i like this" line that so often accompanies praise of sturgill simpson, but that has very little or nothing to do with sturgill simpson.

i'm a little amazed that a country fan can dislike waylon's voice (see benbbag above), but i have enough non-acquired tastes to give it a pass, i suppose. (btw christgau didn't like waylon's voice much either.) but i think waylon's voice is a thing of beauty, and as much as i love strugill simpson, he can't (yet) approach it in subtlety and flexibility.

I'm a country fan always suspicious of Waylon. Not hard. A fair amount of outlaw bathos.

Btw this guy closer to early eighties "Big City" Hag.

I'll totally cop to not being a country fan and being hardly familiar with Waylon and having never heard of Sturgill Simpson prior to last night. Still was a good show though...

i guess i go so deep with waylon -- i think i have every LP of his, at least up until the late 80s -- that i forget about the whole outlaw thing, which is really not a huge part of his oeuvre all told, even if it defined his public persona for a lot of people.

watch this and see if you don't love it -- his singing, the drumming, his minimalist guitar solo, everything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1-_cZoUOEE

(that's from the pre-outlaw period, before he grew a beard, obv.)

want this list

― man alive, Wednesday, December 31, 2014 10:23 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Laura Cantrell
Brandy Clark
(Drive-By Truckers)
Merle Haggard
(Jason Isbell)
Miranda Lambert
Ashley Monroe
Kacey Musgraves
Willie Nelson
Brad Paisley
Angaleena Presley
Billy Joe Shaver
(Lucinda Williams)

I don't get a dudebro vibe from him at all, if anything there's sort of a jam band thing going on at times.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, December 31, 2014 10:17 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's exactly what, or who, I meant by dudebro. Perhaps I've misunderstand the term.

last track on metamodern is fucking brilliant

i'm a little amazed that a country fan can dislike waylon's voice (see benbbag above), but i have enough non-acquired tastes to give it a pass, i suppose. (btw christgau didn't like waylon's voice much either.) but i think waylon's voice is a thing of beauty, and as much as i love strugill simpson, he can't (yet) approach it in subtlety and flexibility.

― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, December 31, 2014 10:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't dislike Waylon's voice, I just don't have a particular like for it, even as I've recognized or even admired its fine quality at times. There's something a bit too good old boy-ish in its mix of basso, molasses, and, perhaps crucially, certainty that sets off my regional prejudice along with political suspicions in a way that the more wavering John Anderson's, say, does not. I mean, I find Randy Travis' politics pretty offensive, but I don't find them suggested much by the sound of his voice, which I sometimes love.

(and that was supposed to be "I" misunderstand, or I've "misunderstood," up there)

You are the worst poster

voices dont have political properties

My comments from the Nashville Scene ballot (album kept growing on me, though not quickly enough to make Top Ten; def an Hon. Mention though)

Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music: the only really weird thing about this famously “weird” album: his herky-jerk delivery of the reviewer-bait lines, minus words he’s dropped along the way. The ones that get through (I envy him any encounters with those aliens who “cut away the pain”) are even more appreciated than they would be if we could take said delivery for granted---especially because I keep glimpsing a basic/potential resemblence to Waylon Jennings singing Billy Joe Shaver (who can also write assertively quirky; does it lots, dang it).Perhaps this tendency is what he’s resisting, although it works great when he lets it flow over that “Long White Line.” He lets himself fall between the Waylon and the herky[jerk cadences, settles down like a tired old dog, but quite clearly conveys points about the “Voices” that won’t leave him alone, but “ain’t got nothin’ to say.” Could be the “they” who say say so much received wisdumb to everyone all the time, in the media, way down deep like the stronium-90 in post-WWII mother’s milk, all over the world (hence the title of Captain Beefheart’s album Safe As Milk). And/or the voices that Brian Wilson has also said he’s learned to ignore. It’s a fine song.
The herky-jerk itself becomes meta on “The Promise,” as Simpson huddles defensively/doggedly in your gaze, while trying to declare his intensions, before a climatic outburst: “WHAT AH’M TRYIN’ TO SAY---”, and he says it, yay. This leads to more sympathetic listening, as far as I’m concerned: professional performers are often isolated figures, and country artists in particular often have to go through some kind of careful (if not palpably torturous) process to sell anything oh so different. Psychedelic insights/experiences, if any, would seem especially hard to bring into the spotlight: you know it’s likely to sound like bullshit to most folks, and just a novelty buzz (good bullshit) to others. Which would also explain some of the tension, the reluctant pushme-pullyou in his vocal phrasing.
But the most unabashed, still somewhut humble psych offering, “It Wasn’t All Flowers,” is so good that it makes some sense for him not to deliver more like this, ‘cos like I said before , we might take it for granted. (On my copy, he immediately reverts to a look awaaay back over “Panbowl,” though not for nostalgic bliss, but more a sense of who, what and where now seem gone forever---the why of it is missing too, unless maybe that’s in the rest of the album?). Just speculative notes, still being made. Ready for his next, too.

