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Sturgill Simpson
John Sturgill Simpson (born June 8, 1978) is an American country music singer-songwriter and actor. As of June 2024, he has released eight albums as a solo artist. Simpson's style has been met with critical favor and frequent comparisons to outlaw country.
His first two albums, High Top Mountain and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, were independently released in the US in 2013 and 2014 and in Europe, through the British record label Loose. The latter album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, listed 18th on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2014," and named among "NPR's 50 Favorite Albums of 2014." Simpson's third album, A Sailor's Guide to Earth, was released in April 2016 on Atlantic Records and was his first major-label release, later earning him Best Country Album at the 59th Grammy Awards and also being nominated for Album of the Year.
Simpson's fourth album, Sound & Fury, was released on September 27, 2019, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards. He released two albums in 2020 – Cuttin' Grass, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – which feature bluegrass interpretations of songs from across his catalog, and marked his return to independent music. His seventh studio album, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita was released in August 2021. Having promised to release only five studio albums under his own name, not counting the Cuttin' Grass project, Simpson debuted the alter ego Johnny Blue Skies for his eighth album Passage du Desir.
John Sturgill Simpson was born in Jackson, Breathitt County, Kentucky. His father was a Kentucky State Police Trooper who formerly worked undercover. Due to his father's work, Simpson's family moved to Versailles, outside Lexington, where Simpson attended Woodford County High School. He is the first male on his mother's side of the family to not work in a strip mine or deep mine.
Simpson says of his educational career that he was "not a great student". He only "barely graduated" from Woodford High, enlisting in the United States Navy in his senior year. After three years in the Navy, where he worked in the Combat Information Center of a frigate, Simpson spent some time in Japan. He later lived in Everett and Seattle, Washington, where he waited tables at IHOP, before moving back home to Lexington, Kentucky.
Simpson formed the country rock band Sunday Valley in 2004, which played at the Pickathon festival in Portland, Oregon. He later moved to Nashville, but says he "didn't have the foggiest notion of how to hustle my music ... [it] was a total bust."
Setting his musical ambitions aside, Simpson focused on building a career at a Salt Lake City railroad freight-shipping yard for Union Pacific Railroad, which he eventually ended up managing. He credits his wife and friends with changing what he characterized as a hobbyist focus on songwriting and playing to convincing him to get serious about music as a potential career. After playing local open mics and gigs, Simpson returned to Sunday Valley, touring and making an album with the band and producer Duane Lundy. He and his wife moved to Nashville when the group disbanded in 2012.
After going solo, Simpson released his debut album High Top Mountain in 2013, which he self-funded, self-released, and had cut in Nashville. The album was produced by Dave Cobb. Among the session musicians were Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano and Robby Turner, a former guitarist for Waylon Jennings, on steel guitar. The record is named after a cemetery near Jackson where many of Simpson's family members are buried. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated High Top Mountain 31⁄2 stars out of 5, comparing its sound favorably to Waylon Jennings. The album's style has also been compared to that of Merle Haggard. Erik Ernst of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also compared it to Jennings, saying that it had "rich vintage sounds, heartbreaking ballads, and juke-joint ramblers".
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Sturgill Simpson
John Sturgill Simpson (born June 8, 1978) is an American country music singer-songwriter and actor. As of June 2024, he has released eight albums as a solo artist. Simpson's style has been met with critical favor and frequent comparisons to outlaw country.
His first two albums, High Top Mountain and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, were independently released in the US in 2013 and 2014 and in Europe, through the British record label Loose. The latter album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, listed 18th on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2014," and named among "NPR's 50 Favorite Albums of 2014." Simpson's third album, A Sailor's Guide to Earth, was released in April 2016 on Atlantic Records and was his first major-label release, later earning him Best Country Album at the 59th Grammy Awards and also being nominated for Album of the Year.
Simpson's fourth album, Sound & Fury, was released on September 27, 2019, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards. He released two albums in 2020 – Cuttin' Grass, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – which feature bluegrass interpretations of songs from across his catalog, and marked his return to independent music. His seventh studio album, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita was released in August 2021. Having promised to release only five studio albums under his own name, not counting the Cuttin' Grass project, Simpson debuted the alter ego Johnny Blue Skies for his eighth album Passage du Desir.
John Sturgill Simpson was born in Jackson, Breathitt County, Kentucky. His father was a Kentucky State Police Trooper who formerly worked undercover. Due to his father's work, Simpson's family moved to Versailles, outside Lexington, where Simpson attended Woodford County High School. He is the first male on his mother's side of the family to not work in a strip mine or deep mine.
Simpson says of his educational career that he was "not a great student". He only "barely graduated" from Woodford High, enlisting in the United States Navy in his senior year. After three years in the Navy, where he worked in the Combat Information Center of a frigate, Simpson spent some time in Japan. He later lived in Everett and Seattle, Washington, where he waited tables at IHOP, before moving back home to Lexington, Kentucky.
Simpson formed the country rock band Sunday Valley in 2004, which played at the Pickathon festival in Portland, Oregon. He later moved to Nashville, but says he "didn't have the foggiest notion of how to hustle my music ... [it] was a total bust."
Setting his musical ambitions aside, Simpson focused on building a career at a Salt Lake City railroad freight-shipping yard for Union Pacific Railroad, which he eventually ended up managing. He credits his wife and friends with changing what he characterized as a hobbyist focus on songwriting and playing to convincing him to get serious about music as a potential career. After playing local open mics and gigs, Simpson returned to Sunday Valley, touring and making an album with the band and producer Duane Lundy. He and his wife moved to Nashville when the group disbanded in 2012.
After going solo, Simpson released his debut album High Top Mountain in 2013, which he self-funded, self-released, and had cut in Nashville. The album was produced by Dave Cobb. Among the session musicians were Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano and Robby Turner, a former guitarist for Waylon Jennings, on steel guitar. The record is named after a cemetery near Jackson where many of Simpson's family members are buried. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated High Top Mountain 31⁄2 stars out of 5, comparing its sound favorably to Waylon Jennings. The album's style has also been compared to that of Merle Haggard. Erik Ernst of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also compared it to Jennings, saying that it had "rich vintage sounds, heartbreaking ballads, and juke-joint ramblers".
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