Sturgill Simpson, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, 2021 on High Top Mountain Records

The seventh studio album from Sturgill Simpson with guest Willie Nelson on “Juanita.” A concept album set in Kentucky during the Civil War, this may be the last album under his own name.

I just love Simpson’s approach to music and composition as well as the whole band here, which includes: Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan, Scott Vestal, Tim O’Brien, Mike Bub, Mark Howard, Sam Bacco, Jelly Roll Johnson, Russ Pahl, and Miles Miller. (Bob Clement gets credited for “tacos, soup beans, brownies”).

My copy, via a private sale, is the 2022 “indie exclusive” on “natural” vinyl.

Sturgill Simpson, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 2: The Cowboy Arms Sessions, 2020 on High Top Mountain

Follow up to Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1, released a couple of months later. More bluegrass renditions of Simpson’s catalog.

The band again includes many well known bluegrass musicians: Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Miles Miller, Mark Howard, Tim O’Brien, Scott Vestal,and Mike Bub.

Although there isn’t an explicit recorded-at credit, The Cowboy Arms is Jack Clement’s studio in Nashvile. (Mark Howard and the Cowboy Arms link this release to Townes Van Zandt’s At My Window I posted earlier this week).

My copy is the “Indie Retail” edition on blue and white swirl vinyl with a “glow in the dark” jacket. Via a record fair at Mill No. 5.

#2020 #2020s #Bluegrass #CowboyArms #HighTopMountainRecords #JackClement #MarkHoward #MikeBub #MilesMiller #millNo5 #ScottVestal #SierraHull #StuartDuncan #SturgillSimpson #TimOBrien #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Sturgill Simpson, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions), 2020 on High Top Mountain Records

Sturgill Simpson is one of my favorite contemporary artists, who generally gets classified as a Country artist but here breaks out into bluegrass. The Butcher Shoppe is actually a studio in Nashville set up by David Ferguson and John Prine. (There’s also a Nashville studio called The Butcher Shop, operated by Butch Walker).

The band includes Scott Vestal, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Miles Miller, Mark Howard, and Tim O’Brien – some very strong bluegrass bona fides in that room.

These are bluegrass versions of Sturgill Simpson songs, so you get “Turtles All The Way Down” and “Life Ain’t Far and the World is Mean” and “Sitting Here Without You.”

My copy via a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA

#2020 #2020s #Bluegrass #HighTopMountainRecords #LowellMA #MarkHoward #millNo5 #ScottVestal #SierraHull #StuartDuncan #SturgillSimpson #TimOBrien #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds