Jessica Simpson is Back, And Bad as Ever.

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If you’re a conscientious fan of country music, it’s likely you’re frustrated and crestfallen a little bit that some of your favorite artists don’t seem to be able to get the attention they deserve, including some performers who aren’t able to launch sustainable careers, let alone find success in the business. If you want a perfect example of why some of these gross inequities pervade the music industry, one great example is the way the return of Jessica Simpson to music has been so slavishly lauded by the press.

At SXSW in Austin earlier in March, it was the reality star, actress, semi pop star, and lifestyle brand maven that received more buzz and attention than any other performer at the event that literally draws thousands of performers to central Texas. Forget that the annual gathering is actually meant to highlight unsigned and/or up-and-coming artists to get them on the radar of managers, labels, booking agents, promoters, publicists, and journalists. It was Jessica Simpson and her estimated net worth of $200 million that sucked up the most attention.

For the uninitiated, Jessica Simpson had a fairly successful pop music career starting in the late 90s into the early 00s. Though she was overshadowed by bigger stars of the day such as Brittany Spears, she had some hits, and eventually sold about 30 million records. Later she would become more famous for being famous, staring in a reality TV series, making brand endorsements, and playing Daisy Duke in the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard movie reboot.

But despite early success, the public started to sour on Jessica Simpson. She got a divorce from her reality star husband. She dated Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, with some blaming Romo’s poor performance in games on the relationship. And Jessica Simpson’s music started to flop. So what do you do when you’re famous for being famous and things aren’t working out for you in the pop and entertainment world? That’s right, you go country.

It’s hard to put into words just how catastrophically terrible Jessica Simpson’s attempt to launch a country music career went we she tried it in 2008. It was so abominable, it not only ended Simpson’s music career, it pretty much finished her career off as a public celebrity for a period of time. In the entirety of the century-long history of the country music genre, there’s perhaps never been a more horrendous and universally repudiated attempt to “go country” than the case of Jessica Simpson.

And appreciate that all of this came in an era when Taylor Swift was exploding in popularity. Swift would win the CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2009. Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban were the biggest country stars on the planet, and generally speaking, country music was veering more pop, and more terrible than any other time in its history up to that point. Yet the music and performances of Jessica Simpson were so hideous, even the media, who rarely if ever speaks up with a discouraging word in music, went into a full court press against her.

Just listen to some of the reviews that were published about Jessica Simpson’s performances at the time, and her 2008 “country” album called Do You Know.

A review out of Niagara Falls remarked, “It might be unfair calling Jessica Simpson’s show at the Avalon Ballroom Wednesday a train wreck. At some point, a train knows where it’s going. Simpson, on the other hand, has jumped the rails from pop to country like she’s trying on a new coat at Macy’s. And while the resulting album might surprise some cynics, this cowgirl seems completely lost and desperate for approval on stage.”

Entertainment Weekly remarked, “Jessica Simpson cutting a country album falls fairly low on the surprise scale, especially given the still-mooing cash cow of modern Nashville … while it’s nice to hear her pipes free of breathless pop production, it’s a shame she ran with such bland, emotionally self-indulgent material … And though teaming up with frequent Carrie Underwood songwriter Hillary Lindsey for five tracks was a savvy move, we already have a Carrie Underwood, honey…and she probably turned these songs down.”

The Dallas Morning News said, “How much should we expect from Jessica Simpson’s country music debut CD? If your answer is not much, then you won’t be disappointed. But for those of us who thought her first single “Come On Over” was a terrific slice of sultry pop-country that managed to tap into her lower register and make great use of an acoustic guitar, the rest of Do You Know proves totally listless.”


Slant Magazine said, “More famous for being famous than for her modestly successful careers as a pop singer and actress, Jessica Simpson is but the latest erstwhile pop star to make a foray into the accommodating world of mainstream country. Unfortunately for Simpson, her debut album for the genre, ‘Do You Know,’ only stands to perpetuate her problems of celebrity image and credibility.” 

And so on, and so forth. Jessica Simpson also notoriously got booed on stage when she performed at the Country Thunder Festival in Wisconsin, and in a slot in between performers Kellie Pickler and Sara Evans, so the fans that were already receptive to pop country music.

But none of this history was mentioned when Jessica Simpson arrived at SXSW 2025, and through use of her name recognition, was able to hopscotch scores of other more deserving artists to land the lineup of Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion on Thursday, March 13th. She also performed at the Recording Academy’s Austin Chapter Block Party the night before, as if Jessica Simpson is somehow synonymous with Austin, or the Grammys.

On the same stage that Jessica Simpson performed on at Willie’s Luck Reunion, you also had critically-acclaimed up-and-coming songwriter Ken Pomeroy perform, the enterprising and highly lauded Wonder Women of Country with Brennen Leigh, Melissa Carper and Kelly Willis.

