Sturgill Simpson Marks the 10th Anniversary of “Metamodern Sounds”
Sturgill Simpson is releasing a 10th Anniversary edition of his landmark and iconic breakout album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Originally released on May 13th, 2014, the album is given credit for turning the tide in country music by striking the perfect balance between traditionalism and evolution, and lighting the spark for the independent country insurgency we enjoy today.
Metamodern Sounds had Keith Urban wearing a Sturgill Simpson shirt on American Idol. It very directly influenced Chris Stapleton to record his landmark album Traveller live with his own band just like Sturgill. It launched Dave Cobb into the stratosphere as a producer. It also went on to be named the #1 album of the decade (2010-2019) by Saving Country Music.
The new edition of Metamodern Sounds will be released on May 10th, and features a limited edition black cover with a skeleton on the front. It is accompanied by a new line of merch as well.
Some Sturgill Simpson fans overhyped themselves into believing there may be new music coming from the reclusive and often mercurial songwriter and actor after a “Coming Soon” message appeared on his website recently. This came after some folks used the occasion of April Fools Day to forward the idea new music was coming from the Kentucky native.
But Sturgill stated quite plainly that his last album The Ballad of Dood and Juanita (2021) would be his final original album as a solo artist, fulfilling a five album commitment he made to himself. Simpson has left open the door of perhaps forming a band in the future, and has collaborated with other artists since. He also occasionally produces albums, though that output has been spotty over the last few years.
The big revelation of surprise new music on Friday, April 5th ended up being Oklahoma songwriter John Moreland, who released a new album called Visitor. It finds Moreland returning to more organic sounds, songs, and production indicative of his early career after adopting heavily electronic production on his last two albums (review coming).
Meanwhile, Sturgill Simpson continues to dabble in acting, appearing in Martin Scorsese’s latest film Killers of the Flower Moon in 2023, as well as the science fiction film The Creator. He also appeared in the HBO-based series Righteous Gemstones in 2023.
The 10th Anniversary Edition of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is now available for pre-order.
April 5, 2024 @ 10:47 am
So no new bonus tracks? Just alternative artwork? I prefer the original cover, although the new cover does a finale feel to it.
There’s a real good bootleg version of the Sunday Valley album floating around for years which I’ve been listening to a lot lately. I was hoping the announcement was an official release of that album.
April 5, 2024 @ 11:44 am
YouTube can find a lot of Sunday Valley stuff to from that album to them playing at Natasha’s in Lexington back in the day. But yeah that SV album is still fire
April 5, 2024 @ 12:10 pm
First time I heard of Sturgill and Sunday Valley was when Trig put them on the national map when he raved about their Pickathon performance in 2011. I was looking up that article and came across an actual Sunday Valley album review from Trig in 2011 …
https://savingcountrymusic.com/sunday-valley-album-review-epk/
April 5, 2024 @ 12:19 pm
Yeah I was hoping for something besides different album art. Unreleased tracks would’ve been great, or maybe remixed versions or something. As much as I love this album I see no reason to buy the anniversary edition.
April 5, 2024 @ 11:20 am
Should’ve never let myself get excited but this was a huge letdown of an announcement
April 5, 2024 @ 12:18 pm
This got really over hyped yesterday. I didn’t know what the announcement was, but I knew it wasn’t going to be as big as some were hoping/alluding to. I don’t think that’s Sturgill’s fault. Folks have done limited edition releases like this in the past, Cody Jinks and Tyler Childers without adding any new tracks. Sure, it would have been cool to get something new as well, but it’s not like this is unprecedented or something.
April 5, 2024 @ 12:51 pm
Trig, for Cody I’m assuming you mean the Less Wise – Modified, correct? I think this was done to get Less Wise on vinyl because the original wasn’t available if I’m not mistaken.
April 5, 2024 @ 1:16 pm
“Less Wise – Modified” did come with some bonus tracks.
What I am referring to is the limited Gold Edition Cody Jinks did for “Adobe Sessions.” Tyler Childers also did a Gold Edition for “Purgatory” that sold out within an hour. I remember writing the article for it, and the edition sold out before I could even publish it.
Neither of them came with new material.
Looking back through the archives, the Turnpike Troubadours also did a limited edition Gold-colored “Diamonds & Gasoline” without any new material.
I’m not necessarily trying to downplay people’s disappointment here. Perhaps if Sturgill did it in colored vinyl, folks would be a little more excited about this.
