Sturgill Simpson

Sailor or Savior? Sturgill Simpson Impresses at The Vogue

It was St. Ambrose in 374 AD that originally said ‘First attested in medieval Latin si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; si fueris alibī, vīvitō sicut ibi’ (if you should be in Rome, live in the Roman manner; if you should be elsewhere, live as they do there).

Some 1,674 years later ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ is simply summed up with ‘when in Rome’...
Thursday night marked the first of two consecutive nights that Jackson, Kentucky native John Sturgill Simpson graced the legendary Vogue Theatre.
Simpson, haven clearly taken St Ambrose to heart walked on stage sporting a blue denim shirt in conjunction with blue denim jeans; better known as the Canadian Tuxedo.
Simpson, or ‘Stuuuuurgill’ as the bellowing gentleman in the balcony (house left) drunkenly yet affectionately continued refer to him as throughout the evening, played a very complete and well rounded two hour set.
The humble Simpson has been afforded some luxuries since his last stop-off at The Vogue Theatre back on December 7th 2014, the most notable being the now six-piece band that accompanies the rising star.
Standing centre stage in the middle of a musical semicircle the 5’9 Simpson was complemented by an elaborate often Garth Hudson (The Band) sounding keys section to his right, a mild mannered electric guitar player just behind him, who was flanked by a trombone player, a saxophonist, and a trumpet and bass guitar player respectively.

Amidst the sea of cheers and adulation directed at Simpson, the Grammy nominee launched into his first song of the night, crowd favourite “Long White Line”; from the Metamodern Sounds in Country Music LP. Very quickly showing the control in his voice and the contrast with which he can emote, “Long White Line” took a detour and unapologetically delved into a few minutes of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 closing track from their album IV, “When the Levee Breaks”.

With the aforementioned horn section backing up the outlaw country artist, it allowed the layers and texture required for Simpson to achieve a proper representation of his latest album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth to flourish.
As on most of the dates on The Sailor’s Tour, Simpson front-loaded much of the set with tracks from his first two albums High Top Mountain and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, respectively.
At about the hour mark, or roughly half way through his often two hour long set, Simpson switches gears and focuses on the sentimental and emotional third album released on April 15th, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
With 37 down and 35 more dates to go, Simpson is just past the halfway mark on the staggering 72-date world-tour he has embarked on. Simpson’s tour saw him depart from Austin Texas on May 05 and won’t see him back home to his wife and boy in Nashville until he has completed the second of his two Fox Theatre shows in Oakland on November 20th.
Opting to play two shows in many of the cities he and his cohorts travel to on this tour, Vancouver is set to prove no different.
The infamous Vogue Theatre plays host to Sturgill Simpson again tonight, adding yet another to the long list of legends some 75 years strong that have performed on the city’s most decorated stage.
No stranger to any genre The Vogue Theatre’s rich history in country music continues on Saturday night with whom many call the greatest songwriter in country music history, Steve Earle alongside Shawn Colvin. Having had country music’s best like Willie Nelson, Terri Clark, Bonnie Raitt and Keith Urban all step booted foot on The Vogue stage, and with the anticipation of so many more artists to come this year, The Vogue Theatre is as happening as it was back in April of 1941 when they invited Dal Richards on stage to be their first ever musical act.
While at 38 years of age and widely considered a savoir of sorts for country music purists enraged with the current tidal wave of pop-country nonsense, Simpson, along with Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon), Hank III, Scott H. Biram and a handful more have be looked at to assume the mantle and take country music back to its outlaw roots. With performances reminiscent of the late Merle Haggard such as the one witnessed last night by Sturgill Simpson to draw from, it gives me reassurance that real country is still alive; and with any luck just building the strength to come back and reassume the saddle over whatever you call that twang-pop the rest of Nashville is currently shoving down our gullets.

Tuesday 28th January, The Forum, London. Sturgill Simpson. After a stunning five star gig a little over four years ago where Sturgill and his band delivered a faultless lesson in country rock I wasn’t going to miss this one tonight. Even though I moved to a new house today my lovely wife gave me the green light to attend. She’s a keeper for sure.

