A Sailor's Guide to Earth

Prior to the album's announcement, Simpson stated in an interview with GQ that "what's next is already finished... Quite honestly, I need about six months at home with my family."^[3] On March 3, 2016, Simpson released "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)" on YouTube and his website; the next day he released the nine-song track list of A Sailor's Guide to Earth.^[4] A week later, he published the music video for "Brace for Impact", which was directed by Matt Mahurin and contains the Grim Reaper, a hot rod coffin and sailboats.^[5] On March 24, 2016, Simpson released his cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" along with its music video, also directed by Matt Mahurin. Simpson said, "I wanted to make a very beautiful and pure homage to Kurt [Cobain]."^[6] Streaming of the album became available on April 7, 2016, on NPR's official website.^[7]

The song "Oh Sarah" was previously recorded by Simpson's former band Sunday Valley and appeared on their only full-length album, To the Wind and On To Heaven, in 2011.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.3/10[8]
Metacritic	86/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
The Daily Telegraph	[11]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[12]
The Guardian	[13]
The Independent	[14]
Mojo	[15]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]
Spin	7/10[18]
Uncut	9/10[19]

A Sailor's Guide to Earth received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 86, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 19 reviews.^[9]

The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 52,000 copies (55,000 units when tracks and streams are included) in its first week.^[20] The album sold a further 13,400 copies in the second week.^[21] The album has sold 217,900 copies in the US as of October 2017.^[22]

Following his Grammy win, Simpson saw a 346% increase in streaming on Spotify.^[23]

Musicians

• Sturgill Simpson – vocals (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4–9), 12-string guitar (1, 5), Moog synthesizer (1, 6), horn arrangement (1, 9), background vocals (4, 6)
• Miles Miller – drums (all tracks), background vocals (3, 4, 6)
• Robert Emmett – organ (all tracks); Moog synthesizer (1, 8), Wurlitzer (1, 3), background vocals (3, 6), keyboards (5)
• Dan Dugmore – steel guitar
• Jefferson Steinberg – string arrangement, horn arrangement
• Dave Roe – bass guitar (1–8)
• Laur Joamets – electric guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9), slide guitar (1)
• Jefferson Crow – piano (1, 3–5, 7–9), Wurlitzer (6)
• Garo Yellin – first cello (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
• Arthur Cook – second cello (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
• Jonathan Dinklage – violin (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
• Whitney LaGrange – violin (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
• Neal Sugarman – tenor saxophone (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Dave Guy – trumpet, flugelhorn (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Ian Hendrickson-Smith – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Clark Gayton – trombone (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Dougie Wilkinson – bagpipes (9)
• Kevin Black – bass guitar (9)

Technical

• Sturgill Simpson – production
• David Ferguson – mixing, engineering, recording
• Gavin Lurssen – mastering
• Sean Sullivan – recording
• Geoff Allan – bagpipe engineering
• Ebonie Smith – engineering assistance

Artwork

• Greg "Gigen's Dad" Burke – art direction, design
• Kilian Eng – cover art, back cover art, ships wheel illustration
• Mark Stutzman – map illustration
• Matthew Meiners – skeletons