The notion of credibility is a slippery one. When one has it and when one doesn’t is mostly a matter of the fickle sentiment of the masses. You mostly know when you see it and are pretty certain when you don’t. From the first moment Kentucky-bred rock and roll outlaw Sturgill Simpson swaggered onstage at The Met Philly on Tuesday night – his camo shirtsleeves rolled to the elbow, his floppy hair swaying like his home state’s famed bluegrass – it was clear he had nothing to prove, the surest sign that he is very much the real thing. Part alt-country hero, part classic rock guitar god, part burgeoning jam band maestro, and equipped with a voice that can fill every crevice of a massive opera house, Simpson and his band are, after a long three months of tour, clearly firing on all cylinders, much to the delight of packed house.
In what was his first proper set in Philly since his 2016 show at The Fillmore in support of his album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, Simpson showed off just what it is he and his band have been cooking up over the last few months, and it isn’t necessarily what one might expect. Listen, if you were heading to The Met expecting to see your favorite country outlaw fun through his Spotify top ten songs, a few new hits and a handful of deep cuts, this show might not have scratched your particular itch. In fact, it was, by my count, almost an hour and half into the show before Simpson played a single song from his new album Passage du Desir.
Sturgill Simpson | photo by Lisa Schaffer for WXPN
On that record, released back in July via his own independent label High Top Mountain Records, Simpson adopted the persona of Johnny Blue Skies, a kind of laid back ne’er-do-well with a romantic bent that could, perhaps most importantly, allow him to work around his promise to only release five albums under his own name. In practice, Passage du Desir sounds very much like a Sturgill Simpson record, cutting a fine line between cosmic and outlaw country and containing some of his best work to date.
When he did finally arrive at some of the record’s best cuts, which include the tender ballad “If The Sun Never Rises Again,” the vast and heartbreaking “Jupiter’s Fairie,” and the impish barnburner “Scooter Blues,” they did not disappoint, providing a showcase for Simpson’s fiery showmanship. If his Johnny Blue Skies persona – which did not, thankfully, include any kind of overwrought costuming, etc. – provided anything, it was the ability to lose himself as a performer in songs not his own, namely a run of covers which included The Doors’ “LA Woman” and Prince’s “Purple Rain.” These are far from either artists’ deep cuts, but Simpson and his band have, over the course of their Why Not? tour, have clearly honed their skills, expanding upon the brilliance of these iconic songs and finding a groove all their own.
Sturgill Simpson | photo by Lisa Schaffer for WXPN
Groove is a keyword in describing Tuesday’s night show. Simpson has clearly, above all else, entered the jamband phase of his career as a live performer. I can’t say for sure how many members of the audience were quite prepared for the over three-hour spectacle that has become a Sturgill Simpson show, but watching how the ebb and flow and the crowd was a sight in and of itself. Like one of those old depression-era dance contests, there is a level of pure endurance, for both performer and audience, involved in such a marathon.
By the time Simpson and his band let their final guitar lines float out into the dark reaches of the brisk November night, no one could conceivably be left wanting more. “I’m just a dude playing music with some other dudes,” Sturgill said during one of the few moments of stage banter. But he was wrong, he’s not just some dude, he is the dude, and no one is likely to forget it.