Review: A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

A Sailor’s Guide to Earth. Sturgill Simpson. Atlantic Recording Corporation. April 15, 2016. Alt. Country. $9.99.

On A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, Sturgill Simpson takes listeners on a stormy voyage through the rough seas of childhood and young adulthood all the while covering a wide range of sounds and textures. The album finds Simpson branching out even further lyrically and sonically than his previous efforts, and the results are scary good. The combination of all the different instruments and music styles mixed with Simpson’s smooth tenor come together almost perfectly creating an actual album vibe, as opposed to most of today’s albums, which play more like a collection of songs.

Simpson’s previous efforts have garnered him high-praise from the “real” Country fans and critics, with some even proclaiming him a sort of Country-music savior. Apparently Simpson didn’t quite get that memo and instead enlisted the horn section of The Dap-Kings and added strings to almost every song on the album. The album is also a bit of a concept record as well. Simpson has called it a, “letter to his son”. This may sound a bit preachy, but at no point in the album does it feel that way.

That’s not to say that fans of his previous albums will be disappointed. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth features a boat-load of slide-guitar, churned out exceptionally by Simpson’s guitar player, Laur Joamets. Joamets employs an arsenal of different tones to keep it all weird and interesting.

Also, Sturgill’s Kentucky-soaked vocals are on fine display throughout this adventure of an album. Simpson has stated that one of his biggest influences is Otis Redding, and that side of his voice seems to come out more on this album. My first time listening to Simpson, I thought he sounded a lot like Waylon Jennings. Now the best way I can describe his vocals would be if Redding and Jennings someone merged their vocal styles together, then Sturgill Simpson is what you would get.

Lyrically, Simpson seems to have a lot more to say on this album than on previous albums. His voice seems to be part offering warnings to his son, and part reliving the days of his youth and young adulthood.

The album begins with the soothing sounds of the ocean and then takes the listener on a nine-song adventure of the world through Simpson’s eyes. Standout tracks include “Breakers Roar”, “Keep It Between The Lines”, “Sea Stories”, and a fresh take on Nirvana’s “In Bloom”. Really all the songs on this album are good and most feature cool segues from track to track. “Keep It Between the Lines” begins with what sounds like a group of sailors out on the water performing sea chant. The chant fades into the mighty horns of The Dap-Kings who mimic the sailor’s chant on their horns without missing a beat.

The album ends with a banger of a song named “Call to Arms” and features some powerful anti-establishment lyrics. Before becoming a musician, Simpson spent some time in the U.S Navy, and he seems to be finally getting a few things off his chest on “Call to Arms” about his thoughts on the military machine. Songs like this will further separate Simpson from the traditional Country fold, but judging by some of bombs Simpson drops on this album, I don’t think he gives any fucks at all.

Syria, Afganistan, Iraq and Iran

North Korea, tell me where does it end

The bodies keep piling everyday

How many more of them they gonna send

They send our sons and daughters off to die for some oil

and to control the heroin

Son I hope you don’t grow up believing that you have to

be a puppet to be a man

They’ll cut off your hair and put a patch on your arm

And strip you of your identity

Tell you to keep your mouth shut boy and get in line

To go and meet your maker overseas

Wearing that Kim Jong Il hat while your Grandma’s

selling pills stat

Meanwhile I’m wearing my can’t pay my fucking bills hat

Nobody’s looking up to care about a drone

We’re all too busy looking down at our phone

Our ego’s begging for food like a dog from our feed

Refreshing obsessively until our eyes start to bleed

They serve up distractions and we eat them with fries

Until the bombs fall out of our fucking skies

This song just presents one example of the weight behind this album lyrically. Simpson wasn’t afraid to take risks and speak his mind on this album even more so than on his previous albums. It will be interesting to see if Simpson explores more of this side of his lyrics or returns to more Traditional-Country topics.

A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is a brash, bold and magnificently crafted album. Simpson has really branched out on this adventure and has created something unique and special. Lyrically and musically Simpson wasn’t afraid to write and play a style that suited him instead of just going with the flow of what was expected. Who would have thought that a Country, Soul, Rock, R and B, Classical, Nautical, slide-guitar soaked smorgasbord would produce such an impressive and cohesive album? His name is Sturgill Simpson.