 by Julian Spivey
One of my favorite Sturgill Simpson’s lyrics is: “The most outlaw thing that I’ve ever done is give a good woman a ring” from “Life Ain’t Fair and the World is Mean” off his debut album High Top Mountain. But, there are multiple ways to be an outlaw and I believe Simpson knows this well. Trolling the country music establishment is one way, especially in this day and age. Sure, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings grew their hair out and moved from Nashville to Texas, but had they been equipped with a cell phone that shoots video and a social media page they may have done something like what Simpson did on Wednesday night (Nov. 8) during the CMA Awards in Nashville. The CMAs bills itself as “Country Music’s Biggest Night,” but the man who won the coveted Grammy Award for Best Country Album earlier this year for his third release A Sailor’s Guide to Earth has never been nominated for a CMA, nor invited to appear on its stage. Not all that surprising because Nashville tends to act as if artists like Simpson don’t exist despite top selling albums, waves of sold out venues, performances on “Saturday Night Live” (have you ever seen Luke Bryan on that show?) and a Grammy. This is why Simpson’s brilliant and frankly hilarious decision to busk outside of Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, the venue of the CMAs, during the CMA telecast while taking questions from fans was such a badass outlaw move. Simpson performed on Facebook Live for 48 minutes until his phone battery died. He was accompanied by an open guitar case, his Grammy award (which is my favorite part of the whole thing) and a couple of signs that read: “I don’t take requests, but I take questions about anything you want to talk about … because fascism sucks.” and “Struggling country singer … Anything helps (all donations go to the ACLU). God Bless America.” The questions were being asked by fans via comments on his Facebook Live video and were read to him by someone off camera. He wasn’t joking when he said he would answer anything his fans wanted to talk about. When someone asked him about President Donald Trump, Simpson responded by saying: “He’s a fascist fucking pig and I’m not afraid to say that.” Simpson also answered questions about what he’s been listening too lately – answers included Electric Light Orchestra and Run the Jewels. One of my favorite responses was when someone asked him if being discovered ruined him to which he responded, “I probably will never let that happen … I’m a weird musician, my music’s weird.” He also said he’d likely never make an album that goes mainstream, which is impressive considering he was just nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys alongside mainstream darlings like Adele, Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake. Speaking of Drake, Simpson said he preferred Kanye West when offered the decision “Drake or Kanye.” Most of the Facebook Live video turned out to be Simpson answering these random questions, but he did please fans tuning in to hear him sing (and by the time his phone died more than 79,000 had seen at least a bit of his act) with performances of “Turtles All the Way Down” and “Water in a Well.” Also, right before his phone died he announced that he’d made $13 for the ACLU from tips thrown into his open guitar case. “So, it was all worth it,” he said. It’s nice to know that Sturgill Simpson is always going to remain weird. On a night were country music showcased it’s supposed best of the genre it turns out the real stuff was fucking around in the common area outside the venue.
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