My feature will be on Sturgill Simpson, who has been country music’s most controversial star in the past decade. While making a broad variety of music, ranging from a heavy metal album in 2019 to a soft bluegrass double album in 2020. Simpson has been as anti-establishment as it gets, and reminds many of the country music outlaws of old, such as Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash.
While Simpson’s rise started in Nashville, his musical roots stem from a much more down home place, Jackson, Kentucky. Jackson is a part of the country where bluegrass stems from and where Simpson was first introduced to music and learned to play. A far reach from the tailored suits and bright lights of the Nashville music scene, it is small towns like Jackson that have raised country music’s massive superstars, the likes of Simpson, Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and countless others. This fact doesn’t surpass Sturgill Simpson, who is about as keen to participate in the Nashville scene as a cat is to rain.
The big corporate scene of the genre saw him as an opportunity to fit the outlaw brand, and to be a more commercial version and agreeable. This didn’t suit Sturgill Simpson in any way. A liberal in a conservative genre, a lover of foreign culture in a town based on the country, Simpson fit in about as well as a square peg in a round hole, and it took the big suits a little too long to realize he would never be what they wanted him to be, regardless of the money or fame. A rebel to the rebellion who would rather hand away a Grammy to Beyonce than accept it and be apart of the accepted group, Sturgill is known as country music’s most modern outlaw, whether he likes it or not. understand the artist, you have to understand their discography, which goes just about everywhere when it comes to Sturgill Simpson.
Starting off in 2013, High Top Mountain was the first album of many in the illustrious career of Sturgill Simpson. The album, both angry and depressing at times, was compared to the sounds of Waylon Jennings, yet another country outlaw. Simpson followed it up with “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”, which was certified gold. This album was a departure from the traditional rock-country sounds in High Top Mountain and took more of an approach of psychedelia with the same darkness of the first record. With 42.3 million Spotify plays, the single from the album, “Turtles All The Way Down”, is still the most played song in the discography to this day. With lyrics that speak of watching Jesus play with flames and seeing reptile aliens made of light, it seems to be the peak of Simpson’s psychedelia in his career. After yet another psychedelic country, this time with horns included, in “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”, Simpson took a major left turn with the album “Sound & Fury”. This album was a complete departure from the previous three, with heavy synth and hard metal throughout the whole thing. Just when he was becoming a major country artist, he took a rebellious turn and came out with this heavy metal album, along with a anime visual album film directed by Japanese animation director Junpei Mizusaki.This sudden change came from his restlessness with his life and feeling the need to express himself through his art and his emotion.
While country music lends itself to many things, such as heartbreak and sorrow, it is often hard to find rage and true desire in the folds of the genre. The geographic region of music where country lays is not near many other emotions besides heartbreak and relaxation. This missing piece stems from the lyrics of Nashville-produced music pertaining solely to beer and women for far too long. This is where Simpson has flipped things upside down. His ability to turn things towards rage and passion have led to his massive success, albeit not on the radio.
A chameleon of whatever he is feeling, Sturgill even has tried his hand in acting, most recently playing a cop in the movie “Queen and Slim”. I talked to an avid Sturgill fan and pre-med student at Samford, Chance Hall, about what he thought of the film and Sturgill’s involvement. When asked of the film, he said “Queen and Slim made me think of a more modern day Bonnie and Clyde. Despite Sturgill playing a small role in just the beginning, I think him being willing to play the villain showed his willingness for the cause in a social justice movie like this.” Along with singing, Simpson is one of the best guitar players in country music, having a complete control over the instrument and showcasing his skills live in his solo act “Tiny Desk Concert”.