Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth

Sturgill Simpson has a real talent for taking a ballad and making it smoothly and seamlessly transition into a rocker.  It’s very evident here on his 3^rd album, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.  While his previous albums explored outlaw country, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth takes a different tone from his earlier releases: 2013’s High Top Mountain and 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.  He continues further in the metamodern direction and explores Americana in the style of The Band.  Many people think Sturgill’s voice sounds very similar to Waylon Jennings, but it’s clear he’s not simply doing his Waylon impression on this album.  A Sailor’s Guide to Earth was written as a letter to Sturgill’s two year old son explaining to him about life and real manhood.   Sturgill’s first album on a major record label, Atlantic Records, debuted at #1 on the country, folk, and rock charts and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The lyrics serve as a country lullaby to his young son, set against the sprawling seascape of horns, guitars, and keyboards.  “Breaker’s Roar” is a melancholy, nostalgic song that serves as a warning to his son and highlights themes in Platonic philosophy.  The concluding refrain, “It’s all a dream,” echoes Plato’s dream theory or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” whichever you prefer.  “Sea Stories” illustrates what Sturgill always says in interviews, that you can sing a country song about anything.  In this song alone, he mentions angels competing in a game of Connect 4, traveling through East Asia, and playing Golden Eye on the Nintendo 64.  “In Bloom” is a cover of the Nirvana classic, and Sturgill makes one key addition to the lyrics. He adds, “To love someone,” at the very end.  The message to his son is that you can be sensitive and loving and still be a man.  While there was plenty of melancholy on the album, “Oh Sarah” was the only song that bored me to tears.  It has since been improved on several live versions, including one he performed on Conan O’Brien’s show.  “Call to Arms” is an anti-war song that absolutely rocks and showcases the talent of newcomer Jeff Crow on piano as well as Estonian wonder-kid Laur Joamets on slide guitar.  Sturgill channels his inner John Fogerty both in anti-war fervor and in vocal style, while not overtly copying Creedence.  It is a fitting end to the album. 

From the opening sound of the seagulls calling and the boat creaking amidst the rushing waves on “Welcome to Earth (Polywog)” to the last trumpet trill of “Call to Arms,” Simpson puts funk and psychedelia into country.  Laur Joamets, who grew up playing in metal bands in Estonia, had no problem adjusting to country, and I wonder if there’s anything he can’t do with the guitar.  Just listen to how he mimics the sound of a police siren and a helicopter’s whirling blades near the end of the album’s first single, “Brace for Impact (Live a Little).”  The new direction that Sturgill takes on this album is a mixed success.  Some of it succeeds and some of it falls flat.  Sturgill Simpson has opened new doors and expanded the horizons of country music.  I can’t wait to see where his travels will take him next.