Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Other Good Stuff

[SydneyCarton 48057]

Not much of a music guy in the sense I really get into it, don't listen to a ton of new stuff. I've always had trouble HEARING lyrics, so oftentimes the meanings of songs I don't just grasp without tons of re-listening. This isn't to say I don't like music, but I'm simply trying to give some context. I like all the music from HS, rock, heavy metal, some hip hop, the shit you all heard on the radio in the 80's and 90's, plus the older country I grew up with as a kid. 

Anyway, reading around some articles I literally discovered that Americana is apparently a music genre I never knew existed until yesterday. So I put on an Americana station and started listening, and was enjoying it. Heard zome Zach Bryan, who I was exposed to from Yellowstone and my wife fucking loves, and that was great. Then some Jason Isbell. Anyway, long cool story bro style, they played a cover song by a guy who I'd never heard of before, covering In Bloom by Nirvana, Sturgill Simpson. 

Holy shit, blew my fucking mind. The country sound you haven't heard from modern country music in 20 fucking years. Talent bleeding through the headphones. So I do a search on Surly for this guy, and I find this thread.

So uh, how should I tackle this guy's catalog? Thanks in advance. 

[jimmyjazz 45889]

First thing you should know about Sturgill is that he was a punk rocker before he turned towards country.  As far as where to start, I think "Metamodern Sounds In Country Music" is a brilliant album.  I'd start there.

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

First thing you should know about Sturgill is that he was a punk rocker before he turned towards country.  As far as where to start, I think "Metamodern Sounds In Country Music" is a brilliant album.  I'd start there.

Just start from the beginning and go from there.

If you can dig up some of the Sunday Valley shit, that really exemplifies his punk rock back ground meshed with country.

 

 

[Celery Man 20932]

11 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Not much of a music guy in the sense I really get into it, don't listen to a ton of new stuff. I've always had trouble HEARING lyrics, so oftentimes the meanings of songs I don't just grasp without tons of re-listening. This isn't to say I don't like music, but I'm simply trying to give some context. I like all the music from HS, rock, heavy metal, some hip hop, the shit you all heard on the radio in the 80's and 90's, plus the older country I grew up with as a kid. 

Anyway, reading around some articles I literally discovered that Americana is apparently a music genre I never knew existed until yesterday. So I put on an Americana station and started listening, and was enjoying it. Heard zome Zach Bryan, who I was exposed to from Yellowstone and my wife fucking loves, and that was great. Then some Jason Isbell. Anyway, long cool story bro style, they played a cover song by a guy who I'd never heard of before, covering In Bloom by Nirvana, Sturgill Simpson. 

Holy shit, blew my fucking mind. The country sound you haven't heard from modern country music in 20 fucking years. Talent bleeding through the headphones. So I do a search on Surly for this guy, and I find this thread.

So uh, how should I tackle this guy's catalog? Thanks in advance. 

Well you should go listen to his cover of "The Promise" just because it's also spectacular and kinda a pair with In Bloom.

Hard to say exactly how you should go about the Sturgill discog. Some would probably say just start from the top, which would be fine. IMO Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is the #1 classic and you should listen to that immediately. And the next one (A Sailor's Guide to Earth) is my favorite sounding record in the genre and you should listen to that one next. It has some classic R&B flavor to it which is really nice. High Top Mountain is his first album and it is also great.

Sound and Fury is weird and different but good. But a whole different thing. I haven't listened enough to The Ballad of Dood and Juanita but it's a whole concept thing - it sounded nice but I still haven't tackled it completely. Both of the Cuttin Grass albums are phenomenal bluegrass takes on a lot of his previous material. "I Don't Mind" from the first one is a "new" (previously unreleased) song and is the best one. I see there are two more replies already since I started typing so I'm curious how they disagree with me but I'd say

1)metamodern
2)sailor's guide
3)high top mountain
4)cuttin grass
5/6)dood+juanita/sound+fury

 

I'm guessing the other guys have high top higher

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

I thought Dood and Juanita kinda sucked honestly

[Celery Man 20932]

it didn't grab me at all but I didn't listen to it long enough to be fair about it. I don't want to be one of the chorus of people who just want another High Top Mountain but I was a bit disappointed that it was another.... kinda out there thing. He hasn't gone full Sufjan and I want him to do whatever makes him happy but i want him to drop some more of those songs that I love.

