the Sturgill Simpson c/d

he'll be on AC Limits stream tonite, 9 PM EST yes Ma'am:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AustinCityLimitsTV?app=desktop

http://klru.vo.llnwd.net/o36/acl_homepage/SturgillSimpson_slide.jpg

@TwangNation @SturgillSimpson @acltv lead player trippin on "Long White Line" yay And now ditto on very electric bluegrassActually enunciating too: "Lawd that her-oi-n (heroine?)dee-stroyed me."

"Sick of that bank, cain't take no more crank."

"Medicine Springs," excellent

wooooow

MN State Fair this year: Merle Haggard, Kris Kristoferson, and Sturgill Simpson

fuckin' good times there.

tickets $35 too which seems like a bargain

I "saw" Merle and Kris at Hardly Strictly a few years ago (I could not actually see the stage). they sounded good tho, did a lot of old chestnuts (Mama Tried, Sunday Mornin etc.)

$35 is a total deal!

yeah i mean i guess i figure both merle and kris by themselves would be a $35 ticket and sturgill is probably in the $20 zone by now

he's playing the Fillmore this Saturday for $25 but I am poor and don't have babysitting

but I do wanna go

You probably can't get a funnel cake at the Fillmore show.

nothin on a stick, at all

they give out free apples

(which are good for throwing at Bill Graham's portrait)

New album April 15th

http://www.spin.com/2016/03/sturgill-simpson-brace-for-impact-new-song-beats-1-zane-lowe-stream/

ooh!

Cool. Saw him in Seattle last November. His guitar player is very good.

Looking forward to it a lot.

apparently it will feature an "In Bloom" cover. intrigued!

WTF I'm not sure I'm into this. Sounds like some post-Eagles Don Henley shit with more distortion.

more like Turgid Simpson

Sounds like some post-Eagles Don Henley shit with more distortion.

I'll be the judge of that!

(listens)

I dunno, seems like he's really committing to being that "Country Guy Only Rock Fans Listen To"--serious Mitchell Froom/Tchad Blake vibes from the production. Most Henley thing about it is how it just keeps going and going after making its point.

Weird single, kind of an early or mid-90s adult rock vibe and the production doesn't sound great.

I relistened to the first album a few months ago and decided it kinda sucks

Yeah I pretty much stand by what I said upthread -- it's one good song but it's a whole album.

You guys are nuts. The new single is good.

so, for the first time, somebody owes dan auerbach money?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/sturgill-simpson-on-staying-country-covering-nirvana-on-new-album-20160321?page=2

I see Dave Cobb is not part of this new one.

Good

This cover of "In Bloom" is hilariously inept:

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

he seems even more full-on into bad 70s country trope mode. WTF, cotton in his gums like Brando in the Godfather?

terrible

whut the heyul

the addition of "to love someone" at the end of that line is hilarious unintentional irony

You guys go to hell

kinda wish he'd gone all the way with it

He likes to shoot his gun
But he don't know what it means
To love someone
The way I love you...

really not sure why anyone is bemused by this cover, it...sounds like a sturgill simpson song, just like he made "the promise" sound like one of his songs

tbf it's not half as good as "the promise" but it's totally fine

NYT Profile

...it’s Elvis on Mr. Simpson’s mind, and in his mouth.

“T.C.B., baby!” he yelled, a reference to Presley’s band. Mr. Simpson is partial to Presley’s later years, the Stax era, “when they were laying it down hard and heavy. Elvis was a way bigger influence than Waylon Jennings, but you don’t wanna tell people, ‘I never really listened to Waylon.’”

in fact he does seem to wanna tell ppl he never really listened to waylon.

from the quoted lyrics to that father-son song, i'd guess jason isbell's "outfit" made an impression on him when they toured together.

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/07/473237504/first-listen-sturgill-simpson-a-sailors-guide-to-earth

I see Dave Cobb is not part of this new one.

― van smack, Tuesday, March 22, 2016 1:

I think in the NYT profile he talks about why he produced this one himself

this feels kinda half baked with a lot of strings on top

It has its moments, but it ain't great.

Album works pretty well as an entry point to his music (which this is for me, never got around to Metamodern, will probably go back now though).

Liking this a lot.

Haven't had time to absorb much of the lyrics, which might be a bit heavy-handed from what I read. But it sounds fine overall.

Welcome To Earth (Polywog) is my favourite song so far this year

Rest of the album is very strong too, I think

Finally listened to it this morning after not caring for either of the songs he released beforehand. I don't even know if I like it or not. I don't hate it, but it's just so fucking dull.

Saw his performance on The Daily Show and liked it.

Streaming the album on Spotify and it seems like it'll be the one country album I like this year.

From FB:

http://www.musicrow.com/2016/08/acm-creates-award-to-celebrate-merle-haggards-legacy/

Many years back, much like Willie and Waylon had years before, Merle Haggard said,
"Fuck this town. I'm moving." and he left Nashville.
According to my sources, it was right after a record executive told him that "Kern River" was a bad song. In the last chapter of his career and his life, Nashville wouldn't call, play, or touch him. He felt forgotten and tossed aside. I always got a sense that he wanted one last hit..one last proper victory lap of his own, and we all know deserved it. Yet it never came. And now he's gone.

Im writing this because I want to go on record and say I find it utterly disgusting the way everybody on Music Row is coming up with any reason they can to hitch their wagon to his name while knowing full and damn well what he thought about them. If the ACM wants to actually celebrate the legacy and music of Merle Haggard, they should drop all the formulaic cannon fodder bullshit they've been pumping down rural America's throat for the last 30 years along with all the high school pageantry, meat parade award show bullshit and start dedicating their programs to more actual Country Music.

While Im venting about the unjust treatment of a bonafide American music legend, I should also add, if for no other reasons than sheer principal and to get the taste I've been choking back for months now out of my mouth, that Merle was supposed to be on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine's big Country Music issue (along with myself) a few months back.
They reached out to both of us in October of last year while I was on a west coast tour. Merle was home off the road so I took a day off and traveled up to Redding.
He was so excited about it and it goes without saying that I was completely beside myself along with my Grandfather who has always been a HUGE Merle fan. We spent the whole day of the interview visiting in his living room with our families and had a wonderful conversation with the journalist. Then we spent about two hours outside being photographed by a brilliant and highly respected photographer named David McClister until Merle had enough...he was still recovering from a recent bout of double pneumonia at the time and it was a bit cold that day on the ranch.
But then at the last minute, the magazine's editor put Chris Stapleton on the cover without telling anyone until they had already gone to print. Don't get me wrong, Chris had a great year and deserves a million magazine covers...but thats not the point.
Its about keeping your word and ethics.
Chris also knows this as he called me personally to express his disgust at the situation. Dude's a class act.
The editor later claimed in a completely bullshit email apology to both Merle's publicist and ours (Chris and I share the same publicist) that they didn't get any good shots that day.
David McClister..
2 hour shoot..
no good photos..
OK buddy,..whatever you say.
Anyway, Merle passed away right after it came out.

Some days, this town and this industry have a way of making we wish I could just go sit on Mars and build glass clocks.

Sturgill