Review – Johnny Blue Skies (Sturgill Simpson) “Mutiny After Midnight”

Not Applicable on the Country DDS. AI = “n/a” (but probably clean). Leave it to Sturgill Simpson to do the most Sturgill Simpson things possible when releasing his latest album Mutiny After Midnight, officially recorded under his pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds. When he initially announced the album on February 13th for a March 13th release, Mr. Blue Skies alluded that the album would only be available on physical media–CD, vinyl, and cassette, and in limited quantities no less. As Sturgill toadies showered him with praise for shooting a meaty middle finger at streaming services and their meager payouts, Simpson decided late on the afternoon of March 1st to make the album available completely free to stream a dozen days before the physical release on the service that makes Spotify’s penny fraction payouts look outright altruistic. We’re talking the cheapest streamer of them all: YouTube. Needless to say, there are a few pre-order people who are slightly peeved at this unusual development, but overall Sturgill Simpson acolytes are over the moon to get the latest album dropped in their lap as the world starts to burn in yet another regime change war in the Middle East. As Sturgill promised, Mutiny After Midnight is a hedonistic disco album overall, though with some other textures in there too, including what’s fair to call a fairly country-sounding song in “Don’t Let Go.” But Johnny Blue Skies promised us a dance record, and a dance record is what he delivered—at least in a late ’70s perspective on dance music. Devoid of drum machines or recognizable synth, an organic record like this would still probably be labeled “Americana” these days. Simpson also promised in a lengthy missive ahead of the album that it was all recorded live, with lyrics written on the spot. That pretty much checks out with what you hear, including the greasy, organic, groove-laden aspect of the music, sometimes accompanied by rather unremarkable lyricism. Though at other times, Johnny surprises you with some strong one-liners, and with moments of deep insightfulness that are worth not missing (see some of them in the song reviews below).

Simpson said he wanted this album to be fun. Approached with the right mindset, Mutiny After Midnight certainly is that. He also said it was a protest album. It is that too, though these protest moments are resigned to a few select tracks. Other select tracks are purely sex songs, fulfilling the “hedonistic” pact he made with the pre-order crowd. All of this also feeds into a underlying unseriousness about the album that’s a little hard to dismiss. There’s not a lot of complexity to praise on this record, where the genre medium and his monster band could have lent to some more strong compositional moments like they do at live shows. Mutiny After Midnight feels a little rushed. Even most jam band music finds more involved moments. And though we only have a YouTube stream to go off of, the recordings are quite muddy, obfuscating some of the lyrics, and not conveying a lot of presence to suck you in. Sturgill has a history of turning in hissy, busy-sounding tracks. Mutiny After Midnight‘s are guilty as charged.The caveat here of course is that the album deserves to be heard on vinyl before any final judgements are passed, or at least HD audio. And it goes without saying that any review published before 24 hours after its release comes with a bit of preliminary caution, though this set of ears listened intently multiple times, and on different mediums before coming to any hard conclusions.“Hey, what do you think about Sturgill Simpson? ” has become sort of a cultural ink blot test. Releasing an album on YouTube two weeks before its official release with political songs and racy sex songs will only turbo charge that aspect. If you’re a country fan and yearn for the days of his early albums, you’ll be cast off as a simp. If you take in Mutiny After Midnight hook, line, and sinker, you’ll be called a homer who thinks Mr. Blue Skies can do no wrong. Both assessments might be correct to some extent. But a fair, cool-minded judgement can come to the conclusion that Sturgill Simpson accomplished exactly what he wanted to with Mutiny After Midnight, which was to make a fun dance record. It’s also fair to conclude that this goal, and the result still presents a slightly inferior version of the Johnny Blues Skies experience compared to the much more purposeful, patient, and involved Passage du Desir, or even some of his live shows. If you want to check out an involved, well-composed, and genius interpretation of the hedonistic culture found in American dance clubs that’s full of vile insight and cutting irony, check out Beck’s Midnite Vultures, which has withstood the test of time. In the Sturgill Simpson/Johnny Blue Skies discography, Mutiny After Midnight feels like a side project, but with the promise of conveying positive vibes fulfilled. 7.4/10 – – – – – – – – – – The Dark Clouds are Laur “Little Joe” Joamets (guitar, steel guitar), Miles Miller (drums), Johnny Blue Skies (Sturgill Simpson), Robbie Crowell (Keyboards, saxophone) and Kevin Black (bass).EDITOR’S NOTE: The YouTube player for this album COULD disappear at any time.

I’m loving it. Sturgill and gang seem like they can do no wrong. I thought going in that this was going to an ok album and it was going to be quite meh. It blew away my expectations. It’s going to be interesting how these songs turn out in a live setting which I’m sure we’ll be finding out soon enough.

Oh, I think it’s going to translate MUCH better live. ESPECIALLY tracks like “Situation” and “Ain’t That A Bitch” which felt very reminiscent of when Sturgill and his mates raised the roof with their performance of “Call To Arms” on “SNL” a while back.

I’m curious to see if they’ll experiment with re-structuring and re-arranging some songs from earlier eras like “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” and “Passage du Desir” for this era so that they complement their new offerings. Like they can easily substitute the brass horns for the saxophone on favorites from the former, and favorites from the “Sound & Fury” era could easily be adjusted as well.

“Excited Delirium” is clearly about ICE. “Why you dress up like a soldier? What the hell are you wearin a face mask for? I don’t care, you gonna protect the peace, runnin around lookin like you’re going to war?”

Feels disingenuous to not point that out. The “I can’t breathe line” might be a reference to George Floyd, but to call this song just about the “militarization of law enforcement” when it’s a big middle finger to one of the central policies of the administration is wild.

In general, I think you significantly downplayed the protest element of this record. I mean, the leading track is a play on MAGA itself. This is one of the first major alt country guys to put out protest music since Trump 2.0 and it’s extremely pointed in its criticism. I feel like it’s kind of a big deal that someone (besides Welles) is actually making music about it.

This is a 9-song album, 3 of which are clearly protest songs. You could also say that “Everyone Is Welcome” has some protest or political elements wrapped into it. But it’s also very much a sex song. So that’s basically a 1/3 of the album. It’s my job to describe this album accurately. So if I say, “This is a full on, full-throated protest album,” I’m not sure that’s fair to the material. Absolutely there’s a protest aspect to this album. But I’m trying to accurately and objectively describe the music.

Also, I certainly wasn’t trying to downplay the ICE aspects of “Excited Delerium.” I could have mentioned “ICE” there. It’s not like I’m trying to avoid a dog whistle by not mentioning ICE and mentioning George Floyd, if that’s your implication. I think you’re downplaying the George Floyd aspects in the song frankly. Multiple times Sturgill says “I can’t breathe” and “knee on my neck.” I think it’s pretty clear what the original inspiration was from, while the timeline for the recording would put it well before the ICE incidents in Minnesota, meaning the ICE allusions about masks and such are certainly there, but probably secondary.

I think all that is fair, and police brutality probably was the original inspiration for the song that clearly ended up taking on an anti ICE theme.

I’d be curious to hear what lines you feel from Ain’t that a Bitch are “trite” or “simplistic in perspective”. I also don’t agree that some of the criticisms he makes could be applied to people on the left and right takes away from it all, if that’s what you were trying to say. I think it’s correct that a lot could be applied to both sides and that’s part of the point being made (though some are quite clear – “Spend all our time watching a bad cartoon in an ill fitting suit grabbing women by the poon” is obviously about trump).

I guess I’m just glad someone is finally speaking out with their music in a blunt way and I think that fact deserves some more credit. Gives me a bit of hope.

I think I’ve documented here my displeasure with Sturgill Simpson’s latest escapades, and this kerfuffle is no different. In the Peter Principle, one of the ways to identify someone who reached the level of incompetence is to notice they substitute actual action with irrelevant actions taking all the air out of the room to masquerade their incompetence behind a smoke screen. This latest series of actions coupled with the vapidity of this (non-country, mind you) album brings me to the conclusion that Simpson, probably, unknowingly and unawaringly, have reached this level of incompetence. He already jumped the shark ages ago, so now is just sitting on his surfboard, wallowing water trying to reach the shore.

This is quite a word salad to say that you’re pissed off that Sturgill didn’t make an album that you wanted to hear.

Yep, you’re completely correct. Just sucks the simps buy anything he puts out. It’s like he’s got a side bet with someone that no matter what he puts out, pundits (and Kyle) will proclaim what a magnificent work of art it is.

I don’t think Trigger proclaimed this a magnificent work of art, but go on with your conservative grievances.

This feels in ways as a spiritual successor to Sound & Fury and I expect it to have similar results where people primarily either love it or hate it. I loved it and went in with semi low expectations on it.

Another thing worth pointing out is before he dropped it on YouTube was Sturgill posted that a live dance party would happen at 12 central time. People tuned in and he legit Rick Rolled everyone only to drop this a few hours later.

Given YouTube’s audio quality is typically a downgrade relative to other music consumption platforms: it’s hard to get a full grasp on its production and mix until I access it on vinyl or CD…………..but what I can definitely say with supreme confidence is that the majority of this record is really going to be sooooooooooo much fun in a live setting.

“Make America Fck Again”, “Situation”, “Ain’t That A Bitch” and “Excited Delirium” especially are going to translate WAY better live. All four of those tracks are lighter fluid………….and I can definitely see what JBS was getting at when he said he and his band got inspired watching a lot of Stuff’s jazz fusion tapes on their tour bus (as well as Marvin Gaye) before writing and recording this album. I also know he’s repeatedly expression his admiration for ELO over the years and I definitely hear those influences on a couple of tracks: especially “Viridescent”.

Conversely: I predict “Don’t Let Go” and “Venus” are going to serve as the “smartphones glowing in the air” moment setlist staples on their forthcoming tour: the former for being the only country-leaning song on the record and also being the emotional core of the record, and the latter for its romantic sentiment to balance out the hedonistic horniness that permeates much of this record.

I won’t be surprised if the live show for their forthcoming tour this time around has a similar parabola-like structure like during the “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” era: where it’s bookended by more hard-driving, no-holds-barred rocking bombast and groove……………but has a more stripped-down, intimate middle third which “Don’t Let Go” and “Venus” are a part of where JBS is either playing solo acoustic and/or his band go unplugged and lean more into “Cuttin’ Grass” mode.

Again I’m reluctant to write a final score in stone until I listen to this on vinyl or something………….but this was a lot of fun listening to and they definitely were true to their word when rolling out its release describing what to expect.

Artists should keep to the narrow expressions that made them famous. Why do they always grow and change? The old formula works. I wish he’d just stick to country and be depressed.

It’s not that he has to stick to the old formula, he can do whatever he wants. The problem is that the new formula is terrible. He can “grow” all he wants, but when the results are this bad it can truthfully be said that he is off track.

> …he can do whatever he wants. …when the results are this bad it can truthfully be said that he is off track

Simply stating he’s off the rails indicates you believe in limiting the artist with these superficial boundaries. Boundaries that are subjective to you. You’re leaving him no room. Bowie was all over the place, Stevie Wonder, Ween.

Frankly, I don’t care what genre my artist moves into. I can’t tell you the number of times I didn’t like an artist’s music and then found it later and love it. Or music that used to move me but just feels cheap and is out of rotation now. Music finds us at all sorts of different times and places.

It’s perfectly valid for you to not like this album, but just state that and don’t insinuate that he needs to stay in his lane.

Some might enjoy. It is certainly not for fans of country music. I have never understood the plaudits many critics have given this artist. I have thought he has a good few tracks of his albums on each of his albums but nothing has really stood out as outstanding to me. I have never thought him that special and that view was reinforced having seen him in concert. I thought his last album (his first as Johnny Blue Skies) is probably the one I enjoyed the most. This one I do not like at all. Not for me.

