Sturgill Simpson Bluegrass Album ‘Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1′ Coming

Well, Sturgill Simpson was planning to surprise all our asses this Friday, October 16th by releasing his long-anticipated bluegrass record full of acoustic interpretations of some of his most favored songs, but torrent sites in Europe screwed it all up by leaking it early, and now that cats out of the bag.

Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 The Butcher Shoppe Sessions will be arriving on Friday (or Thursday night Central time and parts west) Sturgill has confirmed, with 20 Sturgill Simpson cuts interpreted bluegrass style. Simpson challenged his fans to raise money for The Special Forces Foundation and various other charities through May and June, incentivizing them by promising to play a live stream, and release a new record if they reached certain goals. He subsequently performed a bluegrass set at the Ryman Auditorium in June (see below), and in the midst of cutting this record at The Butcher Shoppe recording studio in Nashville.

“Y’all raised Scrooge McDuck pile of $$$ to help a lot of people in need and I promised you a record this year,” Sturgill said. “So I’m taking a detour from the five album plan to cut my entire back catalogue of songs for you guys the way they were written and meant to be played … ruff, rugged, n’ raw … Get your Zyrtec ready cuz we cuttin’ that grass.”

Along with many songs from Sturgill’s four solo records, the songs “I Wonder,” “All The Pretty Colors,” and “Sometimes Wine” come from Sturgill Simpson’s early band Sunday Valley, and their out-of-print album To The Wind And On To Heaven, giving fans studio versions of these songs the may have never heard before.

Joining Sturgill Simpson are bluegrass pickers Stuart Duncan, Mike Bub, Sierra Hull, Scott Vestal, Tim O’Brien and Mark Howard. Sturgill’s drummer Miles Miller was also part of the session. It was produced by David “Ferg” Ferguson. Hypothetically, a Volume #2 could also be on the way in the future.

The album is being released on High Top Mountain Records via Thirty Tigers. No pre-order link is available at the moment.

Tracklist:

01. All Around You (3:09)
02. All the Pretty Colors (2:19)
03. Breakers Roar (2:30)
04. I Don’t Mind (4:30)
05. I Wonder (3:15)
06. Just Let Go (3:02)
07. Life Ain’t Fair (2:01)
08. A Little Light (1:44)
09. Life of Sin (2:18)
10. Long White Line (2:21)
11. Living the Dream (2:31)
12. Old King Coal (2:53)
13. Railroad of Sin (2:13)
14. Sitting Here Without You (1:56)
15. Sometimes Wine (3:56)
16. The Storm (2:31)
17. Time After All (2:14)
18. Turtles All the Way Down (2:19)
19. Voices (3:38)
20. Water in a Well (3:47)

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