Album Review: Sturgill Simpson - A Sailors Guide To Earth

Sturgill Simpson's southern drawl is as down home as ever, but A Sailor's Guide To Earth is an epic tale told on epic scale.

From lush orchestrations to funky organs to Motown horns — and that's all just in the opening song. With a tone that takes big band bombast, but squeezes it into a roadhouse, honky tonk setting, this is the sound of someone trying new things and testing his limits while never turning his back on what got him this far in the first place. Staying true to his country roots, but never being held back by them, Simpson takes some big risks here, and they all pay off.