[tbone_ 14112]

Turtles all the way down

[4th&Five 41516]

Sunday Valley is still my favorite thing he’s done as well. Not sure why it hasn’t been give a reissue or proper release since he blew up. After that it’s metamodern and hill top head and shoulders above the rest. 

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

Sunday Valley is still my favorite thing he’s done as well. Not sure why it hasn’t been give a reissue or proper release since he blew up. After that it’s metamodern and hill top head and shoulders above the rest. 

To be fair he cut a bunch of those songs on Cuttin’ Grass

[HOOKEM4 5036]

Just go through his entire catalog chronologically. Form your own damn opinions. Music is damn near the last bastion for freedom of opinion. 

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

[4th&Five 41516]

25 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

To be fair he cut a bunch of those songs on Cuttin’ Grass

True. Not the same though. Cut those songs again with a hot shit rock band! Maybe the 400 Unit…

Edited July 22, 2023 by 4th&Five

[bluto 4913]

Sailors guide, both sea stories and oh Sarah are very far from each other in style but damn they’re good. The last verse of sea stories is something

Sometimes Sirens send a ship off course
Horizon gets so hazy
Maybe get high, play a little GoldenEye
On that old 64
And if you get sick and can't manage the kick
And get yourself kicked out the navy
You'll spend the next year trying to score
From a futon life raft on the floor
And the next fifteen trying to figure out
What the hell you did that for

But flying high beats dying for lies
In a politician's war

[Kermit 3156]

Yeah, just play them chronologically. Metamodern is a great album, but I Don’t Mind off his bluegrass issue is probably his masterpiece so far. Goddamn, that song is just perfect in every way.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Kermit

[Buzzrock 14903]

Do not listen to these men. Sound + Fury is the essential starting point for Sturgill. Watch the Netflix movie with it.

@tbone_ how was the Isbell show with your girl?

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

17 hours ago, Celery Man said:

it didn't grab me at all but I didn't listen to it long enough to be fair about it. I don't want to be one of the chorus of people who just want another High Top Mountain but I was a bit disappointed that it was another.... kinda out there thing. He hasn't gone full Sufjan and I want him to do whatever makes him happy but i want him to drop some more of those songs that I love.

I really enjoyed the prior twists of his career because they were always exciting at a minimum.  Dood just wasn’t compelling to me I guess.

[tbone_ 14112]

Do not listen to these men. Sound + Fury is the essential starting point for Sturgill. Watch the Netflix movie with it.

[mention=2521]tbone_[/mention] how was the Isbell show with your girl?

It was great actually. Thanks for asking. It was a standing only venue, and she wasn’t too enthralled with Deer Tick apparently



She said she really enjoyed Isbell though.

Side note, during the Isbell show some older dude standing behind me passed out and literally crashed into me unexpectedly from behind and fell to the floor. Me and some other guys were able to get him up and to the side and he came to. They took him out on a stretched. Isbell stopped the show while they dealt with it. Not drunk. Think it was heat related maybe. We saw him sitting up at the medical tent on the way out.

I’m just glad he didn’t crash into her. Would have flattened her.

[Celery Man 20932]

i assume that's you or some other shagster leaning against the post there

 

i guess that joke doesn't work as well when we've actually met in person

Edited July 23, 2023 by Celery Man

[tbone_ 14112]

Haha nope I’m holding the camera

[Herpa Derpa 6123]

On 7/23/2023 at 11:30 AM, tbone_ said:

Haha nope I’m holding the camera

Case?

[Dry Elbows 142]

On 7/21/2023 at 3:37 PM, Al_4_ISU said:

Just start from the beginning and go from there.

If you can dig up some of the Sunday Valley shit, that really exemplifies his punk rock back ground meshed with country.

 

 

Sometimes Wine is quite possibly my favorite Sturgill song of all time. 

[Viper 12103]

Thoughts on the new Chris Stapleton song White Horse and Paul Cauthen's Desert Woman? 

[BigOrange1 6433]

sound + fury is my favorite sturgill album.  i fucking love it.  cuttin' grass volume 1 is right there behind it.  kermit is right, the version of i don't mind on that album is perfection.

