A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Atlantic
2016
Rating: 7 empty bottles out of 10
On "A Sailor's Guide to Earth," there is a song called "Sea Stories" that really turned my ear - "Maybe get high, play a little GoldenEye on that old 64." It might seem like a somewhat minor line, and definitely reminds me of college, but to me it's another pebble on the mountain of evidence that Sturgill Simpson is running in a different direction from typical modern country. The fact that the very next song is a cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" is even further proof. He countrifies the cover up so well though that if you weren't familiar with the original (I'm assuming these people exist somewhere, mostly very young or only recently revived from a coma) you'd think it just another of his songs - songs that sound mainstream, or at least what should be mainstream if modern country wasn't just regular pop music with an occasional slide guitar. The best track, "All Around You," features a horn section (the Dap Kings!, and they're actually on a number of songs here) and is as much a soul song as it is country. This is a good record, worthy of your attention, especially if you have any interest in non-pop country at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment