Sturgill Simpson Biography

John Sturgill Simpson (born June 8, 1978) is an American country music and roots rock singer-songwriter. To date, he has released three albums as a solo artist. He released two albums independently, High Top Mountain in 2013 and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music in 2014. His second album is notable for being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, being listed 18th on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2014," and also being named among "NPR's 50 Favorite Albums of 2014." His third studio album, A Sailor's Guide to Earth, released on April 15, 2016 by Atlantic Records, was Simpson's first major-label release.

Early life

Simpson was born in Jackson, Kentucky a small town in Breathitt County in southeast Kentucky. He is the son of a secretary and a state policeman who formerly worked undercover narcotics. Due to his father's work, Simpson's family moved to Versailles, outside Lexington, where Simpson graduated from Woodford County High School. Simpson's mother's family were coal miners. After three years in the United States Navy, Simpson spent time in Japan, then after the Navy, lived in Everett, Washington, and then moved back home to Lexington.

Career

He formed the bluegrass band Sunday Valley in 2004, which played at the Pickathon festival in Portland, Oregon. Simpson would later take a break from music, working a job in a Salt Lake City railroad freight-shipping yard for Union Pacific Railroad. After playing local open mics and gigs, Simpson returned to Sunday Valley. The band toured and made an album. 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 and self-released, before signing to British independent label Loose, who released the album in Europe in 2014. 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 3 and half stars out of 5, comparing its sound favorably to Waylon Jennings. The album's style has also been compared to Merle Haggard's. 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".

In 2014, Simpson released his second album produced by Dave Cobb, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music to positive reviews. The album's lead single is "Living the Dream". The record is described as a "deep and unconventional relationship between traditionalism and new ways of thinking," and deviates from Simpson's more traditional hard country debut. Simpson said that "recording and mixing was done in five and a half days for about $4,000. I was pretty proud about that." The album made two separate "Top Albums of 2014" lists in The New York Times (ranking 4th and 8th) and was also called the best album of the year by American Songwriter.

Simpson made his US network television debut on July 14, 2014, on the Late Show with David Letterman, playing "Life of Sin". That year, he would go on to play "Living the Dream" on a September episode of Conan, "Turtles All the Way Down" on an October episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and "The Promise" on a December episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers. In 2015, he returned to The Late Show and Conan playing "Long White Line" in February and "Let It Go" in April (respectively). He has also played the Grand Ole Opry and at Austin City Limits. He has opened for artists like Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and the Zac Brown Band.

His cover of "The Promise" by 80's band When In Rome was featured in the Season 2 Episode 9 of the HBO series The Leftovers in November 2015. Simpson also wrote and performed the theme song to the Martin Scorsese/Mick Jagger-produced TV show, Vinyl. The song is called "Sugar Daddy." As of July 2015, Simpson's songs are represented by Downtown Music Publishing "? an agreement that followed his record deal with Atlantic Records.

In March 2016, Simpson released the first track from his third album, A Sailor's Guide To Earth, a song called "Brace For Impact (Live A Little)." The record is a commemoration of the birth of Simpson's son, and features work by The Dap-Kings from Brooklyn's Daptone Records, as well as a cover of Nirvana's, "In Bloom." Simpson self-produced the record - Dave Cobb, who produced his prior records, did not work on this record, marking a departure from prior efforts. Simpson also created the record with a focus on sequencing, and recorded tracks live. The record marks his major label debut.

Band

Current members of Simpson's band:

• Laur Joamets - electric & slide guitar
• Chuck Bartels - bass guitar
• Bobby Emmett - keyboards
• Miles Miller - drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Scott Frock - trumpet
• Brad Walker - saxophone
• Jon Ramm - trombone

Musical style

Simpson is often compared to Waylon Jennings and the Outlaw Country genre of country music. Shooter Jennings says, "Sturgill isn't imitating at all, and he sounds like my favorite era of my dad, the Seventies, when he would sing quieter and more conversational. That's what struck me about Sturgill from Day One. And still does." Simpson himself counts Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Keith Whitley, and Marty Robbins as much bigger influences on his sound than Waylon Jennings. Indeed, Country Music Television noted that Simpson had "a voice that recalls Merle Haggard [and] guitar licks that bring Buck Owens to mind." His overall sound was described by Indiewire as "a mesmerizing and sometimes bewildering mix of traditional country sounds, contemporary philosophy, and psychedelic recording-studio wizardry."

Personal life

Simpson is married and has lived with his wife in Nashville, Tennessee, since 2010. They have a son who was born in June 2014. Simpson has talked about his struggles with alcohol; he has been sober since he was 28.

Discography

Albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions							Sales
		US	US Country	US Heat	US Indie	CAN	NOR	UK
High Top Mountain	Release date: June 11, 2013 Labels: High Top Mountain, Loose Format: CD, LP, digital	"?	31	11	"?	"?	"?	"?	US: 81,000
Metamodern Sounds in Country Music	Release date: May 13, 2014 Labels: High Top Mountain, Loose Format: CD, LP, digital	59	8	"?	6	"?	"?	"?	US: 195,000
A Sailor's Guide to Earth	Release date: April 15, 2016 Labels: Atlantic Records Format: CD, LP, digital	3	1	"?	"?	31	34	43	US: 117,200
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
		US Country	US AAA	US Rock
2012	"Life Ain't Fair and the World Is Mean"	"?	"?	"?	High Top Mountain
2014	"Living the Dream"	"?	"?	"?	Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
	"Turtles All the Way Down"	"?	"?	"?
	"The Promise"	"?	"?	"?
2016	"Brace for Impact (Live a Little)"	"?	23	44	A Sailor's Guide to Earth
	"In Bloom"	48	"?	37
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2013	"Railroad of Sin"	Yosuke Torii and Shunsuke Ochiai
2014	"Turtles All the Way Down"	Graham Uhelski
	"The Promise"
2016	"Brace for Impact (Live a Little)"	Matt Mahurin
	"In Bloom"
	"Breakers Roar"

Recognition and awards

Year	Association	Category	Result
2014	Americana Music Awards	Emerging Artist of the Year	Won
2015		Artist of the Year
		Song of the Year ("Turtles All the Way Down")
	Grammy Awards	Best Americana Album