You have to hand it to Sturgill Simpson: He found a loophole in his own retirement plan. In April, Sturgill informed the world that he will now be known as Johnny Blue Skies. With the new name came the announcement of a new album out today, , as well as his first major tour since the mid-2010s.
After all, it’s not as if Sturgill made any promises about not making a new “Johnny Blue Skies” record, did he? (Rest assured that Sturgill has promised, cheekily, that Johnny will also perform Sturgill Simpson material while out on the road.) It was a classic Sturgill Simpson (er, JBS?)-style move, both amusingly perverse and weirdly predictable. Nobody has threatened to quit the music business more times in recent years than Sturgill Simpson.
(At this point he makes look like a loyal company man.) And yet he always seems to find a way back. Herein lies the central paradox of the Sturgill/JBS persona, which can be summed up thusly: He is a man who hides in plain sight.
, he responded favorably when I likened him to a country-music Frank Ocean. Frank isn’t a “thirsty bitch” when it comes to media attention, Simpson crowed, and implied that he wasn’t, either. But Ocean hasn’t put out a new album in eight years, and he’s mostly stayed under the rarar.
Meanwhile is Sturgill’s eighth album released in the past 11 years. He might be perceived as some kind of elusive enigma, but he’s actually been a relatively prolific and accessible presence for more than a decade. (Th.