Yeah, I like Sturgill. Just like every other person out there longing for new music with heart, soul, and talent. I've joined the masses in jockeying for position of "I heard him before he was anyone" and "I knew about him way before his second album". Add Stapleton to that list, too... Yeah, I had heard of him, thanks to Mojo Nixon's afternoon show on satellite radio a few years back. But it was my friend Joel who really got me hooked on him. Thanks, man. Mr. Simpson has a new album out now. And it's different. If your cup of tea is traditional country music, played with generous amounts of influence from Kentucky Bluegrass, Waylon Jennings, and the Fender Telecaster, then listen to his first two albums--there's more than enough to satisfy. If you like those things, but are open to production (in a good way), orchestration (in a good way), and a horn section (yes, in a good way) enveloping a soulful, personal, concept of an album, then listen to A Sailor's Guide to Earth. ASGtE feels like a gamble that definitely paid off for Sturgill. I'm no music critic, although I am critical of music, but the chance that Sturgill took on the overall face of his new album is ballsy enough to earn my accolades, for whatever that's worth. He veered just far enough away from the rekindled tradition of his first two albums to raise eyebrows and make listeners think twice before they decided they liked it or not. But he stayed close enough to his roots to keep most (I'm assuming) fans happy and supportive. If you haven't figured this out already, ASGtE is an album. Meaning it is meant to be listened to as a whole...from the first track to the last. Not for certain songs to be cherry-picked off of iTunes ("In Bloom" can be an exception. And maybe "Call to Arms"...). Random play will fuck up the listening experience, as well. You've been warned. Heart & Soul: check. I hear this album was written for his son, whom he feels guilty for not seeing that often due to the grind of concert touring. So needless to say some tunes pull at your heart strings--but not in an Eric Clapton "Tears From Heaven" sort of way. Each tune makes a little more sense if you know that tidbit of a backstory. Each tune, also, piggybacks off one another fantastically. Strange concept for an album, huh? Another reason that this new album actually feels like it means something to me is, it came out less than a month after the death of Merle Haggard. Merle and Sturgill were friends, which is a damn fine credential in my book. It seems to be a passing of the torch, in a sense. For my ramblings on Merle, you can see what I have to say in my last blog, here. ASGtE still has the feel of Sturgill Simpson. He managed to keep himself in this album--probably more so than any of the three. This album bleeds Sturgill. Just the fact that for his third album he decided to say "fuck it" and do exactly what he wanted to do. Veer off course, ruffle feathers, distance himself even further from "bro country" Nashville... In a tremendous interview from Garden & Gun Magazine with Sturgill and Merle Haggard, Sturgill tells Merle, "I'm not even sure it's a country record, to be honest with you." With Merle replying, "Good. If it’s like what they’re calling country, you don’t want to go near that shit. I can’t say anything good about it. I wish I could." That's just good shit. //re.
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AuthorI am Earl. Archives
May 2024
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