Sturgill Simpson showing his Kentucky roots.
Last night, “Johnny Blue Skies” had a stop along his 2024 Why Not? Tour in Rogers, Arkansas. Sturgill – born in Jackson, KY – is evidently a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats. And if you thought he wasn’t going to bring up Kentucky basketball while playing at The Walmart Amp in Arkansas, you’d be wrong.
There’s a pretty big connection now between the basketball programs of Arkansas and Kentucky, since John Calipari left the Wildcats (he had previously signed a lifetime contract with them) and took over at head coach for the Razorbacks. The “Calipari Experience” had likely run its course in the Bluegrass State anyways, but it’ll still be weird to not see him on the UK sidelines – and instead see him actively coaching against his former team in the SEC.
Sturgill was well aware of all of that, and being a Kentucky fan, he decided to poke the bear a bit while he was playing in Razorback Country. So during his set, while he was introducing his band, he mentioned that his drummer was a representative of Big Blue Nation:
“Back here representing them ‘Go Cats!’ on the drums, Miles Miller.”
And let me tell you, the boos started reigning down on Sturgill and his band. Johnny Big Blue Nation Skies let the crowd get the disdain out of their system for a bit, then attempted to settle them down… and only made it worse by trash talking and shouting out Kentucky’s new head coach:
“Don’t be mad. Don’t be mad. You had your chance, now Calipari is gone. Now get ready to get that ass whooped. You know what’s coming. I’m just saying. Mark Pope ain’t f***ing around, okay? Not to mix business with politics.”
Shortly after, the crowd retaliated by throwing a couple “Woo Pig Sooie” chants. It made for quite the interesting fan-artist interaction, and in the defense of those in attendance, Sturgill started it:
@kentuckysportsradio Strugill Simpson let Arkansas fans know Mark Pope is not “messing around” 😂 #bbn #kentuckybasketball #arkansas #arkansasrazorbacks #kentuckywildcats ♬ original sound – KSR
Here’s another video of the crowd calling the hogs:
@jackson_martin_music Nobody is safe from calling the hogs ##sturgillsimpson##fyp ♬ original sound – Jackson Martin
