Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

I got started on a post adding this to another Quick Hits entry, and realized that it is just too damn good to be tucked away with my thoughts on some boring rapper or Primus weirdout.

Go listen to this album right now.  I know the title of the album is weird.  I know that some of you may not love old school country.  But you have to appreciate the pinpoint perfect homage this guy pays to the Waylon Jennings and friends who came before him.  Turtles All the Way Down:

But if you listen to the lyrics, he has updated the old stories to modern times.  Would Waylon have name checked Seattle?  Would Willie have sung about reptile aliens cutting you open?  Well, maybe he would have.  Drugs do scary things to the brain.  And during the breakdown later in this song, Simpson adds a little psychedelic reverb in there to see if you are still paying attention.  But the sounds in this tune easily could have been a classic country nugget from 1968.

And then, there's this:

The first time I listened through the album, I thought this one sounded vaguely familiar.  The second time I listened through, I sat there staring out my office window, trying to recall where I knew that song from.  OH YEAH, flashback to When in Rome and 1988 and the pop charts of my childhood. And yet this reinterpretation of the song is so bad ass.  Take a 80's pop dance classic confessional and set it over a country slow burn - genius.

Spend some time running through this one today and you'll thank me later.