Certainly, I think you have to like different genres of music in general. For me this is gold, I love old school pedal and steel but I also love so much other music. I would wager you are probably not a Daniel Donato fan. I think you either like jamming or you don’t, if you are with the latter, yeah he’s not gonna be “special”. Sounds like you need a George Brooks style to be impressed where folks like me appreciate the pure musicianship displayed live.

What does this mean? No, it’s not a country record. But I’m a fan of country music and quite enjoyed it. Surely fans of country music can’t be expected to only enjoy only country music.

I’m a fan of country music and I love it, and I’ve seen a lot of the same sentiment from country fans. It’s not a country album so certainly not for people who *only* like particular areas of country music but that’s a different thing and most people don’t stick religiously of one genre/sub-genre

I’m just someone who enjoys music encompassing all genres. I’m pretty notorious on here for being a self-professed raver who has attended my share of electronic dance music festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival just like I have Pickathon and shows at Topaz Farm and Ponderosa Lounge. Many can’t wrap their heads around that idea, but it is what it is. I’m a fierce proponent of defining contrasts between genres so that they preserve their cultural essence and what makes them unique, but I love appreciating the best of all that’s around from genre to genre. =)

Much like the latest releases from Turnpike Troubadours, Willi Carlisle, Tami Neilson, Hailey Whitters, Nikki Lane among some others were a proud part of my Best Of 2025 playlist…………..McKinley Dixon, Clipse and Open Mike Eagle blew me away with some of their unreal hip-hop storytelling last year, Florence + The Machine released another mesmerizing album, ROSALIA made an absolute cinematic masterpiece, and I like what Wet Leg are making among other things. So I really enjoy an album like “Mutiny After Midnight” for what it is and always encourage artists to follow their creative muses.

I just didn’t enjoy this album but he is an artist I have never really got into. I have tried and failed. He is just not for me but I thought his Passir album a fairly decent listen. We all have our personal preferences. I agree with you on the best of 2025 playlist including the Florence and the Machine album. I buy music I like of many genres I do like her music and her latest is a great listen. I also agree that artists should follow their own muses (there are some great examples which have worked well, in mu opinion) but they and others must accept that they might not be enjoyed. This one does not for me.

…it sure makes a lot of sense, when people too young to ever having been near the dance floors of the 70s try approaching them one way or another. what ever happened to jimmy buffett’s great little “manana”-advice: “don’t try to describe the ocean, if you never seen it…” better check out tom robinson band’s “2-4-6-8 motorway” for how it’s done properly in case you wanna get a more rock ‘n’ roll/punk impression of 70s dance music. or even better, stick to the bee gees or donna summer.

He’s 1970’s Bob Dylan, updated for today. Putting out whatever he wants, in whatever style effects his sensibility at the moment, not necessarily caring whatever the public may think of it.

Neil Young too. Trans, Everybody’s Rockin’ with his band the Shocking Pinks. This Note’s For You, Arc, Arc/Weld, etc.

You think Sturgill is one of the most significant and important songwriters and cultural figures in the history of popular music? Because that’s what Bob Dylan is. Who outside indie country and alt country circles and woke mom group texts knows who sturgill even is let alone can name a single song or Single LYRIC. Bob Dylan’s lyrics have become common parlance. Not sure what you are smoking, my friend, but no, Sturgill isn’t Bob Dylan or Neil Young. He’s a fringe figure within his own genre. The last time Bob Dylan was fringe was probably 1962 before his debut album of covers. Dylan has more classic albums this century than sturgill will ever have. Meta modern isn’t considered classic to the Opry and mainstream cmt cried so he has literally zero classics as we speak a decade into his career. Comparing that to Dylan is mentally deranged.

This is a really fun album. A few songs in, it reminded me of Ween. Sturgill’s career kinda parallels Ween’s, with the songs across many genres, humorous lyrics, independence and shreddy live sets. I wonder if Sturg is a ween fan but the similarities jump out. (Ween did a damn good country record.)

Wow, look at all the butthurt MAGAt Jason Aldean/Kid Rock fans in the comments section. Y’all inbred knuckledraggers should go back to fapping to the KR/RFK Jr. homoerotic workout video. Maybe YMCA on infinite repeat will get the job done e for ya.

Yeah, I would encourage you and others to take a beat, look around a little bit, and figure out where you are in the online universe before leaving comments like this, because whether you know it or not, you’re cutting your own legs off, and mischaracterizing the credibility of not just yourself, but all Sturgill Simpson “he can do no wrong” homers.

And calling anyone who might call into question this music an “inbred knuckledragger” is to just so misunderstand the nature of the criticism here, and why it’s being levied.

Bingo, that’s what’s wild when you are not on a side just have you own view. You are going to be labeled. So here we have an anti country folk person spouting off stereotypes about rural folks. Yet I bet they are first to get upset when country folks call out city folks with weak stereotypes. Ain’t that a bitch touches on this subject directly.

I don’t really see anything in the comment about people raised in rural environments. Just criticizing people based on their taste in music/politics, which is self-selecting, obviously.

It’s the terminology and continuation of shitty stereotypes that I am calling out. Instead of calling out the facts folks resort to stereotypes like redneck, inbred, knuckle dragger, Nazi, etc. It’s hurtful to me because I know a lot of people who are far from racists or bigots and are quite intelligent. The dumb stereotype really just strikes a nerve with me and I find it hypocritical because the folks saying it usually are the ones complaining about other stereotypes these rural folks use.

Exactly. Which is why I don’t get why people wouldn’t be upset with how this album portrays country or rural people. If the assertion is Aldean makes us all look redneck racist and this is bad, wouldn’t it be logical to say this album makes rural and red neck people look like orgy seeking sophomoric and Marxist?

It’s a head scratcher because we were treated to long think pieces and reviews about how dangerous Morgan and his pr issues were to us, how he essentially caused shame on us by his behavior. We were I guess supposed to feel upset and indignation about the fact he says racial slurs and how the media will report on that as opposed to the music or in SCMs view more deserving artists ( which I disagree with, as the most successful and important artist in our genre of our lifetime is Morgan),
Yet we are supposed to feel pride and happiness and be elated that Sturgill released an album praising and encouraging orgies, where he discussed Trans ideology, and where he called ICE evil. Those values don’t align with my own, nor do they align with the value set of anyone in red state America or the majority of this country who voted in 2024.

I think it’s important to point out the hypocrisy of this given the situation, where any one of the right wing artists we all know of, could of hypothetically released an album in a parallel universe, say John rich released this exact album, swapping out the anti maga stuff for anti woke stuff but you get my point. An album full of sex and lust and orgies and a song literally called MAGA.

Would that album have been given praise, guns up, and a positive review? We all know the answer and and that’s the headscratcher. We’d have been treated to a thinkpiece about how that content would cast a shadow on us as a genre in totality. There’s no universe where a John rich pro maga funk dance album full of orgy praise wouldn’t be completely dismantled by SCM.

Yet that same content but by Sturgill is not only praised but is viewed as a positive. I speak for other people when I’m saying this but, I can confidently say, I don’t like how country rural folk are represented on this album and by extension how the media will paint us all as a result . Why would one artist get a pass while one gets praise?

I’m unsure why the values and lyrical statements Sturgill says in this album are positive and why we should view them as positive. I don’t. So why does SCM? Why would I want the mainstream media to associate our genre with sex orgies? Or trans ideology? Yet Jason Aldeans TTIAST is a pall over our genre and gross because he’s antiwoke and might make some people in the public think we all are racist? This album of orgies are the values we want America associated us with? Seriously? Nah, bro .

What you’re failing to recognize here is that at least some of Sturgill Simpson’s “sex” talk here is issued ironically, and to troll people. If you don’t recognize some of the irony, and allow yourself to be trolled, you then become the butt of the joke.

How obvious is the trolling content? Do you think people outside the sturgill cultists will believe it’s jokes? Like does NPR view the orgiastic lyrics as satire or actually his genuine thoughts? I think the latter.

That fails to Really address the issue though. Dissertations were delivered about how we should feel ashamed of Morgan or Aldean or Oliver anthony or John rich for their lyrics and content and behavior. That they were causing us all to look bad. I never had an issue with lee Brice saying there’s two genders and he teaches his kids that. Seems tame to me and a belief half or more Of our nation agree with this sentiment. Yet this wasn’t how you portrayed it. You not only panned those songs you suggested they harmed our genre overall. That’s more than a little extreme.

Yet here’s an album full of sex. Country has a long history of sex song. I get it. But there’s a difference between tasteful and this. And if you can’t see that you are engaging in cope. Writing a boyfriend country song about how your wife is a holy holy holy I’m high on loving you, is quite different than saying orgies are legit.

It surprises me your shock at my distaste for it, and why myself and others would object and further why having the general public view us as horny teens might possibly be a negative. Are you able to see my perspective here?

I’m trying to understand the logic here. Your reaction to Morgan’s n word scandal was as extreme as I’ve ever seen a reaction, suggesting he set us back decades, which is absurd given the guy after that went on to become the biggest artist of our lifetime not named Taylor swift. So you were wrong there, If anything he’s done more to bring non country fans over to our genre than anyone ever has. Rap fans are legion and his coup of getting them into our genre is a feat that is one of his greatest achievements.

Given all that it was surprising you’d be okay with orgiastic lyrics and Marxist lyrics, anti ice lyrics. Anti trump lyrics, given how that will effect how the public views us. Yet that concern you showed over a n word incident that you still bring up, yet an event that happened this week you praise.

You don’t see why someone might be worried that media will (and has) praised orgies, and the social issues he’s speaking on here? Why does your concern only seem to go one way? Lee Brice, Aaron lewis, Morgan, Aldean, all were written up by you as harmful to our genre because of their values and how they will be perceived.

Can you help me understand why pro orgy lyrics aren’t problematic but Lee Brice telling his kid about 2 genders is problematic? What’s the difference?

Yes, I think most Sturgill Simpson fans understand that he’s using sarcasm, irony, and being over-the-top in a purposeful manner.

“ Can you help me understand why pro orgy lyrics aren’t problematic but Lee Brice telling his kid about 2 genders is problematic? What’s the difference?”

Well, I look forward listening to it in the next eleven days. Unlike some on here who see any country music artists willingness to experiment outside the box as some kind of threat to their way of life (which i realize to them is what pretty much 90% of society qualifies as these days) Infir one enjoy when an artist takes a big artistic endeavor, although I realize most fail spectacularly ala whatever the second and third sides of Hounds to Heaven were…

I probably expect this record to not make it onto much of Simpsons set lists beyond the immediate future or his greatest hits album (if they still do those) i at least will enjoy being g challenged by what I hear.

The reason some are taking this album as a threat to their way of life is because Sturgill wants it to be perceived as a threat to their way of life. He has always gained pleasure in pissing off his own fans, parsing his fans base, pitting elements of humans against east other, and using his music to do so. If “Mutiny After Midnight” did not piss off people, and get people in the comments section of this review calling others “inbred knuckledraggers” and calling me a “piece of shit,” it would have been a failure. “Mutiny After Midnight” is an extension of Sturgill’s anger. Hurt people hurt people, and that is what Sturgill Simpson is trying to do here.

This was a response to a comment of why some people take Sturgill’s music as a threat to their way of life. The answer is because it’s meant to be a threat to their way of life. That’s not a musical opinion. It’s not an opinion I shared in the review. It’s the response to an opinions shared by someone else.

Sturgill Simpson released this album for free two weeks before the release because just like every single other album he has ever released, it leaked online prior to the release date, in this instance, because he released a limited quantity of albums to record stores and someone immediately uploaded and started sharing it.

Yeah and those people are exactly the snowflakes and simps I am sure they have called others forever. No one cries harder than a MAGA called out on their bs. Fine by me, means I won’t have to deal with any red hats at a Sturgill concert ever.

