Imagine just kickin’ back, and shootin’ the sh*t with Sturgill Simpson?
It’s no secret that Simpson is a music legend in the state of Kentucky, and would be a dream hangout and collaboration for not only any Kentucky artist, but just about any music artist in the world.
This dream became a reality for Kentucky country artist Brit Taylor, when she met him in the backstage dressing room of the Grand Ole Opry.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the two connected almost immediately… but it wasn’t over music.
Believe it or not, it was actually over karate.
Taylor recalled the crazy conversation, telling the outlet:
“Everybody had left the dressing room, so it was just me and Sturgill and his son. His son had on a jacket with a martial arts dragon, so I just looked at him and said, ‘I bet you like karate.’
His eyes got big. Sturgill’s eyes got big and he looked at me and said, ‘What do you know about karate?’ And I was like, ‘Well, my daddy is a tenth-degree black belt and I’m a second-degree black belt. I’ve studied Pa-Kua and Tai Chi.’
So we just hit it off right there. I told him where I was from (Knott County), who my folks were and we bonded over Kentucky and martial arts.
I remember leaving that night thinking, ‘Well, Sturgill has no idea I can sing or write a song but by God he knows I can whoop somebody’s butt.’”
That’s the most Sturgill thing ever if I’ve ever heard it. Hitting it off with a fellow musician over something that has absolutely nothing to do with music.
And sure enough, that conversation led to Sturgill producing Taylor’s next record, Kentucky Blue which dropped on February 3rd, along with veteran studio engineer and producer, David Ferguson.
She weighed in on how she wanted her new record to sound a certain way, and she felt like sticking with these two producers was the best direction, considering Nashville wouldn’t let her pursue the sound she wants:
“I had been trying to figure out what I wanted this next record to sound like and who I wanted to make it with, so I had meetings with different producers just trying to sort everything out. I got to the point where it felt like nobody really understood what I wanted to do.
Nashville is a town known for chasing certain sounds, but I didn’t really want to chase any sounds other than my own. I didn’t feel like anybody really got that.”
And Sturgill’s endorsement was quite simple:
“If I didn’t like the music I wouldn’t produce it.”
Stu always right to the point… gotta love it.
Needless to say, the project was a phenomenal success… a shoo-in to land on a number of different album of the year charts.
Here’s a couple favorites:
“No Cowboys”
“If You Don’t Wanna Love Me”
