Thursday, June 19, 2014

STURGILL SIMPSON’S “THE PROMISE” VIDEO PREMIERES AT NPR MUSIC


“Best New Country Badass.”—Rolling Stone

“It is the best country record of the year, hands down. That is, if you can even call it country. Frankly, I don’t know what it is, except for brilliant…”—Esquire

“We’ll be lucky to hear a stronger album—country or otherwise—this year.”—The Washington Post

“…will endure as one of this young century’s best traditionalist country records.”—Stereogum 

Sturgill Simpson’s music video for “The Promise” premiered yesterday at NPR Music and can now be viewed/embedded here. Of the video NPR Music praises, “…portrays the country singer as a struggling light in a murky void.” The song is from Simpson’s highly acclaimed sophomore album, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, which is out now on High Top Mountain Records (iTunesAmazonBandcamp). In celebration of the release, Simpson will make his network television debut on Monday, July 14 performing on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Of Metamodern Sounds in Country MusicRolling Stone heralds, “Sounds Like: Merle Haggard with a stack of books on cosmology and metaphysics,” while Garden & Gun praises, “Metamodern is what country music should sound like.” Moreover, The Washington Post calls him, “Country music’s most exciting new outsider” and The Wall Street Journal describes, “the album salts old-school country, bluegrass and gospel sounds with hints of psychedelia and even electronica—although fans of his authentic-country cred aren't likely to be disappointed.” In addition to this critical acclaim, Simpson is nominated for “Emerging Artist of the Year” at the 2014 Americana Honors & Awards.

Simpson will continue his expansive tour this summer and fall, including a series of shows with Zac Brown Band. See below for complete details. Widely renowned for his live shows, Rolling Stone selected his SXSW performance as one of their “48 Best Things We Saw at SXSW 2014,” praising, “After a 14-hour drive to town, his band killed, seemingly without breaking a sweat.” Simpson also recently performed on the BBC’s “Later Live with Jools Holland” and “Later…with Jools Holland” as well as on American Public Media’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Produced once again by friend and trusted collaborator Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Lindi Ortega, Jamey Johnson), Metamodern Sounds In Country Music was recorded live-to-tape at Nashville’s LCS studio over four days in late 2013. For the recording, Simpson was joined by his touring band—bassist Kevin Black, guitarist Laur Joamets and drummer Miles Miller. Of the album, Simpson comments, “Myriad worldly offerings—religion, drugs, and more—all claim to be the omnipotent universal truth, but in my experience, love is the only certainty. That’s what this record is about.”

Simpson’s portrait on the album cover was designed by friend and painter Jason Seiler, who is perhaps best known for illustrating Pope Francis forTIME Magazine’s 2013 “Person of the Year” issue in addition to contributing art to publications such as The New York TimesRolling Stone andThe Wall Street Journal.

STURGILL SIMPSON TOUR DATES
June 29                                                            Pilton, UK                                       Glastonbury Festival
                        July 3                                                              Quincy, CA                             High Sierra Music Festival                       
July 9                                                            New York, NY                                      Bowery Ballroom*
July 10 & 11                                                 Holmdel, NJ                                PNC Bank Arts Center†
 July 12                                                      Burgettstown, PA                              First Niagara Pavilion†
  July 17                                                    Bowling Green, KY                   The Warehouse at Mt. Victor
 July 18                                                           Cincinnati, OH                                           Buckle Up Fest
  July 19                                                      Los Angeles, CA                   KCRW’s Country in the City‡
July 24                                                             London, U.K.                                                    Bush Hall
July 25                                                           Sheffield, U.K.                                          The Greystones
July 26                                                            Perth, U.K.                                Southern Fried Festival#
July 27                                                   Amsterdam, Netherlands                                              Paradiso
 August 7                                                           St. Louis, MO                                              Off Broadway
  August 8                                                         Appleton, WI                                  Mile of Music Festival
 August 14                                                Schwenksville, PA                         Philadelphia Folk Festival
 August 16 & 17                                            Gilford, NH                Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion†
 August 21 & 22                                           Toronto, ON                 Molson Canadian Amphitheatre†
 August 23                                                Darien Center, NY      Darien Lake Performing Arts Center†
  August 24                                              Saratoga Springs, NY         Saratoga Performing Arts Center†
 August 29                                                      Bethel, NY                 Bethel Woods Center for the Arts†
August 30                                                    Wantagh, NY                    Nikon at Jones Beach Theater†
 September 6                                                Maryville, TN             Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson
September 11                                               Los Angeles, CA                                       The Troubadour
September 13                                                 Naches, WA                                           Chinook Festival
   September 19 & 20                                       Bristol, TN                  Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival
September 30                                               Nottingham, UK                                                  The Maze
            October 1                                                      Bishopston, UK                                       St. Bonaventure’s           
October 2                                                        Liverpool, UK                                                            Leaf
October 3                                                      Cork, Ireland                                       Triskel Arts Centre
October 4                                                     Dublin, Ireland                                                      Whelans
October 5                                                        Glasgow, UK                                                     Oran Mor
October 6                                                   Gateshead, UK                                    The Sage Gateshead
October 26                                                  Nashville, TN                                 Ryman Auditorium**
 November 6                                                 Durham, NC              Durham Performing Arts Center**

*supporting Pokey LaFarge
†supporting Zac Brown Band
‡supporting Gregg Allman
#supporting Steve Earle
**supporting Jason Isbell

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