Which explains the vociferous anti Sturgill sentiment among maga right now. By your own admission you are stating this album isn’t just a collection of songs that an artist is proud of and want to share which is what fhe majority of country albums or even albums outside country are. This albums stated purpose is to be seen as a threat to maga. That’s a unique and singular stated goal and only a few albums in our genres history have ever had that goal. It’s also downright insane. Aaron Lewis isn’t writing songs to be a threat to woke America, he’s writing songs that say how he’s feeling. That’s two different things. Oliver Anthony wasn’t writing a song to usher in a revolution, he was just stating how he felt.

It’s funny how you think Sturgills unique and stated goal for this album, of wanting to be seen as a real threat to maga, would then get praise from you. It’s completely bizarre. Also why would you want to alienate the majority of the country by praising this album yet ignoring, refusing to review or not giving guns up reviews to right wing polemical albums?

I’m all for Sturgill saying his views on songs. What I find bizarre though is how you state this albums MO is wanting to be seen as an active threat to the majority of American voters, and doesn’t so in an extreme way, why this is then a positive?

Why is music meant to be an active threat to the largest conservative American coalition of our lifetimes and wanting to bring about a revolution (his own words), that this is not only written about but praised and recommended.

I’m having trouble squaring the circle on why the albums sentiments deserve our attention and why the broader public needs to listen?

Please explain 1) how his music is “threatening” and 2) the “way of life” that is in peril because of a man making music.

Then please point to anything in the album that is indicative of that threat. Otherwise, it’s just “empty calories.”

I did not say that the music is a threat to a way of life. What I said was “Sturgill wants it to be perceived as a threat to their way of life.”

He literally calling it a hedonistic Disco protest album. Is it that hard to perceive that some might find that as offensive to their way of life?

He said in his letter about the album, “we’re collecting heads for the journey.
So with that all said, to any and all who see our flag flying off your stern, know this… There will be no quarter nor mercy offered nor given.”

If this album is NOT controversial, if this album is NOT perceived as threatening to some people’s way of life, it is a failure by Sturgill Simpson’s own assessment.

The reason you’re seeing so many people screaming at me for posting a 7.4 review is because Sturgill Simpson has conferred to them a sense of moral superiority. If you don’t like this album, it’s not a matter of taste. You’re a piece of shit. You’re a moron. You’re inferior to them, just as all artists are inferior to Sturgill Simpson.

The release of this album has unleashed Beyonce-levels of unhinged, irrational thought that demands fealty from everyone, or their character must be assassinated.

I have a hard time believing that an album is, in any way, a “threat” to anyone’s way of life. The only thing under threat is folks’ fragility if they think that a “hedonistic Disco” album is offensive to their way of life. Sturgill isn’t saying orgy participation should be compulsory. His contemplation of such is wholly immaterial when it comes to anyone else’s way of life.

The passage about collecting heads was in line with the pirate metaphor that made up the entire letter and also clearly impacted the title of the album.

I just have a hard time believing that there’s anything controversial on the album. What is it? I mean this seriously, point me towards any lyrical content that makes a controversial statement.

He says the album is a protest against oppression and suppression. Is that what people are upset about? Is THAT what’s being threatened? Their ability oppress and suppress? He says the idea ultimately came from French protests and the broad swaths of French society that would join together in support of a common ideal. He literally references human unity. Are people upset at THAT?

If you truly don’t think there is anything controversial about singing about your dick, gender fluidity and foursomes, ICE, George Floyd, Donald Trump, Hunter Biden, then you are so insanely reality bubbled, it’s hard to even imagine. You might think these things shouldn’t be controversial. To say that they aren’t to anybody is to be on Mars with your eyes closed, fingers in your ears, and screaming.

And again, you might think that you’re defending Sturgill Simpson by saying this. But in reality, you’re undermining his stated goal with this album.

Essentially you are saying he is a provocateur, someone who is trying to court controversy. As you said if this album didn’t cause controversy he’d have viewed it as a failure . The entire point was to write sophomoric sex orgy lyrics and discuss controversial social issues.

The question though why that is lauded and praised when that’s a naked attempt at attention. but other attempts at attention are viewed as shallow and base and moronic. Whether that’s Try that in a small town or kid rock or tpusa Or John rich or Aaron Lewis am I the only one, oddly all of these are right wing . Wonder why naked attempts at attention are only bad when right wing? Anyone have an answer to this?

That’s where the sycophantic love affair with Sturgill is a disservice to the readers here. Instead of critiquing the album for its ginormous flaws, the review says it’s a lukewarm album not awful but not masterpiece level.

Am I the only one wasn’t given a proper review full of nuance and understanding where he was coming from or saying he nailed the sentiment but didn’t nail the delivery (for the record I love hthe at song and think it’s a 10), instead the review made it sound like hell would open up as Aaron was causing cnn and NYT to paint us all as racist and backward.

SCM is selective about its pearl clutching. And evidently sex orgies are what it feels are legit and positive ideals that can be attached to our genre and by extension us as fans. No consideration at all is given to those of us who think maybe we shouldn’t promote sex orgies and have an artist write sophomoric sex lyrics.

It’s funny how pearl clutching seems to change depending on the political beliefs of the person doing the thing.

Oh my god let’s write think pieces on Morgan saying the n word and how he harmed us in terms of publicity and pr because of it.

Yet nary a word, nary one single word about Sturgills antics or his statements or his lyrics specific to this album. Odd.

Dude , are you still leaving seven paragraph comments rehashing the same stuff you say in every single comment across multiple comments sections?

I said what I said in my review. I’ve been called all kinds of vile stuff from Sturgill’s fans for posting it. They’re incensed at this review. Sorry if it’s not scathing enough for you. I guess you can’t please everybody, or in this case, anybody. I’ve just giving my honest thoughts. Take them or leave them.

I’m not asking for deep thoughts, bro. Just an answer for once. Instead of snark or rudeness or meanness.
Wondering what your thought process was.

N words bad. But sex lyrics only? Wanting to have 2 genders bad but sex orgies ok?
Seemed incongruous and was hoping you’d clear it up.

Was wondering why you feel disturbed by Morgan wallen and how he causes the world to view us but you seem ok with sex lyrics and orgies and why those orgies should be celebrated via this album. You recommended the album m, you did. I didn’t.

Hoping you’d shed light on how you square this? Seems to me we’d want to discourage n word rants AND orgy sophomoric sex lyrics. But you seem only concerned with one. Why? What’s your reasoning?
It seems likely if Morgan released a triple album about sex orgies he’d get 0 guns up review from you and you’d be pissed. So why when Sturgill does if you praise it?

Country Music Lover, do you really think music shouldn’t be allowed to talk about sex? As long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, I don’t give a flying fuck what people decide to do behind closed doors. And I don’t care how anyone chooses to express their gender or sexuality. This isn’t offensive to anyone with enough maturity to mind their own business. No one is forcing you to listen, so why should you be upset by it?

Jared S, of course I think country should be able to talk about sex. But there’s a way to do so and a way to not. I find Megan Moroney to be the most attractive lady in the genre currently, she’s stunning, but I wouldn’t talk about her in the way that sturgill talks about sex. There’s a difference.

And the argument is even more bizarre because triggers issue with right wing polemics in song isn’t necessarily the message it’s HOW ITS RECIEVED by those outside our genre in a way the artist wasn’t necessarily intending.

So trigger says sturgill is engaging in satire so all is forgiven. Really? So mainstream media especially those that would cover his album are up to the task of seeing this album is satire as opposed to real? That’s giving the media credit that you never extended to the media or the artists when Morgan said the n word or Lee Brice made the unforgivable sin of being anti woke in a song. Grace wasn’t offered to him, it was presented as the media will unequivocally paint us all as racists.

So which is it? Is the media too stupid to parse out satire and not paint a broad brush? Or is the media intelligent enough to listen to horny teen sophomoric lyrics and be able to separate horny satire from the millions of us who are country music lovers?

Honestly my war and peace level long posts are a result of your inability to answer my inquiries. I’m genuinely curious your views on all this are. Yet you never answer them so I ask and post again. I’d be happy to just post once or twice and I would if you’d address my concerns and feelings. I’ve even emailed you, where your bogged down boards wouldn’t be an issue. You never responded.

I think it’s a fair Criticism to make and to want a post about why the discrepancies exist. I can’t ask the posters here about it, they don’t run the site. You do. Seems legit fair of me to ask for your criteria for this.

Trigger, you PoS. Have you even seen JBS live? Can you relate to the vibe? Probably too busy buying up all the tix to KR’s Rock The Country clucterf***. You wouldn’t know quality country music if it smacked you right in your midget Jason Aldean.

I’ve probably seen Johnny Blue Skies live. I might have even taken the picture at the top of this review.

So I’m a “piece of shit” for giving this album a 7.4 review? This pretty much validates that there is only one opinion that anyone is allowed to have about this album, and it’s that it’s a masterpiece, underscoring the emotional, irrational opinions being shared about it. If you think this is a negative review, it’s because you’re having an emotional reaction, not because of what is shared here.

And the fact that people continue to bring up Kid Rock who has been heavily criticized here for 18-something years as the “wet cigarette of music” speaks to the kind of blind rage Sturgill has inspired in his fans, specifically from the political elements of this album that confer to them a feeling of moral superiority, blinding them to reality.

How about instead sharing who you love about this album, why it speaks to you, perhaps defend or dispute some of the frankly mild criticisms shared in the review? Maybe instead of insulting people who aren’t finding favor with it, try to convince them of it’s positive merits. That’s what I did, and am getting called a “piece of shit” and a “douche” for it.

I appreciate you trying to give it a credible review trigger but I have no idea how you choked down the vomit in your mouth while doing so.

I think it’s ironic he released it on you tube the same weekend the dictator in chief is illegally bombing Iran while Sturgil is illegally bombing our ears with such absolute shit music.

You come out with two country records that redefine the genre and you balk and run away because of too much accolade and comparison.

Then, years later, you bow down to the “jam bander” D Bags that Literally make up some of the worst of the worst when it comes to music fans and you bathe in the relentless comparisons of jam band royalty.

If I didn’t know any better this whole album was a troll but sadly it’s just Sturgil Simpson that’s the troll for making us believe he really ever gave a shit about country music.

The reason Sturgill released this album on YouTube is because he was forced to. After distributing some early copies to record stores as an Easter Egg hunt, it had already been leaked online, with thousands of people downloading it, and it would have been on YouTube and everywhere else in a matter of days, if not hours.

Strangely, I am being attacked because I had the audacity to share the opinion that Sturgill was going to have to stream the album eventually because of this very scenario. Folks acting like this was an act of altruism are completely misreading the situation.

Do you really think he didn’t expect it to leak after the early copies were sold? He knew exactly what would happen.

Yeah, I don’t know about that. I’m sure Sturgill or his team had a plan of when to release the album digitally, knowing it was likely to leak. But I’m sure they were hoping it would happen a few weeks after the physical release, not two weeks before.

And look, I like Sturgill Simpson. I like this album for the most part, and I think he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish with it. I think he’s an important artist. But this idea that he’s constantly playing 4D chess, is steps ahead of everyone, and can do no wrong, I just don’t think it’s healthy. Every single Sturgill Simpson album has leaked ahead of its release. With the physical-only strategy, he was almost guaranteeing this one would.

I just don’t think it takes “playing 4D chess” to figure that out. It was completely obvious from the beginning.

I’ve bought every Sturgill album on vinyl, so I was gonna buy this one anyway. When it came out that it would be physical only, it took 2 seconds to realize that someone was gonna rip the tracks from the CD and post them online, so I’d be able to get them anyway.

I don’t use Instagram, but people on Reddit were talking about him making jokes about ripping tracks as soon as the early releases were out there. If you think he didn’t plan it this way, you’d have to think he’s a moron who has no idea how the world works. I’m not claiming he’s a genius, but he’s not a moron.