You also had Hawaii-based songwriter Lily Meola perform, and one of SXSW’s most anticipated performances from indie rockers Julien Baker and Torres, who are prepping their own country record. Later you had the legendary Lucinda Williams take the same stage, finishing off the set with fellow alt-country legend Steve Earle joining her, and Margo Price making a surprise appearance.

But none of these performances is what made the press, well, except for at Saving Country Music. It was Jessica Simpson that won all the praise, with Billboard, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Stereogum, and about a dozen other outlets all breathlessly reporting on Jessica Simpson’s first return to the stage in 15 years, while social media was set ablaze. How many of the other women who performed on the same stage received dedicated features or even mentions from their performances? Well, virtually none, though Julien Baker and Torres did get some mentions by Stereogum and NPR.

This is similar to what happened in 2017 when Garth Brooks crashed SXSW to promote his signature Frito bag, and of course the media fell over themselves reporting on it.

Then on Friday (3-21) when Jessica Simpson released her new 5-song EP called Nashville Canyon, Pt. 1, she got a full-length feature spread in Rolling Stone. It was one of those excessively fawning puff piece-style profiles without a word of objectivity or scrutiny included. On cue to Saving Country Music’s generic puff piece generator, the article starts off, “Jessica Simpson is sitting on a thrifted green banquette in her Nashville music room, wondering if Sister Rosetta Tharpe is trying to send us a message.”

It later goes on to muse, “It’s a Tuesday morning at Simpson’s rented house up on a hill, and she is cross-legged in a pair of leopard-print pants and silk western shirt, a Zyn nicotine pouch in her lip and a daisy ring…”

These insufferable puff pieces are more formulaic than copying and pasting a press release, and are so diabolically lacking in self-awareness.

For her new EP and foray into music, Jessica Simpson has decided she wants to “go Americana” as opposed to country. She partnered with throwback rock ‘n’ roll performer JD McPherson as a producer. For the record, JD is a legit and well-respected dude throughout roots music and into country, and has amassed one hell of a career, including recently touring behind Robert Plant. The last album McPherson produced was for underground country artist JP Harris.


Yet despite the somewhat interesting textures brought to the Jessica Simpson EP, nobody should be fooled about what this is. It’s pop music manufactured in the Music Row system with an Americana patina to attempt to confer Jessica Simpson some level of credibility. To be frank, the EP kind of sounds like garbage, almost as if they believed using distressed recordings would throw the audience off the scent of what this actually is.

There are a dozen different songwriters employed on the 5-song EP, and Jessica’s voice sounds ultra-processed, and frankly, weak in how it’s set in the mix. If we’re being fair, the song “Blame Me” does have a cool, vintage mood to it that works well with the JD McPherson arrangement. But then you have the final song “Leave” that’s just an unadulterated pop song weakly veiled as a version of Americana.



“Oh but Trigger, you’re gatekeeping!” No, that’s not what’s happening here. What’s happening is you have a brand celebrity worth $200 million dollars who hasn’t made music in 15 years cutting in line and gatekeeping everyone behind her by hogging all the oxygen in the room, facilitated by the media and slavish celebrity culture and elitism.

The editor for Rolling Stone Country, Joseph Hudak called Jessica Simpson an “Americana Queen.” She’s an Americana Queen for releasing a 5-song pop EP? Sorry Sierra Ferrell and your four Grammy awards, move on over. This is the same guy who called the Hawk-Tuah girl “The National Hero We all Need” days before her memecoin bilked investors out of some $490 million, by the way.

This isn’t a Jessica Simpson issue. She can make whatever music she wants as a vanity project. This is a media issue. This is the reason your favorite artists are struggling to get the attention they deserve. This Jessica Simpson obsession isn’t journalism. It’s clout chasing. In 2008, the media was savvy enough to put up the stop sign on Jessica Simpson going country. Now, it’s complicit to the madness, and helping to roll out the red carpet.

Marissa R. Moss who wrote the extended puff piece for Jessica Simpson in Rolling Stone is supposedly an advocate for women in country music. But putting so much attention behind someone who already garners it through her celebrity name is not about supporting Jessica Simpson, it’s about supporting Marissa R. Moss and Rolling Stone, and actively works to undercut the actual women of country and Americana.

Maybe if Jessica Simpson’s EP was any good, or in any way country or Americana, you could make the case that music is music, and enjoy it or don’t, and who cares whose name is on the cover? But this whole exercise is an effort to farm clicks and clout. In the attention economy, vociferously praising Jessica Simpson is tantamount to telling the actual women of country and all the other artists who traveled to SXSW at their own expense and played for cheap or free to to go kick rocks, which is exactly what Rolling Stone and Jessica Simpson should do.

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