sturgill simpson and the 2017 grammys

here are the current nominees for ‘album of the year’ for the grammys sunday night:

Album of the Year

Adele – “25”
Beyonce – “Lemonade”
Drake – “Views”
Justin Bieber – “Purpose”
Sturgill Simpson – “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”

what, never heard of sturgill simpson?

that’s ok, neither have a lot of people. he is not expected to win, but maybe he should. it was a solid release, and one that i didn’t write about at the time, but certainly listened to a few times early last year. it is a very good album. if i had one album to select to get the token ‘americana’ slot, it wouldn’t have been my first choice. but now that the powers that be have put him on the list, i think it is worth some time to shed some light on ol’ sturgill and plead his case.

hailing from lexington kentucky, this is his third solo release, and the first on a major label. he is a student of ‘outlaw country’, and he is often compared to waylon jennings, at least in regards to his vocals. he is also up for best country album, and he is much more likely to win that, although i don’t really consider it to be in the country category. sure, there is an underlying current of traditional nashville sounds, but sturgill also stirs in philosophical lyrics, psychedelic flourishes, strings and other effects that leave it overall hard to categorize. his previous recording – ‘metamodern sounds in country music’ – is just as good, in my opinion.