You very well might be right. I honestly don’t know if this is part of some greater strategy. If it is, I honestly don’t see how it is of value to Sturgill, financially, or promotionally. Sure, you can do an authorized leak. But do it days before the album release, not weeks. And you don’t do it on YouTube where the payout is virtually nothing.

Also, I don’t want to act like it is a large cohort of fans. But there are definitely a few pre-order folks that are really peeved right now. It also appears that some have already received their pre-orders, while others are going to have to wait until the release. I just don’t feel confident this is the way Sturgill or his team envisioned this release.

My take is that he just genuinely doesn’t care about streaming revenue. Being unpredictable gets people to write articles and talk on social media, which gets people to pay attention, and that gets people to listen, to buy albums, and to buy concert tickets. Those things all make him more money than streaming.

It also certainly pisses some people off, but Sturgill has never seemed at all concerned about that.

I don’t think he cares about the revenue or sales either. This move is very directly counter-productive to the cause of this album. Sure, it’s getting a lot of buzz right now. But he basically made his release date irrelevant. If he leaks the album 24-48 hours before, he creates a ton of buzz going into the release.

Another cohort he jobbed by this move is the press. They plan these things out weeks in advance. Then he drops the album and it’s a scramble drill. Then once they cover, that have nothing for release date because they’ve already covered it.

Funny given how the same could be said for Tyler Childers fanbase. Not sure if you promoted the theory or not but for like 5 years we were treated to conspiracy level ranting from Childers fans about how every new album was less songs than the album before, and how he’d keep releasing new albums, each with a song missing. I guess the conspiracy theory was that at the end he’d have an album of just one song and he’d announce himself the Easter bunny?

No surprise given the quality of the music from both Sturgill and Childers that so much ink was spilled not on the music but rather on what amounted to cope because the music was subpar.

But back to this, just as Childers said in an interview the song missing each album was not planned and deliberate, Sturgill too will issue something similar to all the sycophantic cultists who believe Sturgill is masterminding some 4D chess and that I guess he dreamed all this up inception style 20 years ago and the album will sync with wizard of oz if played backwards.

It’s cope, not only because the music sucks, but because his fans want to view him as a god emperor when really Sturgill is just an artist who some people enjoy. He’s untalented, his songs are basic, his lyrics specific to this album are god awful, and he’s among the most evil and sinister artists I’ve ever seen in any genre. Rather than deal with this’ll was unfortunate facts, his cultists say this album is legendary.

I don’t know, even with the crappy youtube stream it’s sort of sounding like it’s going to be my pick for Album of the Year. Didn’t realize it until I heard it, but boogie protest music is exactly what I apparently needed in my life.

Sturgill is an artist. He does what he wants, when he wants to. He follows his muse to wherever it leads. Each project hits the listener in different ways. Some are disappointed, while others love it. I approach Sturgill’s music one song at a time, trying not to get caught up in the world of Sturgill the artist. I try to judge the music, not who makes it. Once we put the artist in a pigeonhole, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment and disillusionment. There are other artists who create an image and their music plays into that image. That’s not Sturgill.

Musically, this album is a lot of fun and the band is as tight as ever. Lyrically, it’s just not as deep as anything else Sturgill (or JBS) has put out. I’m always on board for artists to try new approaches to how they make their music in order to keep things exciting for themselves, and Sturgill is definitely one who obviously needs that if he’s going to keep making music.

As a fan, however, one of the main reasons I got into Sturgill was because of how well written his songs were/are, and selfishly, I wish they could have been fleshed out a little more, at least for my liking. There are some great lines on the album, and Sturgill’s weird, dry, kind of awkward sense of humor is all over the place, which I enjoy, but there are only a few home run tracks (Don’t Let Go and Viridescent at the top of the list). That being said, I’m a 35 year old, married, father of three, who’s always been pretty square, so a lot of the album isn’t written for me anyway. Still can’t wait to hear them live and to hear them again once I get my physical copy in a couple of weeks!

This album is mediocre progressive horse shit bordering on communist, and copium for the normies out there.

Please point out what you believe to be borderline communist principles expressed throughout the album.

Cause strurgill Simpson is the most important artist in this websites history and everything he does will be reviewed here

From mind blown with MMSCM, HTM and Sunday Valley to now, meh. I get being an artist. But be an artist who gins up, not down, interest in your art. Thank the good Lord I still have Silverada to listen to.

First impression – love the performances, lyrics are a mixed bag but occasionally brilliant. If he wanted to show off all his band could do (and they can do great things), this is a great vehicle to do so.

That said, I do hope this murky sound quality is just a way to make sure those who pre-ordered the physical releases aren’t totally getting the rug pulled by putting this out there early. Honestly sounds like a cassette dub thats sat in a sunny car for too long.

Two tracks in and I’m not digging the busy cluttered lofi sound. Sturgill’s political views are kinda dumb. I know I don’t disagree or agree with every stance he has but it’s 2026 and who hasn’t subsequently learned that George Floyd had a lethal level of drugs in his system that was already restricting his breathing before he was even pulled out of the cop car? I’m not trying to make my comment about that but I get the sense that Sturgill’s confidence and arrogance aren’t based on how well read he his but instead on self-perception of his eclectic’ness – and how he doesn’t feel that he needs to read past chapter one on any viewpoint.

I am suggesting that because of the toxology reports that came out after. When someone is sitting up in a vehicle saying they cannot breathe and have a lethal level of fentanyl in their system it’s kinda sorta relevant.

did the toxicology report mention anything about a cop kneeling on his neck for nine and half minutes? or is that irrelevant?

Relevant information should never get in the way of confirmation bias used for a good virtue signal ammirite?

Look guys, I understand this subject was broached in the context of one of the songs on this album, but this back and forth will go nowhere, and bog this comments section down. Let’s please move on.

Sturgill continues to confuse me to no end. For every great album he drops he then puts out an absolute stinker. And the funny thing about it is I’ve never seen somebody with fans like Sturgill, where the second you criticize something he puts out you’re labeled a shallow minded, Kid Rock loving, 80 IQ idiot. As if I haven’t listened to every album the guy has put out.

I’ve been down for the ride for whatever weird musical rabbit hole Sturgill has went down, and I will continue to be. But this one is probably going next to “Sound and Fury” and “Dood and Juanita” as an album I’m not going to revisit very often. I just wish I wouldn’t be classified as a simpleton for not liking it. The first JBS album was great, but Sturgill’s voice and muddy production doesn’t lend well to this kind of music.

To be a Sturgill fan to me is to recognize he’s probably never again going to make something as good as his Sunday Valley stuff or “Metamodern Sounds,” but there’s gonna be occasional brilliance sprinkled throughout that keeps me listening.

I’m a Sturgill fan. I’ll always check out what he’s up to. I even liked Sound & Fury. This time though, for me, putting this up on YouTube before official release was a mistake. Just had a full listen and likely not gonna buy the album anymore. The music and concept are cool, I love funk and disco music, but the lyrics are some 9th grade stoner level bullshit. Can’t shake the feeling this dude didn’t mature past 14 years old.

You nailed it. Me and wife were driving just laughing at how bad the lyrics were in “Make America Fuk Again.” Weaponize my autism? Seriously? Even meant to be tongue in cheek that’s cringey.

Yeah that’s the problem trying to adopt internet slang into lyrics. Taylor Swift did the same thing in her last album and it’s cringe. Internet slang doesn’t translate to idioms that work artistically.

Huh, I am guessing you and your wife don’t have ADHD or Autism. This shouldn’t be a controversial lyric. Do you get upset or cringe when people say “Be Yourself”, or are you not of fan of people being okay with themselves?

You’re taking some logical leaps here. I don’t find this controversial, nor am I some sort of autism denier or whatever you’re getting at. I just think this is bad writing. It’s just an opinion man.

That said, if you were expecting Jason Isbell storytelling on a disco hedonist record… I’ve got some oceanfront property for sale in Arizona.

Learn to Swim! Haha… Somehow I fit a Tool reference into a comment about me referencing a George Strait song. Music is awesome.

Well, I loved it. I’m by no means a country music purist, and came to the genre through Sturgill late in life (maybe now I go down the 70s disco rabbit hole). But I absolutely loved this record and its up there with all his great albums for me. I like his genre hoping, it still sounds like Sturgill, but feels fresh.

I’m sure we’ll get another Country record out of him one day, but before then, I’m already excited to see what he does next.

With the setup from JBS leading up to this I had one very simple criterion upon which to judge this album – does it make me want to get up and shake my ass? And yes, I am a simpleton when it comes to Stu – I like what I like (Passage) and I don’t like what I don’t (Sound and Fury). The answer to that question is “hell yes it does.” This thing is groovy and fun and funky as hell. Do the lyrics speak to me? Some do but that’s not what I came for with this one. But the groove does and that’s all I was really looking for.

This is a good and fun record. Doesn’t really feel like a Sturgill record at all – and I probably would have preferred a more Sturgill-ly record but there you go.

Reminds me of Nashville Skylines. A big departure from Dylan’s normal sound and very simple / seemingly off the cuff lyrics. But still a great record, just not one you think of as much when you think of Dylan.

The tracks “Excited Delirium”, “Situation”, “Make America Fck Again” and “Ain’t That A Bitch” in particular. “Excited Delirium” sounds quite a bit like “Last Man Standing”, and “Remember To Breathe”, “Sing Along” and “Mercury In Retrograde” could easily be tinkered slightly to fit right alongside the aforementioned songs on their forthcoming tour.

“Sound & Fury” definitely sticks out as the sore thumb of his back catalog under the Sturgill Simpson moniker, though.

I’m not really a Sturgill fan, especially of his rock stuff, but the one thing I like about this album is the production. What you call “murkiness” is a nice approach to me. I hate the way drums sound on modern recordings, especially that giant sharp snare that’s omnipresent across genre. The sound of Don’t Let Go reminds me of my favorite Butch Hancock record, Diamond Hill, right down to the saxophone. Would like to see more of that on big records.

People hear distortion or any sort of effects and think it’s bad. They did the same to Tyler and Rick Rubin.

I’m not interested in hearing this album now or ever. Sturgill makes music for woke fans who have DSA bumper stickers and who daydream about AOC or Mamdani becoming president. It’s woke slop. Similarly the antiICE song is the issue of the day, just as BLM was and is a dead issue (when was the last time a BLM march occurred on a national level) or climate change back when that was en vogue to be an activist in the streets like Greta.

Sturgill doesn’t make music for me, he’s a washed up, anti American, unamerican commie who feels his views are think pieces akin to major intellectual or philosopher. I’d rather listen to someone who actually loves our country and our genre. Whiny dei music about how his candidate didn’t win in 3024? Sign me right up! I hope the album flops tbh.

Maybe Sturgill Simpson isn’t criticizing America because he hates it. Maybe he’s criticizing America because he loves it, and is worried about its direction. He did serve the United States by joining the Navy. So even though you might take offense to some of the things Sturgill says on this album, and that might not be entirely out-of-bounds, let’s be careful in criticizing people as anti-American. There is nothing more American than criticizing the government, or the President.

Agreed. But plenty of conservative artists do this as well, and I’m not sure you are as accommodating to them though. Try That In A Small Town and pretty much anything Aaron Lewis, and latter day John Rich would fit the rubric you suggested. Were there attempts to understand the anger, rage and opinions they expressed? People called and call them names too, not sure I remember you in the comments calling out people who called them bootlickers or worse for merely criticizing the government. The issue with your argument seems to be that people always seem fine with criticizing the president or the government as long as their guy isn’t on office. For example what would Sturgill say if you interviewed him and criticized Mamdani and AOC? Both are politicians, and elected leaders yet I think he’d bristle and be angry about you criticizing these govt officials. Everybody is fine until it’s their own favorite politicians being criticized that line up with their political beliefs. Funny how that works.