xpost some of 'em have political properties to some ears: Greg Tate's written about getting creeped out (vs. critical appreciation) by Sinatra's voice, ditto Gary Giddens by Hoagy Carmichael's voice, despite loving, say, Sonny Rollins' version of "Skylark," and other covers of HC songs.

In both cases, has to do with old schools of racism (although Sinatra was liberal when that was risky for a young singer-actor, McCarthyism-wise, the New Joisey Italian sound reminded Tate of some early encounters/associations...) (Hoagy made Giddens think of an old dude in a rocking chair, waiting for his fellow Klansman to come moseying through the winter corn, on the way to this evenin's get-together)

I can't explain why Jennings' outlaw material comes off posturing in ways that Haggard and to a lesser extent Cash's doesn't. Certainly he's written fine material. But he's not weird enough to record reactionary plaints, dry love songs, kitschy love songs, all on one album -- and inhabit them like Hag. It's possible I've listened to the wrong albums.

Because Jennings as outlaw essentially was posturing? Playing a character, playing dress-up, etc. Willie just lets his freak flag fly. Merle, like Cash, essentially is (was) himself. But that whole outlaw movement thing, it's like this period where a whole bunch of real characters started playing fake characters. Granted, the likes of Hank Jr. was much worse at this.

I'm confused. What are we defining as outlaw material? My favorite of Waylon's outlaw material are the love songs, like Dreaming my Dreams with You, Wurlitzer Prize, Amanda, etc. He's a great stubborn wallower. I would say he really inhabits these songs.

"Wurlitzer Prize" is lovely, agreed

Uh how is Willie's transformation from suit wearing brylcreemned Nashville dude to hippie any more or less authentic than Waylon? Waylon rules y'all crazy

Yup. He did write a song about how that outlaw thing done got outta hand iirc

Also he covered Norwegian Wood in the mid 60s, and "Nashville Bum" feels like the first articulation of the "too badass for Nashville" thing that really fueled the outlaw scene, which frankly I guess I see Hag as his own man and not really apart of outlaw proper, though not to say he wasn't influential and IMO is the best country artist ever

Waylon was sly and funny in a way his fellow outlaws werent (mostly)

Waylon also more genuinely rooted in rock than the rest

I'm confused. What are we defining as outlaw material? My favorite of Waylon's outlaw material are the love songs, like Dreaming my Dreams with You, Wurlitzer Prize, Amanda, etc. He's a great stubborn wallower. I would say he really inhabits these songs.

― Heez, Friday, January 2, 2015 9:12 AM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yep. that's the basic appeal, and as for the capital o Outlaw bit, let's remember that WJ's "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit Has Got Out of Hand" is one of his best, ditto "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way": his signature take much more about the drive-by humor than any macho posturing---and when it comes to love songs, yeah, "a great stubborn wallower," which is in Sturgill too: something that can be abject, but assertive too, come hell and high water. Wounded macho mebbe, and why they both can sound a bit gutshot, so outlaw in that sense. So a lot of it comes down to how you hear his voice, which can seem way less agile than Willie's, for instance, but they make a pretty interesting duo.
Also, I seem to recall somebody, maybe Jennings' buddy Dave Hickey, writing back in the mid-70s that Waylon seemed very dubious about the proposed outlaw hype, a country parallel to the Southern Rock bandwagon (which, for that matter, Gregg Allman later said he found disconcerting: "I thought all rock was basically Southern.") And see Hickey's overview of Waylon's life and take on same, "His Mickey Mouse Ways":
http://www.texasmonthly.com/contributor/davehickey

And merle - did he go through the nashville grinder machine like the rest? Always seen him as part of the bigger bakersfield scene.

