Sturgill Simpson will be releasing a new concept album, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, digitally and on CD on August 20th, vinyl release will be December 3rd. This is the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter’s third album in twelve months and his most ambitious project to date.
“I just wanted to write a story—not a collection of songs that tell a story, but an actual story, front to back,” says Simpson. He describes the concept album as a “rollercoaster ride through all the styles of traditional country and bluegrass and mountain music that I love, including gospel and a cappella.” Written and recorded in less than a week, the new album features the same ace musicians who played on last year’s Cuttin’ Grass albums and is what Simpson calls “a simple tale of either redemption or revenge.”
In a career marked by risk-taking and rule-breaking, Simpson has previously challenged genre conventions with 2016’s soul-inflected A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, which won the Grammy award for Country Album of the Year and was nominated for Album of the Year, and 2019’s Sound & Fury, which was nominated for Rock Album of the Year.
Simpson is currently on location filming his role in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming movie Killers of the Flower Moon.
Track listing:
1. Prologue
2. Ol’ Dood (part I)
3. One In the Saddle, One On the Ground
4. Shamrock
5. Played Out
6. Sam
7. Juanita (featuring Willie Nelson)
8. Go In Peace
9. Epilogue
10.Ol’ Dood (part II)