I think I have been very fair to these right-leaning protest songs, though I’ve been critical of some of the lyrics and such as well, just like I was of Sturgill here. I truly try to take a politically agnostic perspective on all of this stuff, especially if it’s already politically polarizing. People from both sides of the aisle though always feel like it’s their side being done dirty. I get it from the left and the right, which I take to mean I’m right where I need to be.

You are making my point for me. You objected to my castigating Sturgill as a commie and anti American and said that criticizing one’s government and the president is about as American as it gets and by extension is as country as it gets. I was responding to your comment that was sticking up not for his music, but rather your comment was specifically sticking up for his right to protest in song or out on the street in a protest. My argument though is that this is the same us conservatives use on aforementioned Sturgill or isbell or Childers and they don’t seem to want to answer to that.

My question though is why you seem so quick to defend one and not the other. Whether you are a fan of Aldean or Aaron lewis’ music is irrelevant and even your dislike of their specific political songs is irrelevant. They did what sturgill is doing right now, criticizing a president and an administration and the government. But it wasn’t framed that way on the website here. Aldeans song was covered but not his entire project. John rich gets covered for a song here not for his project. Aaron lewis gets mentioned for his song not his project.

It suggests you view left wing albums like this one here as legitimate statements worthy of our time, whereas Aaron lewis has toss off throwaways, and that Aldeans music is only worthy of discussion when it’s a headline on the news like that song and video were a few years back.

My whole point is sturgill himself would agree with me. What do you think his reaction was to the Aldean video? To the TPUSA halftime show, to Lee Brice?

There were many conservative country artists who criticized the presidency and its actions from 2021-2024, but there was never think pieces about how none of those artists are anti American or fascists or jerks. It’s was framed as red meat to the base which is probably correct but so is this song! The same people who say it’s American as apple pie to criticize the presidency now, we’re awfully silent for some years when it was their president in office. Sturgill seems far left in orientation but it’s funny he never was criticizing Biden or Kamala or the government during those years. It’s only when trump was re elected that he somehow sees the govt as evil. And even that is silly because as I said, he’d probably chew you out as an interviewer if you went against dei or AOC or Mamdani.

First off, once again, PLEASE stop using different user names. That way we all know who is who is we’re all using the same screen names. You can use an alias, but you can’t switch it up for each article.

This has nothing to do with Jason Aldean, Lee Brice TPUSA, or any of this stuff. You’re trying to veer the conversation towards what you want to talk about.

In what way? None of the right wing protest songs have gotten Positive reviews from you. How is that fair?

One could actually make the argument nearly all protest songs ever, including both sides here, are awful. But that doesn’t really explain why whether it’s Isbell, Childers and Sturgill ALL their protest songs are praised. So isbell hasn’t written any woke clunkers? None? Really?

Seems a little juiced to be honest. If you are hitting both sides I’d expect to read or see reviews where republican artists were not always but sometimes praised. I’m not seeing that. I’m not seeing it at all. And we see evidence to the Contrary.

Trigger does a good job driving this site in the middle of the road, as far as I know he’s mostly non-political, with room enough for both sides in the comment section.

I gave up on politics in art a long time ago; it’s not worth the agony. Skip the song/book/movie. Stephen King, as an example, wrote quite a few good books during the first 20-25 years of his career. But then the books got longer, tamer, often plain boring and full of forced politics. So I don’t care about him anymore. When propaganda takes the place of a good story, it’s not worth it anymore, and that goes right and left, both.

As for Sturgill? Hag’s endorsement led me to his first two albums, but no, he’s not for me at all. The latter days Merle wasn’t firing on all cylinders, as CountryKnight rightly pointed out recently.

Hard disagree. He’s left wing. You aren’t able to objectively see things clearly if you are partisan. I’m proudly conservative so I’m not trying to argue I’m above that. Trigger does argue that.

It’s like he thinks I have it out for him
Or something. That I’m not being fair to him? Seriously? Are you kidding? If I found a secret hideaway where he’d hidden away scores of pro republican country music reviews I’d be honoring him like a saint. I’d be writing posts to thank him daily. The fact such a secret hideaway doesn’t exist is sad. I’d love to have a reviewer like SCM have EVERYONES backs yet hit both sides. He doesn’t do what’s advertised on the tin. It’s pure cope.

I’d positively crow if I found out he’d been squirreling away war and peace levels of reviews that praised conservative artists. He’d be hugely popular because of it, I’d literally tell every one of my maga friends about the site. Yet those reviews don’t exist. There are not many of any positive reviews of conservative artists in the archives at SCM and that’s a missed buisiness opportunity to cater to both sides but also completely disingenuous to market yourself as being independent and non partisan. I get not every conservative artist is his cup of tea, but NONE? Really?

I don’t care a bit about his political leanings, he could be a deep red communist or a member of the Weathermen for all I know.

I listen to Woody Guthrie – a die-hard saloon communist if there ever was one – and I listen to Ted Nugent and lots of others in between, from Neil Young and Frank Sinatra to Hank jr. and Rosemary Clooney.

Most artists, be it writers or composers or performers, are mostly too self-obsessed and narrowminded to be taken seriously when they mumble about politics.

Anyone who makes excuses for tons of illegals to not be deported is operating in a subversive, anti-American manner. Full stop. Sturgill is an open borders anarcho-communist with little to no national allegiance to his country. This is evident based on the things he says. The country and all of its people is objectively in a better place if illegals are removed. Full stop.

Bob, take a chill pill. This is a fuking comment section for a music album. Hope it hurts your feelings every time I listen to it. Full Stop.

“Dude chill bro. It doesn’t matter. That’s why I’m commenting to you swearing and I named my account after you, because it doesn’t matter.”

Totally agreed. And anyone painting a target on ICE as he does and frames The officers as the criminals and not the illegals who broke our laws, is operating in bad faith at the very least and is malicious and mendacious and evil at worst. It’s silly. It’s whole purpose is to be the virtue signaling woke moron he always is, get mentions on obligatory woke media outlets like npr, Colbert and NYT, and be seen as the good little artists who “speaks truth to power” as if any of what he is saying or doing is in any manner edgy, or subversive. A sex album that’s a political polemic, ho hum how exciting! His music like Childers and isbell is left wing crafted and approved and I wouldn’t stream any of them if you paid me. Swear about trump and ICE in song, how positively novel and groundbreaking. How stunning and brave. I don’t want him to be in the industry, and the IRS could do the funniest thing ever and announce sturgill is now under investigation for tax fraud or something. I’d be all for them investigating. I’m sure he absolutely is being investigated and for good reason.

He has every right to criticize the government what he does not have the right to do, and does here is make illegal and harmful statements against ICE and out those officers at risk. That is not protected speech and he made a mistake by releasing this, because he opened himself up for litigation and deservedly so. You are not allowed to put officers at risk.

Nobody is going to sue Sturgill Simpson over his songs. Go read the 1st Amendment and then get back with us.

His politics are dangerous because they’re not yours? Are the only politics that are American…yours?

Hilarious that you think he doesn’t have any talent. I’m willing to bet that if he suddenly switched up his politics to match yours, you’d think he was wildly talented.

I mean, of all the basic narrow commentary this poster treated us to on this thread, the Poor ICE angle is the one that finally just made me laugh. Jesus f’ing Christ.

Well Sturgill self-identifies as an anarchist, and holds communist-esque views, so anarcho-communist fits here

Never heard of Mikhail Bakunin? He’s an essential anarchist philosopher and he was a collectivist. Anarcho-syndicalism is also a pretty common anarchist perspective.

But seriously: Sturgill is doing pretty well these days. He has lost more than 20 pounds in the past four months, which he says is due to eating right. He’s gotten better about pursuing meditative diversions — like racing cars or hitting the gun range — that help block out what he calls “the static.” He’s also ignoring the election season, another form of self-care. (“I don’t really lean one way or the other,” he maintains. “I’m an anarchist.”)

Bro what point are you trying to make here. You think the only source of his political views come from that one little paragraph on his Wikipedia article? Lmao

Bob, the point is that saying “I’m an anarchist” in an interview doesn’t suddenly make someone an anarcho-communist in the Bakunin sense. Lots of people use “anarchist” loosely to mean anti-establishment or politically detached. Sitting out elections and avoiding politics isn’t exactly the same thing as advocating a stateless collectivist society.

No offense intended but I don’t really care where he lines up politically in the left scale, he could be a Marxist Leninist or a Maoist or Trotskyite or a communist for all I care.

All I know is his politics are dangerous, his ideas are dangerous and his music is cheap, staid and he has no talent.

I’ll let others burn midnight oil trying to parse where he sits politically. And even if you pinned him down to an ideology what does that matter?

This Andrew bundle of Styx is just saying nothing of consequence and is just being unnecessarily spergy. Don’t waste any more time on him

You can’t argue the arguments so you resort to passive aggressive namecalling. Wouldn’t expect anything else.

Wait, is this an Isbell article? After reading the comments, I had to scroll back up to check. I think people need to go back to their Websters and learn what critic, critical, and criticism actually mean. It does NOT mean attacking and discrediting worth. I get it. Some of you unabashedly hate it, others love it. Live and let live without feeling the need to burn the building down over a dissenting opinion or a critical review FFS …..and I havent even listened to it yet.

Can’t think of another artist as talented and with as many albums as Sturgill and they all sound distinctly different.

After one listen-through, there was a lot I liked about this album. /Sound & Fury/ is my favorite Simpson album, and in its best parts, this album reminded me of that one.

But ultimately I think /Sound & Fury/ was just better-produced and better-written. I think /Mutiny after Midnight/ could have stood for a bit less of a live approach and given better production decisions and better writing. Hey, credit to Simpson and the boys in the band, if they really did just go in and jam this out, this is a remarkable work. But I don’t think it stands up to his best.

I was doing okay with the “protest” elements of the album. It often takes me many listens to really grok what a songwriter was getting at, especially if he’s subtle at all, so maybe some more stuff would have gotten under my skin. But late in the album he sings something like, “systematically dismantle the Constitution,” as if his team hasn’t been openly telling us how much they hate the Constitution for over 100 years while they systematically disregard it. Yeah, I’m not gonna listen to that line more than once, thanks.

“Sing Along”, “Mercury In Retrograde”, “Last Man Standing” and “Remember To Breathe” ESPECIALLY sound in the spirit of “Sound & Fury” and could easily be slotted in alongside “Situation”, “Excitement Delirium”, “Make America Fck Again” and “Ain’t That A Bitch” on their forthcoming tour.

Yep. When I started the first track on /Mutiny after Midnight/, I was expecting to hear him come in with, “Words can stab as deep as night…” (the opener from “Sing Along”). He’s almost ripping himself off. I liked it better the first time.

Remember when the press release said he wrote the lyrics right on the spot in the studio? Yeah, the lyricism was never going to be good. And thats ok, thats the point.

This is their last two tours, that live sound confined to an actual album. The album is just the means to the actual goal, the tour.

I feel like its worth pointing out that Waylon Jennings – the classic artist SS most often is compared to – was making records in the 70s that were absolutely influenced by disco and funk. He may not have dived as deep in the genres as Sturgill does here, but listening to how in the pocket his rhythm section was in those days and its a lot closer than you think.

He covered Donna Summer’s McCarthar Park for gods sakes, people round these parts seem to forget how much 70s country was flirting with disco culture. I have little doubt Waylon is looking down and smiling a big ol smile over this album.

Haven’t listened to it yet, but funk rock isn’t my thing so I don’t see caring too much for this. Loved the last one even though it didn’t stand up to his first three.
A lot of it sounds like it’s boomer coded commie-lite anti-Americanism disguised as “peace and love, man!”

That being said Sturg has always been a fruitcake politically so this isn’t surprising at all. Just that when the message is too on the nose it can cause the music to suffer. (This goes for Conservative music too). See Drive-By Truckers mixed bag of most recent albums for example.