[BigOrange1 6433]

also my wife and i's first dance was to the promise.  so yeah thats a good one too.

[Celery Man 20932]

I was trying to remember what movie/show that song (the When In Rome version) was in and i guess it’s Napoleon Dynamite. Coulda sworn it was in Stranger Things or something,  but I don’t think so. The Sturgill version is in an episode of The Leftovers where it is diagetic music coming from either a jukebox or a singer in a honky tonk and it is great. I’d love a full album of Sturgill covering songs that don’t sound like Sturgill songs.

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

11 hours ago, Viper said:

Thoughts on the new Chris Stapleton song White Horse and Paul Cauthen's Desert Woman? 

Just listened to both for the first time.

I really liked White Horse.  It reminded me a little of his old Jompson Brothers albums.  If Chris Stapleton is dropping a borderline arena rock album, I’m absolutely here for it.

Desert Woman didn’t work for me at all.  I just can’t take Paul Cauthen that seriously, and think he’s at his best when he’s leaning into the bit.  Stuff like “Fuck You Money” or “Cocaine Country Dancing”.  Desert Woman is just kinda there.

[Viper 12103]

Good point about the Jompson Brothers sound. I hadn't made the connection but can't not hear it now. 

I feel a little different about Cauthen. His over the top stuff is fun, but could really go for another couple of earnest songs like Angel. 

[irishtexan 11515]

So Tyler's back out there making noise, releasing the opposite side of the Jason Aldean coin. New album coming in September.

 

[crash_davis 23101]

 

[Clintonaldo 2573]

Currently watching the Isbell doc and I like him more than ever. 
 

Listening to his new album does anyone else think is has a Lindsey Buckingham sound to it a little ? Especially the song Miles. 

[Celery Man 20932]

there was some discussion of the Childers song in the Aldean bro country thread and having sat with it for a second, I disagree with the sentiment (that the song itself kinda sucks). Song is solid IMO. The arrangement is interesting, I'm curious if that's what the rest of the album will sound like. Honestly when I first saw the video I was thinking... oh snap is Childers about to have a medium sized hit on the back of being featured in whatever movie this is?

Anyways, I like it and honestly would probably stick with an album that sounds like that longer than I did the Hounds album. I think I've said it in this thread (talking about Simpson and the Dood album) that I don't really trust "I put it down" to reflect on the quality of the album (just based on the low mental bandwidth and the amount of fucking pinkfong playing in my truck) but I could sit in that kinda glossy sounding piano synth tonk for a minute.

apparently there's a whole genre of tiktok videos of trucks owned by dumbasses mad about gay

 

[hullabelew 3723]

On 7/28/2023 at 2:42 PM, crash_davis said:

 

A buddy of mine has a young teenage son who is starting to 'revolt'.  He stormed in the other day and declared, "I'm getting my ear pierced!"  By buddy told him, "Ear piercing?  Really?   If you want to shock me, you are going to have to come back home looking like Post Malone, or a SoundCloud rapper."  

[Kennythetiger 9376]

3 minutes ago, hullabelew said:

A buddy of mine has a young teenage son who is starting to 'revolt'.  He stormed in the other day and declared, "I'm getting my ear pierced!"  By buddy told him, "Ear piercing?  Really?   If you want to shock me, you are going to have to come back home looking like Post Malone, or a SoundCloud rapper."  

Could be worse. Could wear maroon and white. 

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

I loved Hounds, I just think 3 mixes was excessive and the one was just kinda bullshit that I suspect was a joke to see if music critics would act like it’s actually good

[4th&Five 41516]

 

[Celery Man 20932]

2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I loved Hounds, I just think 3 mixes was excessive and the one was just kinda bullshit that I suspect was a joke to see if music critics would act like it’s actually good

Honestly thinking back, this is part of why I didn't listen to it for very long. I'm happy for artists to be creative and do whatever they want with the envelope, but really as a consumer of music I want you to write 20 songs every 2-3 years and put the best/most cohesive 12-15 of them on an album recorded and arranged in the way that you stand by as an artist. I pulled up Hounds and couldn't figure out what the "real" version was supposed to be and then I'm kinda past it.

Although to be fair... Long Violent History was also a weird thing (seems like it was one real song and an album of Tyler learning how to play fiddle) and I kinda loved it. But I understood what it was and had the emotional space to explore it a bit. I need to get back into listening to music while I clean every night.