But I think you have the combination of 1) Sturgill’s career basically being over, so the promise of new music seems especially exciting 2) Risky Whiff and others hyping this up in articles and social media posts presumptuously, 3) The April Fools posts.
All of this ultimately resulted in a let down that isn’t the fault of Sturgill Simpson or his team. If I were to guess, Sturgill could give a shit about this. It was probably concocted by whoever does his merch, and he signed off on it because he’s always hated the “Metamodern” cover.
We’ve seen other artists do this, and there wasn’t any significant backlash.
April 5, 2024 @ 1:26 pm
Well it got my $$$
But then
1. I don’t have this album on Vinyl and was on my list to get.
2. The cover art is awesome and will look awesome on my vinyl shelf.
April 5, 2024 @ 11:29 am
Yeah, I didn’t need ‘new’ music but this is $30 for a souvenir unless you don’t already own the vinyl or the CD. A least do a double vinyl with a live show from the original tour. Something.
April 5, 2024 @ 12:04 pm
You can find original LPs on Discogs for $15-$25 so this is obviously for collectors with money to spend, or for folks who hope the value will increase for this collector’s version. I’m sure it will sell out, although there’s no reason for it from a value standpoint. I checked out the merch and kind of like the hat, but not into the flat-brim snapbacks, so nothing here for me.
April 5, 2024 @ 11:44 am
Shitty cash grab
April 5, 2024 @ 11:46 am
As good as Metamodern is and the impact it had I’m still going that Southeastern was the album that started the domino effect. Isbell was launching his solo career from it and it put Cobb on the map as producer. Isbell had Sturgill open for him a lot during this time and helped with leading to the Cobb/Stu collaboration for Metamodern. From there the domino effect just accelerated
April 5, 2024 @ 12:12 pm
For the record, Isbell’s “Southeastern” came out the same day as Sturgill Simpson’s debut album “High Top Mountain.” So I’m not sure who we want to credit as being “first” to utilize Dave Cobb. Isbell went with Dave Cobb after Ryan Adams fell through. Sturgill went with Cobb off the suggestion of Shooter Jennings. Not sure who actually recorded first with him.
April 5, 2024 @ 2:54 pm
This is why you’re the best independent country music journalist. I really appreciate your insight on things like this.
April 6, 2024 @ 6:22 am
High top mountain is superior to meta modern sounds, imo.
April 6, 2024 @ 6:58 am
On a grassroots level, I’d argue that Sturgill was more influential. Southeastern was awesome, and I’m sure inspired a bunch of songwriters, but I’d bet there were tens of thousands of twenty-somethings playing country-ish or country-adjacent music that heard Sturgill and swerved right into hard country. Sturgill had the SOUND. They’re the ones playing in your favorite singers’ bands right now.
April 5, 2024 @ 2:11 pm
Always thought Isbell pushed things from the Americana side and sturgill was more from the country side
April 7, 2024 @ 8:30 am
I’d say Southeastern was an old school singer/songwriter roots/folk rock album for the ages. It’s the album that those of us who have followed him since his DBT days (starting with 2003’s Decoration Day album) had been waiting for. Before that, he had written a lot of great songs, but maybe hadn’t put out a great solo album of originals yet. And I think he has been plying his craft reliably ever since.
April 5, 2024 @ 12:24 pm
From the Garth Brooks school of marketing.
April 5, 2024 @ 1:56 pm
Garth would have released ten different versions, with ten different covers, only available in a boxset, with one new track that can only be heard by purchasing said box-set for $19.99. And when it sold 1 million copies, it would count for ten million in total sales and pad his numbers even further. ????
April 5, 2024 @ 4:33 pm
But the new song only available at the Bass Pro Shop version
April 5, 2024 @ 12:46 pm
The symbolism in the art direction here isn’t exactly subtle.
Nice funeral for a landmark album.
April 7, 2024 @ 7:19 am
It was indeed a landmark album. Nice funeral is an apt comment. Every time I listen to it, I enjoy the hell out of it, but I can’t help but feel a little sad. Because the greatness pretty much ended there. And given the promise of that album (and the two transcendent shows I saw on the MMSICM tour), I found what followed to be disappointing. I thought ASGTE was a genre hopping good-not-great album and I rarely listen to it now. Sound and Fury is one I can’t listen to all the way through. Dood and Juanita and the two bluegrass albums are enjoyable comfort food listens, but not essential. Oh well. Maybe he’ll lead up together a killer band project someday. Not holding my breath, though.
