Photo by Rafik Greiss
Grammy Award-winning rock, country and Americana superstar Sturgill Simpson has made a fresh start under a new name: Johnny Blue Skies, releasing his debut album, Passage Du Desir, on July 12th on his own label, High Top Mountain Records. Produced by Johnny Blue Skies himself and David Ferguson (Johnny Cash, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson), the eight-track album was recorded at Clement Recording Studios in Nashville and Abbey Road Studios in London.
Regarding his new artist name, Johnny Blues Skies, he said:
“I first used the name on the booklet artwork for the album A Sailor’s Guide To Earth, and then again in the opening credits of the animated film Sound & Fury, where I wrote “A Johnny Blue Skies Production”. It was a nickname given to me by a bartender in the early 2000s. Having accomplished my original plan of recording five albums as “Sturgill”, I decided it would be a good name to continue my work under.”
Regarding the album “Passage Du Désir,” he said, “I feel that musically, this is the most ‘me’ album I’ve ever made. I think this album contains a little bit of everything I’ve done on my other albums.”
Since his album debut in 2013 with “High Top Mountain,” he has released five albums to date: “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music” in 2014, “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” in 2016, “Sound & Fury” in 2019, and “The Ballad Of Dood And Juanita” in 2021. In addition, in 2020, he released two other project albums, “Cuttin’ Grass Vol.1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions” and “Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 2: The Cowboy Arms Sessions.”
Throughout his unique career, he has consistently defied expectations, receiving widespread praise and countless accolades. His breakthrough sophomore album, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, was nominated for his first Grammy Award in 2014, and he has publicly declared himself a fan of everyone from John Mayer to Keith Urban. In 2017, he was nominated for six Grammy Awards across four genres, including rock, country, bluegrass, and Americana, and won Best Country Album for A Sailor’s Guide To Earth.
He also served at the Yokosuka Base of the US Navy, and is known to have deep ties with Japan and is a great Japanophile. His first music video, “Railroad Of Sin” (13), was shot in Tokyo. For the production of Netflix’s “Sturgill Simpson: Sound & Fury,” which combines his fourth album “Sound & Fury” (19) with anime, he hired top Japanese creators such as Junpei Mizusaki of Kamikaze Douga, who worked on “Batman Ninja” and “SAND LAND,” and Koji Morimoto, known for his work on “The Animatrix” and “Akira.”
When he was based at Yokosuka Base in the 1990s, he attended Fuji Rock as an audience member. He saw Rage Against the Machine and other acts, and in 2017, he took to the stage at Fuji Rock as an artist. His eyes sparkle as he says that the next time he comes to Japan, he wants to “go to Ebisu Yokocho, take a walk in Yoyogi Park, and visit the new fish market.”
In addition to his work as a musician, Simpson is also an actor, and has brought his unique personality to the film and television world, appearing in Jim Jarmusch’s ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ (2019), ‘Queen & Slim’ (2019), ‘The Hunt’ (2020), Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (23), ‘The Creator’ (23), and the HBO comedy ‘The Righteous Gemstones’.
release information
Johnny Blue Skies
Album “Passage Du Desir” now available
Streaming link:https://orcd.co/hdf198
Label: High Top Mountain Records
Follow Sturgill Simpson:
Website: https://sturgillsimpson.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sturgillsimpson
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