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

8 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Honestly thinking back, this is part of why I didn't listen to it for very long. I'm happy for artists to be creative and do whatever they want with the envelope, but really as a consumer of music I want you to write 20 songs every 2-3 years and put the best/most cohesive 12-15 of them on an album recorded and arranged in the way that you stand by as an artist. I pulled up Hounds and couldn't figure out what the "real" version was supposed to be and then I'm kinda past it.

Although to be fair... Long Violent History was also a weird thing (seems like it was one real song and an album of Tyler learning how to play fiddle) and I kinda loved it. But I understood what it was and had the emotional space to explore it a bit. I need to get back into listening to music while I clean every night.

I just listen to the first mix and forgot the others, but the second one works too.

I thought LVH was a cool concept but I’ve listened to it once.  I don’t enjoy solely instrumental music once.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Al_4_ISU

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

I just meant to say I don’t enjoy purely instrumental music much.  Surly and Twitter really need to make editing easier.

[Celery Man 20932]

that album came out right as we were moving from Austin to North Carolina, and it really lined up well with spending a lot of time in the car and moving to "the south" and near appalachia. I think Zollies Retreat kicked off a rewatch of The Civil War as well.

[hullabelew 3723]

2 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

 

Holy fuckity fuck.  

[jimmyjazz 45889]

5 minutes ago, hullabelew said:

Holy fuckity fuck.  

I listened for about a minute.  That's the TT guy, right?  Did he eventually figure out the key of the song?

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

It’s not Evan’s greatest vocal performance, but a lot of people would tell you those are the two greatest active songwriters on the planet, sharing the stage

[jimmyjazz 45889]

6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

It’s not Evan’s greatest vocal performance, but a lot of people would tell you those are the two greatest active songwriters on the planet, sharing the stage

I'm certainly fine with what I've heard from TT over the years, but I'm not a superfan.  I did happen to catch them at a little outdoor gig in South Austin maybe 12 years ago, seemed like they were almost rockabilly at that time.

[Kennythetiger 9376]

31 minutes ago, hullabelew said:

Holy fuckity fuck.  

Evan looks better without a hat. 

[Kennythetiger 9376]

28 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I listened for about a minute.  That's the TT guy, right?  Did he eventually figure out the key of the song?

I think it’s more of a nod to the event itself, like if Robert Redford and I were on stage together. 

[tbone_ 14112]

Sounds to me like he couldn’t hear the mix because I bet he can sing better than that.

[Celery Man 20932]

15 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Sounds to me like he couldn’t hear the mix because I bet he can sing better than that.

Yeah he gave the universal “something wrong with my mix” signal at the beginning 

[tigol 2395]

That was pretty bad.  He was glued to the prompter, so he probably hadn't even heard the song.

[Ten Bears 2480]

Yeah, that was kinda cringey. That reminded me of the video of wasted Felker right before he imploded (not implying he has relapsed). I have loved TT since the first album and the 6 or so times I have seen them his vocals were hit or miss.  The band was tight af each time though.  I the 1st time I saw them I sat by Kent Finlay at Cheatham Street Warehouse and asked him what he thought of them.  "They are the best young band I have seen in years and they are going to be big."  Pretty high praise indeed.

[hullabelew 3723]

Also, Evan just doesn't have the 'front man' presence like Isbell or Rhett Miller.  Just not in him.....but to see him on stage with Isbell, doing that song.   Plus, those verses probably just aren't in his range.  I loved it, especially watching Isbell and Sadler just be rock guitarists for a bit.  

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

23 hours ago, Ten Bears said:

Yeah, that was kinda cringey. That reminded me of the video of wasted Felker right before he imploded (not implying he has relapsed). I have loved TT since the first album and the 6 or so times I have seen them his vocals were hit or miss.  The band was tight af each time though.  I the 1st time I saw them I sat by Kent Finlay at Cheatham Street Warehouse and asked him what he thought of them.  "They are the best young band I have seen in years and they are going to be big."  Pretty high praise indeed.

Man, that's something else altogether.  Felker just looked nervous and unprepared up there with Isbell - deer in head lights vibes.  The video you referenced looked like a junky on death's door who didn't give a shit if he made to the end of the performance.