Waylon was sly and funny in a way his fellow outlaws werent (mostly)

― Οὖτις

Merle, bro

Idk in some ways I kinda wanna say if they werent on the outlaws album then they werent part of it tbh. Merle is great but he's a different thing

sick

he's here in a couple weeks, tix are $144! wtf

they def were not that much in Sac - yikes

Dude played for three straight hours on Wed night in Sacramento, no breaks, no talking except for a brief how yall doing <3 … he is truly my platonic ideal of live music right now, the whole show was fucking heaven start to finish

and the band just fucking WHIPS ASS, just tight as hell.

nice!!!

Xp yep

new album March 13
lets fuckin go

https://www.mutinyaftermidnight.com/

and a manifesto!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUqvAXzAIBl/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

I regret missing the last tour, hope this means he's hitting the road for more epic sets.

@johnnyblueskies
...
WHAT'S BEHIND THE "MUTINY AFTER MIDNIGHT"?

The majority of this band has been on the road together on and off and on again for over thirteen years. We have all grown sometimes
and sometimes apart. But we've never felt more "together" than right now. I couldn't be happier.
This is the band I've dreamed about being in since middle school. Last year we did two complete laps around the U.S. and a tour of Western
surope. Between gigs this past september, we went into a brand new gorgeous studio in ashville rennessee. mspired heavily from endless hours on the bus watching old clips of the great fusion-funk band 'Stuff, and revisiting off-the-beaten-track concept records like Marvin Gaye's "In Our Lifetine", where, in what looks like the end of the world, the artist's response is, 'Let's dance and make love."...we decided to make an album centered firaly on groove.
We started every day from scratch with a basic groove, I wrote the songs and lyrics in the moment on-the-spot, and everyone
established their individual parts servicing the songs and not the individual ego.

You can break down the songs on this album into two categories-the dark state of the world and the bright state of love. Light lives in darkness just as darkness lives in light. I have come to find over time that it's far easier to just embrace contradictions rather than attempting to resolve them.

Hence Jonnny Blue skies & the Dark Clouds

The enjoyment we experienced in making this album of songs will be quite evident for the listener. But It's a lot more than joy. You can call it a mutiny,..an open rebellion.
In any case, despite the motivations behind it the mutiny in the studio turned into a party. To categorize Mutiny is tricky, but many will no doubt come with their glass ceilings to try. we believe the term American Music pretty much says it All. And for all the big ideas behind the 'Mutiny,' there's a simple goal we as a band set out to achieve: to make a dance record.

So this protest, this mutiny is really more about the primary dance. The dance of all creation. To be clear it is a protest against
oppression and suppression, and the onlu tried & tested true antidote to that is pure unfiltered unapologetic relentless disco hedonism.

My voice is just one element in this band and at all times this band is far too good to ever be overshadowed by a vocalist. So I Just want to say how grateful I am to be a part of this band of brilliant musicians-drummer and backing vocalist Miles Miller, lead guitarist Laur
Joamets, bassist kevin Biack and Keyboardist/saxist Robbie Crowell. Each is a star in his own right. And together we reflect each other’s shine.
I've spent the greater part of the last few years trying to escape what we shall refer to as "the static". Mostly through intense travels.
One thing I will say based on observations about the French is their unmatched ability to threaten injustice with a good time. If they
feel infringed upon by overreach in even the slightest form, French people w simply go on a country wide labor strike, shut down the subways and the economy and completely fill the streets with music and people from all walks of life dancing together, sometimes butt ass naked on top of bus stops. It's refreshing and beyond inspiring to witness this type of manifested unity in humanity. You could say this is where the idea was born.

Touring behind Mutiny is something we greatly look forward to. Something we will cherish. Just as I have come to see and harness my own neurodivergence and the weaponized autism of our collective members as a superpower in the studio -the same is true live. were goin. out to play arenas and theaters with a vengeance. No opening act. We're going to take every minute the venue gives us. We're gonna rock this Mutiny as hard as humanly possible. It is our privilege and our honor because our fans deserve it.

