Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide To Earth

Back when he released High Top Mountain in 2013, the retro sensibilities of Sturgill Simpson seemed to be rooted solely in outlaw country: he swaggered like the second coming of Waylon Jennings, a man on a mission to restore muscle and drama to country music.

Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, his 2014 sophomore set, was a curve ball revealing just how unorthodox his rulebook was. After nearly two decades of alternative country doubling down on po-faced authenticity where simpler was better, Simpson embraced indulgence, pushing new wave, psychedelia, and digital-age saturation, all in an attempt to add the cosmic back into American music.

A Sailor's Guide to Earth goes one step further: it's an old-fashioned concept album, one that tells a story -- it's a letter to his newborn son, telling him how to become a man and is dressed in garish art suited to the side of a Chevy van. The overarching aesthetics are a throwback to the golden age of vinyl but Simpson is too smart to succumb to mere revivalism: he seeks to expand, not retract. It features the singles "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)" and "Breakers Roar". Another highlight is his cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom".

Heavyweight vinyl produced by Atlantic Records in 2016. Gatefold sleeve.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Welcome To Earth (Pollywog)
2. Breakers Roar
3. Keep It Between The Lines
4. Sea Stories
5. In Bloom
6. Brace For Impact (Live A Little)
7. All Around You
8. Oh Sarah
9. Call To Arms