Sturgill Simpson has always eluded to the fact that he only planned on making five albums, all inspired by different emotions we feel throughout certain seasons of life.
Before he went ghost on social media, he posted on Instagram a few years back that his albums would be based around:
“The traditional Christian narrative the journey of a human soul and inspired entirely by a Kris Kristofferson chorus I heard one day while stoned out of my mind when I was 33 years old.”
With the release of his phenomenal concept album, The Ballad Of Dood & Juanita, that makes five… and Stu, he’s a man of his word.
In a new interview with USA Today, Sturgill once again confirmed that Sturgill Simpson the solo artist is done making studio albums.
“I feel like the last 10 years have been amazing but my bucket list is pretty checked off. I wrote the albums I’ve written because I lived 36 years before I made ’em. I feel like I wanna go do some living and some other challenges.
I’m just at a point where I don’t want to do it unless I got something to say and I’m really excited about it. I’ll put it this way, if I go back into the studio it’ll be because I thought of the complete and total reinvention that gets me excited.
But it won’t be my name. I’m done with that all that.”
So with “Dood” being the final album in the Sturgill Simpson saga, and a unique concept album nonetheless, where did he get the inspiration for an old Western to be the final piece to the puzzle?
None other than filmmaker Martin Scorsese, whose upcoming western movie Killers of the Flower Moon features Simpson himself.
“‘Dood’ wouldn’t exist without ‘Flower Moon.’ Seeing Marty’s process in terms of trimming fat, you gotta have a good internal editor. Is this serving the story or your ego?”
According to Sydney News Today, that mindset was what Sturgill carried into the studio:
“It was surreal, challenging in a way I hadn’t personally felt for a long time, and very educational in a very short time. How the man works, and his skills.
Everything that doesn’t provide a story only provides an ego, so we need to get rid of it. That’s why we entered the studio with that spirit on this record.”
As far as the story itself goes, Sturgill calls it a simple tale of love and revenge:
“It’s a real simple tale of love and revenge but, to me, the music was taking it as far back to my family and cultural roots as far as I could.”
Although the man said his solo music career is finished, on top of the fact that he’s recovering from a vocal hemorrhage right now, Killers of the Flower Moon may have given him a newfound love for songwriting.
And of course, we all know that Sturgill hates playing by the rules and loves to keep us guessing, so you never know what the future may hold for one of the greatest singer/songwriters on the planet at the moment.
Who knows… maybe we’ll see a “Dood & Juanita” movie on the silver screen as well.
“Now I’m trying to figure out how I’m gonna con somebody into giving me a bunch of money to make a feature film, or maybe a play adaptation. Broadway would make more sense. Then I could write more music and flesh out the in-between.”
I’m here for it…
Killers Of The Flowers Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Brendan Fraser, Lily Gladstone, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and more, is expected to be released sometime in 2022.
