Sturgill Simpson | Artist
John Sturgill Simpson is an American country and rock music singer-songwriter and actor born 1978 in Jackson, Kentucky. As a young man Simpson broke free of his family background working in the coal mines. in fact, he is the first male his mother's side of the family to not work in a strip mine or deep mine. In his senior year at highschool he enlisted in the navy for three years, where he spent time in Japan. As a civilian again, he formed the Country/Rock band Sunday Valley in 2004, in which he then played Guitar/Vocals. Finding he couldn't make a living, he left music for a career job as manager of the Union Pacific Railroad freight yard in Salt Lake City. After playing local open mics and hobby gigs, Simpson was drawn back to music and moved to Nashville with his wife, to play with his old band Sunday Valley. The band toured and made an album but disbanded in 2012 and Simpson focused on a solo career. His debut album High Top Mountain, cut in Nashville in 2013, was self-funded and self-released. The album attracted good reviews for its "rich vintage sounds, heartbreaking ballads, and juke-joint ramblers", and comparisons with artists such as Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. To-date Simpson has released eight studio albums, standouts include: Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014), A Sailor's Guide to Earth (2016) and Cuttin' Grass Vol's 1&2 (2020). The 2019 soundtrack to the Anime film "Sound & Fury" is more rock oriented than his previous work, whereas the 2020 releases Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 & 2 returns us to some very fine pickin' and cowboy croonin'. Also recommended is the earlier Sunday Valley album To the Wind and on to Heaven (2011), if you can find it. Simpson has also collaborated and performed with John Prine in recent years, up until Prine's passing in 2020. In July 2024 Simpson introduced his alter-ego Johnny Blue Skies, with the excellent album entitled Passage du Desir.
Artist Website: sturgillsimpson.com
Featured Albums: Sturgill Simpson
Related Artists: John Prine, Johnny Blue Skies, Sunday Valley
