Sturgill Simpson Breaks Away on Sound & Fury

Despite my new love of the genre, Sturgill Simpson will not be boxed in as a country artist.

In my country music article at the start of the summer, I wrote about how Simpson’s music brought me over to the dark side. The dark side, of course, being the sounds of Ken Burns’ new favorite genre, country music. Those who have been “yee-hawing” for more than a few years have debated with me on the legitimacy of Simpson’s status as a country artist. However, his continued dominance in country music award categories kept my belief.

Three years after the release of his highly acclaimed A Sailor’s Guide to Earth LP (my awakening), comes the final album on his record deal, Sound & Fury. Personally, this was right on time. I was in the middle of my sun-infused, yearly country music phase: I went to a Jason Isbell show, I wrote an article about country music and I even watched three episodes of the Ken Burns Country Music documentary (that’s five hours, btw). I was ready to complete my Americana circle with this new album.

“It may seem now that I was totally oblivious to Simpson’s clues, but tell me, do you think Jesus is King is really going to be a true gospel album?”

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