What’s different this time from his previous tours is these are the first shows since Simpson released his ZZ Top meets Pink Floyd meets Daft Punk opus ‘Sound and Fury’ last year. Expectations levels are high to see how these new songs come across. Purists will say he’s lost his way and this isn’t country. What this is, is an artist at the top of his game not afraid to take risks with new sounds but at its heart these are still country songs.

It’s a slow start with ‘Brace for Impact’ and a cover of Derek and the Dominoes ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ kicking us off while the sound guy finds the right balance, the crowd wakes up and then we are off. What follows is two hours of a band at the peak of their creative curve playing effortlessly as one, instinctively following each other as they settle in for some elongated jams and rockin out like the proverbial ba$tard$. The set tonight spans his whole back catalogue with the usual sprinkling of covers, taking in rock, country, disco, folk, punk and of course something for the ladies.

The new song segments are stunning which allow Bobby Emmett on keys to really showcase his talents and Miles Miller on drums and Chuck Bartels on bass don’t stop in providing that driving rhythm through each song. There is little rest bite over the two hours and they could probably have played for another two.
On a night of highlights the new song segment of ‘Ronin’, ‘Remember to Breathe’ and ‘Sing Along’ was exceptional.

With the change in direction on the last album it would be interesting to know how older Simpson fans have taken to this. I am guessing he’s lost a few fans but gained a few too. I did hear someone shout out play some country which is just naïve to say the least. Open your ears and open your minds and embrace music in whatever form and tonight’s show took in many forms. Sturgill and chums deliver another peerless performance and those music fans in the US who will see this tour with Tyler Childers as support are in for a treat.

Come back soon.

Keep on country rockin y’all

Thursday 20th August. Islington Assembly Hall. Sturgill Simpson. So it’s off to the Town Hall where Arsenal parade their recent cup successes. A good sized room and the best toilets of any gig venue in London. A sold out show wait in expectation of a straight country show by Sturgill Simpson and his band. How wrong we were.

Simpson’s stock has risen dramatically over the past year and he references his first show in London a year ago in front of a significantly smaller audience. On a hot sticky night with the band suffering combined trans-atlantic jet colds they get straight down to it. There’s no time for much banter as the band rattle through ‘Water in the Well’ and ‘Long white Line’

What is clear from the off is that this band rocks. They are tighter than a Scotsman’s wallet. Laur Joamets, the Estonian lead guitarist is an understated, no histrionics straight out rock n roll axe man. His provides the perfect electric foil to Simpson’s acoustic. Bass player Kevin Black doesn’t seem to move his hands at all but provides the underlying beat to it all with Miles Miller providing the harmonies and drums with Jeff Crow supplementing the sound on keys.

Highlights on the night range from their cover of ‘The Promise’ but it’s the balls out rocker ‘Poor Rambler’ where the band excel with a lengthy jam and fine soloing on the acoustic guitar from Simpson. Tonight it’s all about the band as a unit and it’s difficult to think of a better group of musicians at the moment. The sound tonight is clean and crisp and the show was as close to perfection as you can get.

Twenty five gigs in this year for me and it’s going to be difficult to top this. Messrs.’ Bingham and Isbell have truly had the gauntlet thrown down if they are going to match tonight.

Keep on rockin y’all

I’d like to think Sturgill Simpon was the reason Red Rocks seemed over capacity on the first dry show of the season, but I knew The Avett Brothers were responsible for selling almost thirty thousand tickets over a single weekend. That being said, Simpson had his fair share of friends in the crowd on Saturday night. He might have only been the opening act, but that didn’t stop him from playing a full, fifteen song set that included highlights from both his albums, as well as a few cover songs. For someone being touted a savior, there was exactly zero ego to be found on the man as he took his place in the center of the famous stage. Giving a quick nod to the growing crowd, he queued up his band with a single pluck of a guitar string, before kicking things off with two of the most straight-forward country songs from High Top Mountain. Following the ‘tears in my beers’, brokenhearted format my mom despised so much, “Sitting Here Without You” and “Water in a Well” poured the foundation for a solid set of true country music. “There’s a moon over me so bright, it lights up my sorrow for everyone to see.” Sure, those words are just another way of saying what’s been said a million times before, but Sturgill’s remarkably candid delivery left no doubt that the sorrow was very real at one time. And at 37-years-old, he can sing “I know sometimes it can seem like my mind belongs to a child that’s grown” as only someone who’s twenties are in the rear-view mirror can. - See more at: http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2015/07/12/sturgill-simpson-red-rocks-07-11-15/#sthash.HRMOkEVT.dpuf

