Sturgill Simpson Debuts “Sing Along,” The Trippy Lead Single From His Upcoming Album, ‘Sound & Fury’

Sturgill Simpson has been one of the most mysterious figures in country music over the course of the past few years. After winning a Grammy for his album Sailor’s Guide To Earth, he’s been largely radio silent aside from his epic busking stunt outside of the CMA Awards and a few random concert appearances.

With fans patiently waiting for new music, Sturgill threw us all a curve ball announcing Sound & Fury at Comic-Con, a “sleazy, steamy, psychedelic, rock n’ roll” record made in collaboration with a Japanese anime film.

That immediately left fans in one of two places… loyal to Sturgill and still willing to appreciate good music for good music, or jumping ship as many of the country traditionalists have.

However now, it’s time for the moment of truth. From Sturgill’s upcoming album Sound & Fury, the first taste of his new sound and the first step in this new adventure, ladies and gentleman… “Sing Along.”

This morning, Sturgill Simpson discussed the new song “Sing Along,” on Zane Lowe‘s World Record on Apple Music’s Beats 1. Here’s what he had to say about the new project:

“We did the Grammys, and I had like a really severe sinus infection which I thought was allergies, and borderline meningitis, and they had to put all this stuff in me so I could go out and sing that night. It was kind of like one of the worst days in my life. So I got stuck out in LA for about three weeks. I couldn’t fly home until I had this sinus surgery and they scraped all my sinus cavities out. So I got to lay out in California for about a month recovering from that. And they gave me all these Percocet and pain pills and stuff that I was not going to go anywhere near. So I just had my buddy Gino bring me a bunch of like medical strength edibles, and I laid in the bed for about a week just high as giraffe balls, and listening to all my old favorite records I hadn’t listened to in decades. And I just sort of realized, you know, you can be a commodity and just making the same record over and over just to appease people and hope they show up and give a shit, or you can just be a musician. And so the guys in my band and I, we just in the last couple of years doing the things we love, which is being a bunch of music geeks who grew up on classic rock, and hip hop, and country music, and blues, and everything, and throwing that into a big melting pot. And we realized the only way we’re going to get paid is to go play shows, so we might as well make it fun for us, and we made a record that was very fun for us. And then I can not wait to get out on the stage and play with my brothers.

I was kind of in a weird spot when we made that record. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this anymore because a lot of the business sides of things, and like some heartbreak and betrayal, and just learning things that you already know. Remind yourself that, you know-It is a dirty toxic industry. And I wanted to express a lot of that. And I was listening to a lot of hip-hop, and Black Sabbath, and The Cars, and old funk records and things. And I think… We were in Detroit while we were making the record, and I was sort of writing it in real time and listening to a lot of Eminem. And I was just like, man, this guy gets to talk mad shit. How come we can’t do that? So I just sat down and wrote a bunch of mad shit talking songs about how fucking awesome we are. And then we recorded it. And then I said, man, this isn’t weird enough. I should probably go to Japan and like get the five most legendary animation directors in history together and get them all drunk and put them to competition to see who can outdo one another and we’ll just animate the whole fucking album. And then that happens and I got the label to pay for it, and then now they want to put a single out. Even though I made a cohesive concept record and a film, we’re putting a song and a cartoon out as a video, which I didn’t want to make. And now I’m talking to Zane Lowe about it. What’s up dog?”

“Sing Along”  is the lead song from his upcoming album, Sound & Fury, set to drop on September 27th.

Sound & Fury Tracklist:

1. Ronin
2. Remember To Breathe
3. Sing Along
4. A Good Look
5. Make Art Not Friends
6. Best Clockmaker On Mars
7. All Said And Done
8. Last Man Standing
9. Mercury In Retrograde
10. Fastest Horse In Town

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