It’s not just “on the nose”, it’s lazy – like asking AI to write lyrics based on the last decade of social media posts from high school-aged activists. Plus the fact that most of the other songs are just juvenile hornball come-ons or paeans to recreational drug use, renders any chance of sincerity for the political stuff moot. Dude is in his late 40’s and this is the bullshit he’s writing? It’s just not serious, and we know he’s capable of better. This album reeks of midlife crisis – but maybe it’s just the “autism”?

Agreed but that’s his entire discography save first two albums. I’ve never understood the hyperventilating praise and worship he gets on here as if he’s parting the red (or in this case, blue) sea. He makes mid songs, spent the last decade plus as an actor, wants nothing to do with our genre, and disowned his past music. He’s overtly political in a way that’s nauseating and he’s in your face about it. I’ve never understood the cult like hold he seems to have around here. Same with Isbell and Childers . No, I’m sorry, Golliwog isn’t Hag worthy and neither is this trash. It’s total mindless garbage. The attempt to prop him up as some prophet or torchbearer for quality country music has always felt like a lazy way to commander people. Virtue signaling or courting eyes. Red state residents aren’t taking the Tesla out for a drive to listen to this album, they just aren’t. His popularity is among liberal, elite, college educated crowds who listen to Hasan Piker and believe Mamdani is the messiah.

He’s always been a mediocre at best musician and songwriter, and a total and complete media manipulator. Whether it’s whining like a wimp outside award shows with signs or using the stage as a bully pulpit to engage in polemics, he’s a fraud, loser and completely untalented.

If you’ve never understood the “the hyperventilating praise and worship he gets” then it’s safe to say that you’re not the target audience. And that’s okay, not everything needs to be for you.

If he’s overly political and you don’t like it, I’m assuming it’s because he doesn’t share your politics…and yep, sure enough there’s the “liberal elite” line. The only thing surprising in the rest of your drivel is that you didn’t throw in “Marxist” and “woke.”

You can say you don’t like his music and that’s fine. But to say he’s untalented, a fraud and a loser simply because he doesn’t share your views is ridiculous.

Do you view right wing country musicians as talented and praise worthy despite disagreeing with them?

I think most musicians are talented. Especially ones that have managed to make it big, they must be doing something right in order to create music that resonates with hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

Nah I definitely agree that he’s in cornball midlife crisis mode. However Sturgill Simpson is one of my personal favorites, so I still have some faith in him

Dude drove by truckers first album to get any attention before Isbell joined was an album about politics. Left wing politics was always there day one with them. To act like thats something new is so bizarre

Yeah this is the same low IQ talking point from the DBT fanbase I’ve heard for years.
You really think I don’t know DBT is a bunch of leftists? You really think I don’t know that Southern Rock Opera (my favorite album of all time) was anti-racist/anti-Confederate?
I’m begging DBT parrots to hear this.

It’s not that they’re political. It’s that sometimes, when artists try to be political, it can come off as a political project with music as a secondary thought vs. the other way around, as it should be if you’re a musician making music. They’re focusing too much on the message and not enough on the medium.

This is evident (to me and many others) in DBT’s more recent albums, specifically The Unraveling and The New OK especially, both from 2020.
NOT in their older albums like Pizza Deliverance, SRO, The Dirty South or even American Band, IMO

Yeah you’re just saying they’ve fallen off. Which is pretty normal for a band that’s been around 25+ years. What’s dumb is saying they fell off because they are too political when that’s been consistent the whole time

I literally said it has nothing to do with the fact they’re political. It’s that when you’re less musical than political when you’re a musician and not a politician is when your music CAN suffer. Not DOES suffer. CAN
I don’t see how this is confusing or unclear in any way

It mostly bores me. And we all know the pre sales were low and scared ol Stu so he dropped it on yt early to boost interest. Fact is half his fans assumed that would suck and won’t take the gamble on preordering without listening and the other half are as you said homers fawning over anything he does. Seen a few people calling it a perfect album on X. Most of them are floozys and posers.

Exactly! Why is everything he does and releases reported on as if it’s biblical? It’s boring, rote paint by numbers music, nothing skillful or thoughtful is presented and he doesn’t want me as a fan. Why is that worthy of being dissected like it’s Tolstoy and Chaucer? It’s pretentious music that married moms in a group chat talk about to virtue signal they are into the “correct” music. OMG did you listen to that banger he just released about trump and ice wearing masks? Let’s use it at our next dance class! It’s warmed over, it’s boring and it’s staid. The attempt to manufacture and retroactively suggest he’s some intellectual or he’s on par with the legends in our genre is cope in quite liberal amounts, pun intended. I don’t need 50 point font news articles every time he issues a press release as if it’s the Dead Sea scrolls. It’s a mid artist who releases mid songs and albums. I’d alert the media if he does something noteworthy but this silly sort of hyperbolic praise of him feels awfully Heavens Gatey to me.

Dude do you really think nobody actually likes sturgill Simpson’s music and is faking it? Why can’t you at least grant people you disagree with the basic human fact that they do in fact believe the stuff they say they believe?

I think the praise for Sturgill is a reaction by liberals to elevate Sturgill even though the actual music is mediocre, yes that’s what I’m saying. We saw this with bad bunny, how libs said the super bowl was the greatest performance they’ve ever seen, which is ridiculous. The praise for the performance was seen as a way to advance an agenda.

Same here. Of course there are people who genuinely love the album but i absolutely do think those who enjoy it are exaggerating how much they love it, because he is anti maga and it’s a protest album. Meaning if it’s an album by Kane brown who is non political, you can’t market him for the current moment politically. He doesn’t write music about that stuff. But Sturgill does and always has. And it’s easy for woke SJW degens to go on X and tik tok to proclaim the genius of this album given Sturgill is pushing their agenda.

An album of anti-ice, pro trans, pro Marxist, anti trump songs is easier for soros funded craptivists to promote to their followers than an album of songs that might wind up on an Alan Jackson album. Sturgill is both a participant and a pawn in this situation, he’s trying to bring about an actual revolution but he’s also getting people like hasan piker or destiny or jasmine Crockett to promote the album to their followers and supporters. Causing NPR and NYT to cover it all and also promote the album and it’s message as NYT and NPR are eager to do.

I like it, I don’t mind some dance music from a legend. We’ve got so much real Country around right now that there’s not enough time to get through it all. All I kept thinking was is I can’t wait to get it in the Jeep and give the sub a little workout, but it’s in the shop, and I’ll wait until the lossless files emerge somewhere. Is this record “rotation worthy”?…….well….LOL I can see myself throwin’ it on after a beverage or 2 when I’m ready to boogie down once or twice…..we’ll see…

It makes me sad that he sings on unresolved tones. I am not smart enough to know if it is singing in 3rds, 5ths, 4ths, or whatever, but his melodies for years now maybe been like him singing as a part of a chord and that is cool if you like “artsy”, but he lost the balls of the music that I saw at Bluebird Theater in 2014 that smashed the roof off the place. Now I have to hear about a G spot with an organ? I am happy for the folks this turns on, but it just is not for me!

Considering that Sturgill’s nonsensical “protest” rubbish is the exact polar-opposite/mirror image of the unnecessary claptrap bullshit that recently…and rightfully…earned Lee Brice an entire dedicated rant post on this site, then surely at least a small dose of the same treatment is in order, if only for the sake of consistency. As a matter of fact, the exact same closing stanza might fit perfectly here, as well:
“Mutiny After Midnight does NOT represent actual country music these days at all. It represents one man’s over-ripened perspective as he overextends himself by feverishly grasping for attention for his dying career, inadvertently working to pull the entirety of the country genre down with him.”
Yep, that seems better. Carry on.

There are two major differences between these two instances. First, Sturgill is not claiming this is country at all. He told us it was a “Disco hedonist dance protest record.” So that’s how I reviewed it. Obviously, a lot of what he’s doing here is coded in irony. I don;t know exactly how much of it, but you rish becoming the butt of the joke if you get too enraged about Strugill Simpson singing about his dick.

Second, nobody is out there claiming “Mutiny After Midnight” represents country music like many. many were with the Lee Brice song.

I will say this: Lee Brice fans and general fans of that song took a full-throated rant in better stride than Sturgill Simpson fans took a 7.4 review with many positive points offered. I have never in the history of this website seen a more self-entitled, self-important fan base. This makes Beyonce Stans look sane what’s happening right now. Sturgill Simpson fans have so lost it, their behavior and demands for fealty have become part of this album’s story, and not in a good way. This album might not deserve a rant. Sturgill Simpson’s fans might.

If Morgan Wallen had written a triple album about being pro- orgies, anti lgbtq content, pro ice, pro trump Maga Lyrics, and marketed as a funk, protest album about how woke is evil and we need a revolution to purge woke from the world, what do you think your rating of the album would be?

I do think it’s better than Dood, just based on the strength of “Don’t Let Go” alone. The middle is a good listen, but the opening and closing tracks are by far the worst the album has to offer, which kinda taints the experience of the listen.

I’ll warm up to it a little, I’m sure. But, it definitely ain’t cracking the Top 5 of his discography. In hindsight, it is a little funny that he got a major to buy in on this one.

I’d rank this second from the bottom in his discography personally (just above “Sound & Fury”) right now. It obviously is no fully-realized work of art like I regard three of his albums as being (“High Top Mountain”, “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth”, “Passage du Desir”) nor as experimental and mesmerizing a listening experience as “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music” was…………….though I certainly still enjoyed for what it was (a hedonistic party album) and had fun listening and think most of these songs are going to fully come to life live. I’d probably give this album somewhere between a 6.5/10 and 7/10 on its own merit and what it set out to do, but if I were to string all of his albums together in a ranked tier list: this would sit at the low end of the B-tier or high end of the C-tier relative to his discography.

I can’t knock it too much for being underwritten, though………….because they were pretty upfront to begin with as to how improvisational the recording sessions for this record were. That was pretty much the point: and that’s kind of a double-edged blade that either garners praise for it being raw and authentic to some, or messy and half-baked to others. I’m sort of ambivalent myself, but I do feel this album was made primarily for the live show.

I don’t disagree with your read on Mutiny, but MAFA is so clumsily written that it sounds like a demo. Different strokes and all, but theres noting virtuous or artsy about putting out a subpar product to me, especially when you know the artist is capable of more.

This could have been such a hilarious way to take a piss, but he ended up with about a 5 count on his pant leg.

You may have a point on the live show though. “Fastest Horse in Town” is one of my least favorite songs in his discography and he brings it out consistently in live sets to pretty good results.

It might shock people in this corner of the internet, but that’s not a remotely controversial opinion to anyone not biased towards traditional country music.

I’ll knock it for being underwritten: Why would a great songwriter like Simpson do this? If you want to go out and have fun on stage at a show for a song or two and jam and make some stuff up on the spot: Great!

But why are you chewing up studio time and vinyl and streaming bandwidth with this mediocre crap? Work some bugs out live or at rehearsal, write some great stuff, go in the studio and record it for posterity. Your fans will put the mediocre moments up on YouTube bootleg and the superfans can enjoy them and everybody else can ignore it.

This is a really weird move for a guy who said he was only ever going to release five albums because he didn’t want to do mediocre stuff. Is Johnny Blue Skies his alter ego of mediocrity?

Not being all that acquainted with Sturgill’s career I can say from a fresh perspective that this record is fun and funky, refreshingly horny and clever – and it sounds great. The playing is excellent throughout, the lyrics were smart without seeming too overthought.