Cold beer, tequila, Sturgill Simpson - all perfect accompaniments to a hot summer night in Shepherd's Bush. Sturgill has been positioned at the authentic hard-nosed end of country, a (country) mile from the photoshopped, chisel-jawed commercial Nashville scene. He's lived hard, been in the US Navy, worked on the freight trains - you get the picture. So it was something of a surprise to be entertained by a funny, soulful guy with Kentucky charm and a voice that could raise the dead. His latest album is a wonderful mix of love songs ('this one's for the ladies') and songs about "theology, cosmology, and breakthroughs in modern physics". He is a hell of a guitarist - I know because I was with my stepbrother who is one himself - and was wonderfully accompanied on guitar & honky tonk piano by two guys from Glasgow who he'd apparently only met that morning. He mixed it up with a few covers too, including a memorable countrified 'Crying' and one by Lefty Frizzell that wasn't 'Long Black Veil'. We both left wanting more of everything, especially Sturgill. Sadly for my head, the only thing we succeeded with was the tequila...

I've seen Sturgis Simpson five or six times now. The first was at the troubadour in LA, small venue (500) and I was impressed. Crowd was into it and the band was flawless. And I was impressed. From that point in 2014 to his last shows (2015) in California, Sturgill Simpson and the band have become very polished and exceptional live performers. I saw them in San Francisco, Fresno and at stagecoach. My only fear is that Sturgill Simpson will become so big that they will no longer play 500 to 1000 people venues. But that's the price of fame and fortune, and congratulations to them. I hope they prosper, realize and fulfill their dreams and play both big and large venues. I was fortunate enough to see them when he and the boys were still working on the sound. Wherever they do play, small or large venues, they are well worth your hard-earned dollar.

I wrote a great review for this concert. But after a day to digest it and read the set list I think it ended a little premature. Early in the concert we learned he was having some technical difficulties. Because of this he didn't sing the second half of Welcome to Earth pollywog. You could see he was changing guitars because of sound (I thought it sounded great). And when he left the stage at the end, he did not return for an encore. I was told because there was lightning. Charlotte is the south, so heat lightning is pretty normal in the summer months. He played 17 songs. Prior set lists were showing about 20 to 25 songs. I guess I will go see him again. There is nobody around this day and age with his style and talent.

Sturgill Simpson and his musicians own their talent in a high quality crowd pleasing performance that not only features Sturgill as the lead artist, but offers a generous amount of time for band mates to show their skills as well. The clear and respectful connectivity of the entire group provided an outward enthusiastic performance that I am looking forward to seeing again. The Minneapolis concert was last night, and I am still on a music high. I would drive a long way to see this concert again in another city. Waiting for another Minneapolis visit just might be too much to ask my of my patience!

I was very pleased to be able to work in seeing my first Sturgill show while on a quick business trip to Detroit. His show was great and the band was tight.

His banter with the crowd was perfectly timed dry humor and his response was spot on for those that hollered "Freebird"...he gave them one.
The sound was not the greatest at the Majestic, but I am a bit of a "venue snob" being a native Nashvillian.

I can't wait to see him on the Opry later in March!
If there ever was someone that should be made completely welcome on the Opry stage...it's Sturgill.

Was SO looking forward to this show. Think Sturgill's new album is brilliant, and I am big fan. Unfortunately the show was a terrible disappointment. First time in 30 years of concert going that I have walked out of a show. The sound mix was horrendous, and Sturgill's vocal were incomprehensible (though I know his style is to drawl) and too loud. The mix was so grating on the ears, we had to leave. Having seen many live videos on YouTube, I know Sturgill and his band can sound great live. Unfortunately the sound at this DMH show was terrible. :(