The second album from Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds (Sturgill Simpson) called ‘Mutiny After Midnight’ is not officially out until March 13th. But it’s fair to wonder if that March 13th date is relevant now.
Leave it to Sturgill Simpson to do the most Sturgill Simpson things possible when releasing his latest album “Mutiny After Midnight,” officially recorded under his pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds.
The upshot is that the album was recorded with his touring band, self-produced and written on the spot, and that he considers it a, “a dance record,” a “protest,” and “pure, unfiltered, unapologetic, relentless disco-hedonism.”
It looks like Sturgill Simpson, or “Johnny Blue Skies” as he goes by now will likely have new music in 2026. And according to the singer and guitarist for The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach, don’t be surprised if he’s involved.
Sturgill Simpson (or Johnny Blue Skies) capped off a cold, but action packed weekend in Texas at the Two Step Inn Festival just north of Austin. It was a truncated, but inspired and untethered festival set.
So much for retirement. Those who’ve seen Simpson live can attest that he’s having too much damn fun at the moment with the reconstituted lineup of his legendary band to stay home.
It’s time to engage in one of the most important exercises all year: determining who and what will be crowned the Album of the Year in 2024. The point of this exercise is not to devolve music into a competition.
For the first time in three years, Sturgill Simpson took the stage to perform a full set of music. And for the first time in an even longer period he took the stage with guitarist Laur Joamets, Kevin Black on bass, and Miles Miller on drums.
You better like Country music with a ‘C’ because it’s coming at you hard and heavy in this playlist update. It includes tons of upbeat twang just in time for the heart of the summer, and just as country has never been hotter.
As much as the new name and the new album open a new season for Sturgill, it’s also perhaps the most Sturgill Simpson thing he has ever done. It’s country, but expanded, enlightened, and uninhibited.
When you have Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings, and Megan Moroney releasing highly anticipated albums on the same week, as well as William Michael Morgan making a return, and Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen…
Simpson has announced a slew of new tour dates, as well as an album under the Johnny Blue Skies name. It’s probably a good bet that it will be a conceptualized song cycle of some sort.