I haven’t had the chance to listen to the album yet but I must confess I am a little dismayed to hear he’s singing about “weaponizing autism” and gender-fluid orgies and the like, especially right after having to endure Tyler Childers singing about koala bear STD’s. I do think there is something uniquely destructive about that far-left omni-cause/ social media buzzword culture that diminishes the mind…there’s such little nuance to that mode of thought and it is so far removed from actual human experience. What interests me about this and the Childers album is that I have long thought the sweet spot for country music was the small-town kid who understood southern culture but also felt halfway like an outsider. Sturgill is a perfect example, left-wing kid with big thoughts about philosophy, the universe, etc., can write an out of the box song like Sea Stories but then can turn around and hit you with Panbowl or Hero. Now I wonder if the decade-plus growth of political polarization has reached a point now where that personality type can just no longer endure association with the label of country music and the associated culture. If so that’s a bad sign for the future of the music going forward.

“Now I wonder if the decade-plus growth of political polarization has reached a point now where that personality type can just no longer endure association with the label of country music and the associated culture. If so that’s a bad sign for the future of the music going forward.”

This is a very insightful comment, and I fear it’s also true. This is why I’m always trying to resist the politicization of country music from either side. Unfortunately in the present tense, that effort has failed, and country is considered strongly right-wing. So then you have Tyler Childers taking otherwise quality country songs, handing them over to an indie rock producer, and telling him, “Put the drugs on it.” You have Sturgill making a “hedonistic Disco” record where she’s singing about his dick, and when you point out it’s a little subpar, you’re screamed at for being a knuckle-dragging Kid Rock MAGA fan, and you can’t even have an adult discussion about the music.

For some, country music isn’t a genre. It’s a refraction point for their societal positioning to signal their virtue. This often results in bad music, and from both sides of the aisle.

That’s what I was saying the other day but you shot it down. I’m coming at this album from a conservative perspective so of course I’m not going to like it. Not sure why you’d be shocked a trump voter wouldn’t be into this album. But as you point out the liberals or leftists who are praising it are doing so out of bad faith just as the bad bunny halftime show was bad faith. Both are being praised in an over the top manner because it advances a political agenda. Which as you said is the entire point. Sturgill shares a lot of traits with his favorite president namely he is attention driven, and wants to cause debate. The entire point of this album is to get Fox News and maybe even trump himself to respond.

The people praising this album aren’t wowed by the technical prowess and the deep lyrics they are praising it because he is anti trump and anti ice. Period. Sturgill like bad bunny is liberal coded. It’s about advancing an agenda and outlets like npr and nyt glob into liberal coded artists, as a way to make culture seem left wing. The only country artists praised by nyt and npr are liberal coded. That’s why I’ve never understood the hyperbolic mythologizing people give to artists like sturgill. Just because you vote blue doesn’t make your music or art good. It’s also cringe. Sturgill is mid 40s, writing an album about sex orgies and how he gets trump. So edgy, my dude! It’s all incredibly boring which makes the biblical importance people put on him and his music all the more absurd.

Music should be whatever the artist wants it to be. There are artists who want their music to make a political statement, there are artists that don’t. I’m fine with both. One thing you have to accept as an artist is that if you do take a political stance in your music, you open that art up to political debate. Whether it be Jason Aldean, Lee Brice, Sturgill Simpson, or Tyler Childers.

With that said, I don’t think its generally true to say that the people “wowed by the album” do so because of the political stance. I think folks are mostly genuine when they say they like the music.

One thing that is probably true, is that Country music in popular culture is generally coded right wing, so artists that lean left do open the door for greater consideration outside of the genre by wearing their political leanings on their sleeve. It shouldn’t be that way, but it seems it is.

Let’s put politics aside for a moment, because that’s not the point, it’s about the inherent beauty of good art – and I’d argue that art isn’t entirely subjective.

The real problem here is, this album is just so tasteless and artless, it renders its political messages moot because it’s just a jumble of rote, juvenile, and crass stream of consciousness bs over lazy funk and disco instrumentals. I can see how this concept probably sounded like a great idea to Sturgill and his band, especially if (as I suspect) it was dreamed up during a heady weed session, but it just doesn’t stick the landing.

I hear this album being compared to Marvin Gaye, who was clearly political, but this just simply isn’t that. Gaye’s music was instantly classic and resonates across the political spectrum to this day. This’ll be a footnote at best, completely forgotten at worst.

In a comment section that’s predictably hysterical, I just want to note that I also think this is a very astute comment by Luke. Worth plowing through all the political harpies for.

“something uniquely destructive about that far-left omni-cause/ social media buzzword culture that diminishes the mind”.

It sounds like a couple of leftovers from the last album mixed in with some songs written during recording. I love it so far. Maybe not his best but a fun album nonetheless. I cannot wait to see him play these songs live. I like that him and Tyler refuse to keep repeating themselves by putting out the same album over and over and sound like they are having some fun.

this, to me, was mixed and mastered for vinyl. lots of midrange, not a lot of highs and lows. it’s a particular aesthetic choice that, in my opinion, serves the mood and feel. I agree that it’s a bit much, if the sludge were dialed back 10% or so you’d have something that sounds amazing, like Beck’s Midnite Vultures, which this album was almost certainly inspired by.

Comments like this validate the assertion in the review that how you feel about Sturgill Simpson is being used as a cultural inkblot test very directly tied to politics. This has nothing to do with music for many people. It has to do with praising people for political alignment. Ben Shapiro would have not dedicated 1,900 words to Sturgill Simpson. Ben Shapiro would have not given a 7.3 review to an album with left-leaning political songs. The fact that most people can’t even quantify this wasn’t a negative review speaks to the wild aberration of truth people are seeing Sturgill Simpson through. And though there are definitely still some good ones, Sturgill’s fan base is officially becoming one of the most snide, elitist, down-looking, immature, and irresponsible fan bases in all of music.

This is what I said initially and you rudely posted about usernames and refused to answer the questions I posed. You are intelligent. You know right wing people aren’t going to like this album, or even listen to it and they hate Sturgill. And it’s also true for other nauseatingly woke artists like Isbell and Childers who weaponize their political views for clicks, streams and ultimately to be virtue signaling dopes.

I get you run a country music site and this isn’t Breitbart or CNN but it should be pretty clear to you, despite your snide comment to me about discussing the album or leaving that politics is this album. Just as you had to do multiple posts about the controversy about Childers, or Bad Bunny, country music is politics right now whether you like it or not. As a conservative there’s no way I can possibly divorce my political beliefs from this album.

This album is politics, and how you feel about it depends on who you voted for in 2024. The review was nice but it’s larhely irrelevant, and feeds into the godly and saintly hyperbolic sychophantic praise Sturgill receives from the press whenever he sneezes or coughs. I don’t view him as a quality artist but more importantly I don’t view him as a good or moral person. To ask me to ignore that and just listen or don’t listen is ignorant, rude and borders on outright mania. Why need I listen to an outright Marxist album and ignore the blatant politics of it? That’s silly.

Beyond that whenever you review the finished Lee Brice track or a new Aaron Lewis track the same people being holier than thou on this board now will be whining about how these artists are fascists and that they will not give a red cent to anyone who supports trump. They won’t ignore the politics of THOSE artists! Yet they right now are crowing about how we need to leave politics aside and just vibe with the music. It’s gross and profoundly disgraceful.

Awww im only joking trigger………. but I may have had AI Ben Shapiro read all the “this a sex song” reviews to humor myself

I wonder if part of it……….boils down to Sturgill Simpson being one of the very first country artists that the likes of publications like Pitchfork, AV Club, TheNeedleDrop and others ever admitted to “actually liking” and embracing as “one of their own” while continuing to outright ignore if not being outright dismissive to most any other music associated with country.

You’ll also see them acknowledge a small handful of others like Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers and Jason Isbell, as well as a few others like James McMurtry, Kurt Vile and Neko Case who they perhaps perceive as being more “singer/songwriter” than associated with country………….while ruling out pretty much everyone else with the “country” descriptor.

Pitchfork may not be remotely as relevant a cultural influencer as it used to be throughout the majority of the 2000s through early 2010s (in large part due to their own self-inflicted hubris)……………but there’s no doubt they have played a most consequential role in the ever-widening ideologically-driven polarization of media consumption much like cable news, YouTube and podcasts have and I’ve always felt produced some of the most insufferable, disingenuous “reviews” I’ve ever read along with some of Rolling Stone’s most recent ones. Especially given Pitchfork was launched in Minneapolis and AV Club in Madison, WI at a time when country music wasn’t anywhere near as broadly popular as it has been this past five-to-seven years.

That’s my theory anyway as to why some of Sturgill’s fanbase come across as very elitist. Simpson himself was regularly compared to Kurt Cobain over the years to begin with (who himself was a self-avowed, proud music snob)………..so it may be no wonder those characteristics have carried over to some of Simpson’s fanbase as well as Isbell’s most notably.

There might be a Pitchfork demo tie-in here, I don’t know. What I do know is it seems mostly resigned to Twitter, and mostly driven by 40-something male left-leaning vinyl dorks who love to talk down at people. You would expect these kinds of people to be more chill, but that’s not the case at all. They’re acting like 20-something K-Pop and Beyonce Stans. When I looked into Twitter a couple of hours ago, the top trend in my news feed was the backlash against Rolling Stone’s “Mutiny After Midnight” review. I was saying 24 hours ago that Sturgill fans were BECOMING the story of this album. They now officially are.

Also, we saw something very similar with the Tyler Childers release. Politics is where a lot of this passion is coming from. Anything short of saying the release is perfect, and it’s off with your head.

Which is why I found your statements to be earlier and in previous threads were so tone deaf and tasteless. If you can’t see the politics are this album completely, as was Childers latest, as was bad bunny’s performance as was Morgan on snl, as was Isbells latest etc… then you likely don’t get country music in 2026.

I can’t comment on this album without discussing my conservative beliefs or feeling of yukiness and grottyness to hear him discuss his extreme sex life and actively promote it. Why would you expect readers to separate our politics from albums like this? It’s kind of silly and a little moronic to expect us to.

Same with Childers or Isbell or CC, I can’t discuss any of them without doing so with my lens of being a conservative. If you are a country artist and you make political statements and make political art as all those people do, I can’t divorce my political beliefs from my review of the album nor would I want to.

Expecting readers who are conservative (or liberal) to sit here and parse the album and it’s lyrics in a non political way is nigh on impossible and it’s also mentally ill in intention. I have no desire to do that, and won’t do it either. It’s patronizing and gross to expect a conservative to listen to an album with lyrics like “Why you dressed up like a soldier?
What the hell are you wearing a face mask for?
How the hell are you gonna protect the peace
Running ’round looking like you’re going to war?“
And not discuss that via politics? I support ice so why shouldn’t I be able to discuss my support of being be with lyrics that more than call them out?

SCM is branded as some sort of cutting edge voice for the forgotten small artist ignored by Nashville mucky kicks in favor of the flavor of the month with not much depth.

Ironically SCM also is being left in the dust because it insists on punishing, lambasting, whining, and outright deleting users and comments that veer political, even on albums and events that need politics to be discussed.

I’m sorry but I won’t quiet my discussion of politics as it relates to Sturgill and I won’t be condescended to.

That’s ALL of it not just some of it. I’ve been banging this drum forever and had trigger whine like a pc baby at me, but I’m right.

If you are conservative, as I am, and the only artists that npr and NYT abs needle drop like are beyond left wing coded country music that is explicitly left wing either in lyrics or the artist being an activist, it’s likely you will tune out those artists, I know I have. If an artist hates me and voters like me, Americans like me why would I give their album the time of day or beyond that why would I view that artist as a good and morally sound person. And the answer is I don’t.

Beyond that it builds justified resentment. Why are NYT, NPR and SM giving endless ink to left wing artists and only them, when country has many right wing artists making quality music. Why is the only time country music discussed in mainstream media is when it’s these progressive left wing artists? For one it gives the impression fhe entire genre is left wing or that fhe exciting music is only left wing country . It’s not.