Beyond the static. the only thinks that truly matter are the sounds we make and the ears that absorb them. Everything wont be for everyone, but everything tends to eventually find everyone it was meant for. You win some, you lose some, but in the end you're left with the real ones.
And the real ones are for life.

After over a decade of navigating and charting the depressions of this Industrys cold and salty trenches, I have found my true Nonth. I now wake up every day with the sole intention of doing my best at … simply being a pirate. And by now everybody knows our crew runs the tightest and deadliest ship on the water. This band has less than zero interest in accolade's, trophy's, or being the definitive this or that of our generation. We're in search of something far more meaningful and rewarding… and we’re collecting heads for the journey.

So with that all said, to any and all who see our flag flying off your stern, know this...

There will be no quarter nor mercy offered nor given.

-JBS

(transcribed from press release/letter posted on X, Instagram etc) — typos are mine

Great news, looking at cover art and his manifesto hoping he’s going the full glitterball route.

If it’s anything like Shooter Jennings tribute to Giorgio Moroder I’ll be very happy.

Always a good opportunity to post this old nugget for anyone that's never seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrsrOB0zNQ

Like, it's insane to me that, say, a Morgan Wallen fan could watch that and think, nah, I'm good with Morgan Wallen.

YES that SNL performance goes so hard, it’s a real all-timer for me

and its a great appetizer for what the band is like live: like if you thought ~that~ ruled wait til you get 2 hours uninterrupted of that

I saw him (and most of that band?) behind "Metamodern Sounds." He was great, but yeah, two hours of the above would rule.

our boy Sturg just dropped the whole new album on YT “for the real ones”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHGmFvzjJ4

hell yeah, tho I'm tempted to wait for my copy to get here for a proper spin.

Listened to the first couple of tracks, which were fantastic. Excited to hear the rest. He should be much bigger around here.

And speaking of the xxxxxxxxxxetcpost 2014 Tiny Desk Concert (when you need a lil pick-me-up):, as I posted on RC lately:

Oh yeah, heard a four-song rerun of Sturgill's solo Tiny Desk Concert last night, from 2014: voice and guitar sounded good, maybe 12-string? Fave was "Water From The Well," which I'd like to hear Willie cover

and from prev RC (2025):

Another recent Austin City Limits: Sturgill as Johnny Blue Skies,presenting songs from Passage Du Desir, at first seeming merely retro, self-importantly slow Southern Rock, but he and the other guitarist soon turn out to be as effective at accompaniment as solos, supporting songs of late-breaking self-insight, pushing out of the past, the weight of years, chain o' fools, personal and musical histories---and coming out country after all.
(only weak link is the keyboard player, w merely nostalgic organ and [that's not writing that's typing] piano, also an inert "sax solo," but Stur responds well on guitar and at least it's brie.f)
Haven't heard the album, but if it's like this, might be his best, in terms of writing, anyway.

Foe a couple of non-conseq days, been coming back to Passage Du Desir, getting strung-out, the good kind of medicated, vs. sucker punch (life)--lots of perfectly considered moments, at least as delivered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdWLowILSg

On Rolling Music Writers, curmudgeon reported that Marc Masters' 7-year-old Experimental Music column on Bandcamp has been cancelled due to "restructuring" of the site. Looks like current ownership should restructure the following kind of shit, which I don't recall happening on the previous incarnation of BC----Stereogum quotes Sturgill:

No ..we are not selling the digital album on bandcamp kids…but somebody pretending to be us is claiming they are. Do not buy this because: 1. It doesn't exist 2. They ain't him

We are in contact with bandcamp and all appropriate parties in the process of acquiring all cc and transaction information / TC dump IP related info. We got all them tools bitches! All those affected will be refunded and the miserable shit asses responsible will be keelhauled

we're gonna duke nukem

Kind of wild that he managed to hit #3 on the Billboard album charts without any streaming numbers or digital release.

i tried to find a cd copy locally & they didnt really have any around here but it was cool to see everywhere was sold out of vinyl by like Saturday

Yeah, I was really glad I pre-ordered this went it went up (CD version anyway), but good for him.