Since breaking through in 2014 with his Grammy nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music album, Sturgill Simpson has established himself as one of the most daring and most acclaimed artists of our time. His music stretches across genres and styles, from the psychedelic soul of 2016’s A Sailor’s Guide To Earth (Grammy nominated for Album of the Year and winner for Best Country Album) to the fuzzed-out rock attack of Sound & Fury in 2019.
Now Simpson returns to the music of his native Kentucky with his first bluegrass project, Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions). The album, which he calls “a mixtape for the fans,” was dreamed up while he was home recovering from Coronavirus, and sees him reimagining songs from across his catalogue backed by some of Nashville’s finest acoustic virtuosos or as he refers to them “bona fide wizards.”
“All the songs I’ve ever written were written on one guitar, my old Martin D-28, and sung in a fashion that’s probably closer to bluegrass than to anything else,” Simpson explains. “I had it in my mind for a long time that someday I want to cut as many of these songs as possible in this fashion, just organic and stripped down to the raw bones of the composition…”
Players:
Sturgill Simpson – vocals, rhythm guitar
Sierra Hull – mandolin, vocals
Mike Bub – bass
Stuart Duncan – fiddle, vocals
Scott Vestal – banjo, vocals
Tim O’Brien – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals
Mark Howard – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals
Miles Miller – percussion, vocals
Produced by: David Ferguson
