Sturgill Simpson: A Sailor’s Guide to Earth review – hard-hitting country soul

Sturgill Simpson has found a novel way to rebut all the claims that he is the future of Nashville. His third album takes a sharp turn away from the questing, metaphysical country of his second record, bringing on board the Dap-Kings to transform his songs into hard-hitting country soul. Simpson spends much of A Sailor’s Guide to Earth pondering his responsibilities to his young son, but not in a cloying way. The opening Welcome to Earth (Pollywog) is the wonder of new parenthood, but it doesn’t take long for the fear to kick in: “Just stay in school / Stay off the drugs / And keep it between the lines,” he advises over crunchy, funky horns on Keep It Between the Lines, “it don’t have to be like father, like son.” It’s hardly a revolutionary album, but its melding of styles – pedal steel is draped across the songs like Spanish moss, and Estonian guitarist Laur Joamets takes solos off in deliciously unexpected directions, sometimes veering towards space – gives it a fresh, unsullied feeling. Simpson’s writing, too, is fantastic: the eight originals here are all top-notch, not overshadowed by the unexpected and sympathetic cover of Nirvana’s In Bloom.