Also SCM often whines about how Morgan’s controversies or Lee Brice and Brantley Gilbert’s politics shape the general populace’s outlook and overview of our genre. The consensus on the site being that it’s a negative. I and More than half the country disagree (Lee Brice speaks for me and mine) but ignoring that and be that as it may, it’s mind boggling how someone like Sturgill can write a sex orgy obsessed album with lyrics that sound like a 15 year old boy wrote them, with overtly left wing and Marxist lyrics, that this isn’t a negative seemingly and is actually a positive. The negative perception people could draw from the album and transfer it on us and our genre is a positive seemingly. It strains credulity actually, that the same editorial section that wet its diapers over Aaron Lewis calling out BLM (the horror of it all, what a terrible thing to mention!), try someone who sounds like a horny teenager and has politics to the left of Castro, is somehow a net positive for our culture and our genre. Needless to say I’m not buying what’s being sold here, in the slightest.

We know Ben didn’t write it because he’d have gone after the album way more than trigger did. Trigger seemed to think the lyrics were clunky but non offensive if a little shallow at times. Ben and I would disagree with trigger and agree with each other that the album is Marxist propaganda.

It’s funny how protective trigger is that the sentiments of lee Brice might cause American public at large to think we all are hicks and racists and ignorant.

Yet he never seems to fear when Childers, Isbell and Sturgill the 3 horsemen of the apocalypse, all portray country music and our industry in ways I’m deeply disturbed and uncomfortable with. If the general public viewed our genre the way Isbell does that’s not good either! Why would that be a good thing?

Yet an album about sex crazed orgies and promoting leftist revolution and trans ideology and Marxism, nary a word in the review about how that might be a bad look for our genre. Odd to say the least! He hates how Alden’s or John rich might cause the public to view us, yet cheers on Sturgill or Isbell when they cast us in a bad light. Rank hypocrisy.

When did this great music website and comment section become home for a bunch of “ I hate Trigger folks” what a miserable life you must live if you spend so much time on a site run by someone you seem to hate so much. Why not just delete the link to the site and move on with your life.

But this really has to do with the Sturgill Simpson fan base I keep harping about. Rolling Stone just posted their review of “Mutiny After Midnight” and getting wrecked for giving it 3 1/2 stars.

The album is fine. But these people believe anything short of 5/5 or 10/10, and your entire credibility music be destroyed.

It’s really quite odd. It’s not like “I like Sturgill Simpson’s early stuff” is an unusual position, at least not around here. Different people got off the bus at different times (SGTE was a common stop, I think you got off at S&F, for me it was Cutting Grass), but the guy’s music has changed a ton in the last 10-15 years, and it hardly seems surprising that not all the fans are going to go the distance with the artist.

I’m a huge Sturgill fan but I don’t really care what RS of all places thinks about anything. They have no real credibility to begin with.

“Hero” from High Top Mountain just came on my Spotify shuffle and, man, comparing this powerhouse of a song to his disco effort….. hard to believe it’s the same guy

Trigger is there a reason you object to right wingers when they portray us in a certain way, yet when Sturgill paints us and the genre in the way he views you don’t object to it?

I get how a liberal might dislike what lee Brice was saying but can’t you get why conservatives would disagree with how Isbell, Childers and Sturgill portray the scene and the world?

So far we’ve had SCM say this record is good, not great. Rolling Stone’s country reviewer basically had the same take (3.5/5).

I love this record, for me, for my taste its 5/5, but if I’m just looking at the songwriting, I can see why folks conclude its good, but not great.

I think the disconnect between those who love it and those who think its alright (or outright hate it) is how much you care about the lyrics. The song lyrics on this album are at times very good, but overall not outstanding. When Sturgill released his letter about the album, he almost gave a pre-emptive disclaimer, these weren’t songs he poured over, but wrote what felt right in the moment.The Country/Americana is generally a lyric first genre, so I can see why its not connecting universally as well with Sturgills ‘home’ genre.

The point of this record though, I believe, is the music. I think whether your enjoy the music is very much a taste thing, whereas whether lyrics are well written, I think can be looked at more objectively. It would be almost impossible to knock Isbells songwriting, but there are plenty of people out there who just don’t enjoy Americana music.

I love this music – I think its outstanding, I love the production – its too my taste. But its not country, and lyrically its not as strong as his previous work so its natural it won’t be to the taste of a lot of folks on this blog.

But for me its still a 5 star, 10/10, record, because I don’t place nearly as much value on lyrical content. So long as its not bad (its not, its good, just not great), then to me, all that matters is the music.

Good comment. I think in some respects you’re probably right about the lyrical content. It’s the job of a reviewer to look analytically at music, critique it based on certain metrics like songwriting, like instrumentation, like composition, while also trying to factor in the pure joy and listenable nature of the music. If anything, I am guilty of weighing songwriting even heavier than all other elements. If it’s good songwriting, I’m willing to forgive other stuff. If the writing is mild, it can drag a song or album down.

If you or anyone else is finding full-fledged love in this album and think it’s flawless (10/10), I’m not here to get in the way of your joy in this music. I’ve found out over the years that 10/10 is almost impossible to achieve, but that doesn’t mean that’s true for everyone.

What I think is unhealthy is acting like anyone who doesn’t see this albums as a 10/10 is a piece of shit, or is politically bias, is a “knuckle dragger,” or “only likes country.” That not what’s going on here, either with myself, or Rolling Stone. We see this album as good, but not great. That seems to be a very reasonable take. Some, if not many of the responses to this coverage have been outright irrational.

Here’s the thing – there’s nothing wrong with your perspective on valuing songwriting heavier. People come here (trolls excluded) because they have found your opinion of value, I certainly I have. I don’t agree on everything, but its your perspective that has introduced me to many great artists I love like Emily Nenni, Kaitlin Butts, and the Deslondes.

Ultimately taste is personal. That doesn’t mean music reviews and journalism isn’t important and influential. It absolutely is. Best thing to do as a listener is to find the reviewers who have similar taste to you – but understand the venn diagram is unlikely to ever be a perfect circle. If the reviewer recommends something that isn’t for you, no harm is done, if they don’t love something you love, no harm is done, but if they recommend something you’d otherwise missed and ultimately love then its all upside.

Comments sections are great for different perspectives. Everyone just needs to have the humiity to understand their taste is personal. If you are in the comments section of this blog, chances are you have overlap in your taste with everyone in here (including SCM), in some cases it may only be a slither, and others it may be close to a circle.

The way I look at it……………is that Simpson has long been an above-average guitarist and has an all-around talented band: so I can always expect some solid to outright great musicianship and instrumentation on any project he puts out.

So acknowledging that: I think “Mutiny After Midnight” is such a fun listen for what it is and I’d personally recommend it to most anyone………………yet in the same breath I’d rank it near the bottom of his discography when doing a ranked tier list of all of his albums: largely because most of his other albums are more well-rounded between their instrumentation, production, songwriting and themes.

This is the kind of album that’s going to translate especially well live and will be sooooooooooo much fun hearing whether it be a three-thousand seat theater, a summer festival or at Red Rocks. But this is an album we’re talking about……………and when I size “Mutiny After Midnight” up with the rest of Simpson’s catalog and consider all aspects of them…………….”Mutiny After Midnight” just doesn’t feel quite as artistically ambitious or well-rounded to me as “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth”, “Passage du Desir” or “High Top Mountain”, nor as experimental as “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music”………….and much of that comes down to the songwriting being more of an afterthought.

I do genuinely get that “protest” music is generally known for being underwritten and extemporaneous so that it meets the moment………………but even if we’re analyzing the album from a “protest” perspective; I really only think four of the album’s nine tracks (“Make America Fck Again”, “Excited Delirium”, “Everyone Is Welcome”, “Ain’t That A Bitch”) fit that description. Most the rest of the album doesn’t really fit that descriptor. Again I think it was just made on the spot for their forthcoming live show in mind………….with “Don’t Let Go” being the only song on the album that sticks out like a sore thumb and doesn’t even really feel like it belongs on that album: as good of a song it may be.

I find this album fun to listen to and do enjoy it for what it is……………yet in the same breath am not under any illusion that it is as creatively ambitious and realized an effort as “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth”, “Passage du Desir” and “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music” were, nor as well-written as “High Top Mountain”. I think it’s about a 7/10 for what it is……………yet in the same breath if I were to rank all of Sturgill’s albums into a ranked tier list and pit them directly against each other: “Mutiny After Midnight” would go somewhere between the low end of the B-tier and high end of the C-tier in my view. That’s just how I look at this album both on its own for what it is, as well as in relation to his catalog as a whole.

Enjoyable enough as background music. Musically reminiscent of Sound & Fury, though at first listen a much inferior release. Lyrically reminiscent of Metallica’s St. Anger, which is to say, juvenile poetry.

All in all a disappointing release, especially in view of his last album which I personally regard as his second best, ranking just below ‘Meta- modern sounds..’

Lot of hot takes here. Normally I would have my own opinion but have only been able to listen to this in short bursts. Saw a comment somewhere else that perfectly summed up my feelings on it so far.

“The night is 1973 it’s been a long night of drinking with the fellas. You get home and on the radio in the garage they say Waylon Jennings and Earth Wind and Fire are coming out with an album…and it only took 53 years to come out”.

Acabo de escucharlo sin gran expectativa y me gustó. La verdad, no me sentí inclinado a hacerle una escucha muy atenta, menos aún por YT! pero siguiendo un poco el espíritu de lo que había adelantado Stu sobre lo que sería el disco, lo puse de fondo mientras leía los encendidos comentarios de este sitio.
No está ni cerca entre mis favorito de Stu, pero me resultó entretenido. Volví a escuchar algunas veces la bonita “Don’t Let Go, y me dio cierta nostalgia por el sonido de sus primeros discos…
Capaz haya sido la cerveza, pero en algún momento sentí armónicos con alguna canción de los Black Keys.
Como decimos en mi pueblo de algo que no nos genera gran cosa: “ni fu, ni fa”.

So you post about how the operating generative idea behind the album, probably the entire purpose of it, is to be seen as a severe threat to my political views and half the country. This is your own words.

Yet you are shocked and annoyed when it’s viewed as an actual threat by people like me who hold my beliefs? What did you think would be the response from people like me, regarding an album that by your own admission is viewed as a success solely on if it perceived as a threat to conservatives? So you want sturgill to make such an album with that purpose but when those he threatened do feel threatened that’s a bridge too far for you? Did you think our response to the album as conservatives would be “oh. Well”?

He absolutely deserves major hate for this album and he’s the most evil artist in our genre full stop. He’s positively demonic.

No one is threatening you (regardless of what Trigger said above), we (and Sturgill) just disagree with you. You are welcome to not listen to music that you don’t like, or that you disagree with. You’re even welcome to say why you don’t like it. You’ve repeatedly made your position very clear. Would you finally just shut up about it?

When you start talking about artists being demonic don’t be surprised when people stop taking you seriously

This is not a country record. He is no longer a country artist and really never was outside of HTM. Every record since then has blended genres as he follows his muse sometimes with stellar results and sometimes meh. This record is north of meh and south of stellar but it sure has been a fun listen. Maybe it’s easier to enjoy if your tastes stretch out a bit more outside the country music realm.

What I don’t get is how butt hurt some folks get just listening to an album. If you don’t care for it just go ahead and play something you do like. It’s pretty easy to do. Sturgill lives rent free in a lot of your minds.

I think the album is fantastic, on trend and provoking. Just what it set out to do. Hats of Sturg! 9/10.

I think the protest aspect is being undersold. “Everyone is Welcome” ties the hedonism into being part of the protest. I also think just discussing the last verse and nearly ignoring the rest of the song’s nihilism does the entire album a disservice because that’s what pulls the whole thing together, leading to the final track’s smackdown. And the raunchy lyrics are delightfully tongue-in-cheek. Fantastic album!

Source: savingcountrymusic.com