All hail Stu… I mean Johnny Blue Skies.
Since the creation of the Johnny Blue Skies verified Instagram account, the Jackson, Kentucky native has kept fans on a hook waiting for the announcement of a new single or new record.
Back in September, Johnny Blue Skies, AKA Sturgill Simpson, created a new Instagram page. This is the first official account Sturgill Simpson has created since wiping out most of his social media accounts. Of course, some followers of the “Living the Dream” artist might be familiar with @wherethef**kissturgillsimpson, a great account that frequently shares news and clips from the artist.
After fans noticed the verified page, it didn’t take long for a post to appear. Without fail, it was a cryptic message. Shortly after posting the cryptic image, which many assumed was related to an announcement of sorts, Sturgill confirmed during the second night of Red Rocks that they had just wrapped up recording a record.
“F*** it, I’ll tell you. Just so you guys know, we’re already gearing up… You ain’t ready, but we’re going to give it to you anyway. We just wrapped up a nice little… a new record… in the can.
And for all the record labels out there acting like record labels that want to f*** around, F*** AROUND. Find out. I want to make America f*** again!”
@whiskeyriff Come on with it. // 🎥: bknorskn (IG) #whiskeyriff #sturgillsimpson #johnnyblueskies #redrocks ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff
During his Red Rocks run, Simpson also unveiled a new band name for his alter ego. Sturgill Simpson is backed by one hell of a band, featuring talent like Laur Joamets on guitar, Kevin Black on bass, Miles Miller on drums, and Robbie Crowell on keyboards. Miles and Black have been running around with Simpson since the start of his career, and so their band is a true family unit.
“I realized I got backstage and it’s all my fault. Tonight was the first time we’ve ever put Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds on the ticket. I’m a f***ing jedi, I’m on my manifest s***. I should have told you sooner. Alright, let’s get back to it.”
To reflect that, Johnny Blue Skies will no longer be a solo act name, and they will be known as Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds moving forward. And based on the latest post from the JBS account, he’s telling fans they need to refer to him by that name moving forward.
In a meme using a still shot from the original Ghostbusters film (1984), Johnny Blue Skies makes it very clear that he is no longer Sturgill Simpson.
While this is purely speculative, I wonder if this post is a final reminder to fans not to say phrases like “I can’t wait to hear the new Sturgill Simpson record” or similar sentences.
While there has not yet been a formal announcement about the record that Blue Skies mentioned at Red Rocks, it appears that JBS & The Dark Clouds might be gearing up to share something with fans. I hope we get a clue as to what’s in the pipeline soon. New JBS music in 2026 sounds like a dream…
Who Is Johnny Blue Skies?
The voice behind Johnny Blue Skies is one that country fans are all too familiar with- Sturgill Simpson. The Grammy winner is undoubtedly one of the best – and most influential – artists of the last decade. His albums, like High Top Mountain and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, ushered in a new era in “Americana music.”
(The use of quotes is because we don’t feel that subgenre is entirely accurate… but hey, it’s got to be somewhat politically correct here, I guess.)
Sturgill has long promised that he would release only five albums, and he reaffirmed that promise with the release of #5, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita. But he did not say that he wouldn’t continue making music under a new name. Lo and behold, Johnny Blue Skies.
After unveiling his new identity, Simpson sat down with GQ and first revealed the shallow reason he went with Johnny Blue Skies:
“When I was about 21 years old, there used to be this bar in Lexington, Kentucky with this bartender named Dave who was like Silent Bob and Charles Bukowski, literally in the long trench coat, and he could do way more Zippo tricks than anybody should know.
When I started performing and getting my confidence at open mics and stuff, he’d come to this other bar and see me because it was his night off. And he started every time I’d walk into his bar, he’d say, ‘Johnny Blue Skies.’ So I just started using it.”
It’s a shallow yet profound answer to the question. However, the reason why he went all in on Johnny Blue Skies is the deeper – and my preferred – story. Simpson elaborated that as his celebrity grew more and more over the years, he associated with the name Sturgill less and less:
“I’d be at an airport or a restaurant, and I’d hear somebody say my name and I’d turn around and realize I had no idea who the person is. All of a sudden, I’d hear that name, and it was like it didn’t belong to me. It was just a commodity or a brand. Sturgill served his purpose, but he’s dead, he’s gone, and I’m definitely not that guy anymore. That’s why I put that skeleton face on that (reissued) cover of Metamodern. I just can’t even relate.”
I mean, it’s a simple answer that is both shallow and incredibly complex in the same breath.
Though that explanation explains the “how” of Johnny Blue Skies, it still doesn’t pull back the curtain on the “who”. Simpson made sure to address that in the interview as well, and said that Johnny Blue Skies is (or complexly) whoever you wish him or imagine him to be:
“He’s anybody you want him to be, man. He’s a mythological hero, come to usher us into this new era of love and light.”
Fire up a tune or two from his latest project, Passage Du Desir, while you’re here.
“Who I Am”