April 5, 2024 @ 12:59 pm
How about the new John Moreland album?! He’s back!
April 5, 2024 @ 1:19 pm
It sucks for Moreland that he surprised released an album last night, was dropping Easter eggs all during the day, and all people wanted to talk about was Sturgill Simpson. Moreland’s new album is great. Still listening through. Review coming soon.
April 5, 2024 @ 1:43 pm
It’s great. Glad Moreland is back doing what he does best. Looking forward to your review.
April 5, 2024 @ 1:35 pm
Just went to his store. That hat looks pretty bitchin’.
April 6, 2024 @ 6:23 pm
Yup, but already sold out!
April 5, 2024 @ 2:01 pm
Two things:
1. I’ved mentioned seeing Red Clay Strays back in 2018 at the Flor-a-bama and committing their name to my memory after being blown away. That happy accident caused me to go to their website and all they really had at that time was some info on their shows and a pic of some albums scattered on a coffee table. One of which was Metamodern Sounds. At that time I did not know who Sturgill was but I knew I liked what the RCS were doing so I streamed the album. In that moment I knew there was some kind of country music I actually connected with. The album blew my mind. Caused me to dig deeper and eventually led me to SCM. I do not own this record but I will be purchasing this special edition for sure.
2. Joe Stamm released his Alleghany High EP with CWG’s band today. On Spotify you can only find it under “Joe Stamm” and not under “Joe Stamm Band.” I only listened once and was very distracted at work but it’s a very different sound for Joe. Hoping this thing really gets him out there. Will be interesting to see if all the CWG fans on here connect with it.
April 5, 2024 @ 3:02 pm
You’re the man, thanks for this heads up. I love CWG and Wildman by Joe Stamm Band was probably my favorite album last year.
April 5, 2024 @ 2:14 pm
Metamodern is a gem and I absolutely love it. That being said, everything he’s done since has been a big let down. There’s no point to re-releasing this album except to line his pockets. I wish him well but he’s always going to be a “what could’ve been” story.
April 5, 2024 @ 6:15 pm
Ten years?! Wow. By coincidence, I spent an hour or so today listening to cover versions of “Funny How Time Slips Away.”
April 6, 2024 @ 9:35 am
Love Al Green’s version.
April 6, 2024 @ 4:06 am
…brad paisley said at his concert in zürich: “i don’t know what it’s like to be a celebrity here in switzerland, but it’s pretty great in the us”. perhaps, sturgill simpson quietly thinks the same and enjoys life to the max. he’s has got john prine’s classic porsche turbo and obviously a whole lot of other things to do – way to go. still, every time i listen to “the dead don’t die” i can’t help thinking what great country music still could have come from him. not to mention his production skills on brit taylor’s “kentucky blue” album of last year. i’m curious to see, whether this release might bring him some new fans among gen z folks with a knack for country and… some darkness.
April 6, 2024 @ 4:29 am
Its an album and he is an artist, I have tried to get into many times but just have not managed it. I have always felt he is over rated. Not bad, but just not that good. I thought Metamodern like some of his other albums had some good tracks but overall were nothing special. I must give Metamodern another listen. Maybe when I last listened to it some years ago, my expectations were too high.
April 6, 2024 @ 2:34 pm
I’m with you. I got excited about the sound and thought he was a writer with a lot to say.
Nope.
April 6, 2024 @ 9:31 pm
Whiskey Myers “Firewater” was released in April 2011. Ryan Bingham’s first 3 albums were already out, Randy Rogers Band “Rollercoaster” Josh Abbott Band ” She Likes Texas”. The list just goes on and on. Why the hype over Sturgill. These bands and artist were carrying the torch. Sturgill isn’t all that, he was just a blip. I always feel like you have to be a collar up dude to be into Sturgill. That aint me.
April 8, 2024 @ 8:28 am
Your three examples are all extremely region based Texas Country albums, and none of them carried a nationwide hype as Sturgill did. Whiskey Myers only blew up the way they did recently from Yellowstone. I say this as a Texas country/Red Dirt aficionado.
April 7, 2024 @ 2:36 pm
I know “Metamodern” is the preferred album among many here, but to me, High Top Mountain was Sturgill’s masterpiece. I find myself relistening to that one far more often than Metamodern Sounds.
April 8, 2024 @ 3:25 pm
What a stupid and ugly cover.