Sturgill Simpson Playing “Can’t You See” with Zac Brown Band
Sturgill Simpson has been touring on and off for the past few months with Zac Brown Band upon the request of Zac Brown himself. And on this most recent leg, Sturgill was invited to share the stage with Zac and the boys on their extended rendition of the Marshall Tucker Band classic, “Can’t You See,” written by the great Toy Caldwell. The song was also famously covered by Waylon Jennings in 1976 on his Are You Ready For The Country album, reaching #4 on the Billboard Country charts.
Zac Brown Band has been playing the song regularly over the last few years, and guitar player, singer, and songwriter Clay Cook, who used to be in the Marshall Tucker Band, takes the lead on the song that can regularly stretch out to 12 or 13 minutes. At recent shows, including this last weekend’s sold-out shows a Fiddler’s Green Amphiteatre in Greenwood Village, CO., both Sturgill Simpson and his guitar player Laur “Little Joe” Joamets joined Zac Brown Band on stage for the song.
A few videos of the performances have surfaced, one which has pretty clear visuals but muffled sound, and another that has great sound but the camera is sideways. On the second one the crowd erupts when Sturgill’s name is called out to take a verse of the Southern rock classic. Hopefully some better video surfaces, but until then it is still cool to see and hear Sturgill collaborating with one of country music’s biggest drawing acts.
Sturgill Simpson takes a detour tonight (9-10) to Los Angeles to perform on Conan O’Brien.
READ: Review Zac Brown Band’s “The Grohl Sessions Vol. 1”³
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September 10, 2014 @ 9:25 am
Zac Brown Band is about one of the only acts worth listening to that actually gets radio airplay. And Sturgil Simpson is awesome. Love them both. Hoping to get to catch one of these shows while they’re still playing together.
September 10, 2014 @ 9:31 am
His voice. Swoon.
Love this.
September 10, 2014 @ 10:11 am
Zac Brown is a guy who loves to surround himself with talent, he’s got a great eye/ear for musical genius. He really is one of the few acts that’ll seemingly go out of the way to get a growing act like Sturgill to join him for a show or collaboration. Mad respect to Zac to bring Sturgill along, and what a great chance for Sturgill Simpson to have the opportunity to play in front of a crowd of this capacity. Awesome stuff!
September 10, 2014 @ 10:50 am
Dave Matthews did the exact same for Zac once upon a time. Glad to see he is paying it forward.
September 10, 2014 @ 12:55 pm
Little Joe with the bad ass solo. Crowd in the palm of his hands. Amazing. Feel great for him!!!
September 10, 2014 @ 1:48 pm
Wow. What an awesome performance. Sure wish I could make it up north to catch one of the Zac Brown Band shows with Sturgill opening.
September 10, 2014 @ 1:52 pm
At about a minute in on the bottom video with the good audio, start the top video on mute, and it syncs up rather nicely. Now if you will excuse me, i must return to my quest to find out what Garth Brooks album syncs up with The Wrestler.
September 10, 2014 @ 9:27 pm
Good idea.
September 10, 2014 @ 2:01 pm
I really, really want to like Sturgill, but “Turtles All the Way Down” ruined him for me.
September 10, 2014 @ 3:38 pm
Even if you don’t like that song, you have to admit its at least 300 times better than Chicken Fried. That’s a real piece of shit song and why I could never get into Zac Brown
September 10, 2014 @ 3:51 pm
RHP, just wanted to say, I dig your username. 😀
“And I had so much fun, that in the afternoon I had to take a nap….”
September 10, 2014 @ 9:21 pm
Go listen to Zac Brown Band’s latest album “The Grohl Sessions.” It will resolve any concerns about the substance of that band.
September 10, 2014 @ 8:35 pm
On what planet is there anything wrong with “Turtles All the Way Down”?
September 10, 2014 @ 9:31 pm
Thematically, I can’t stand for it.
September 11, 2014 @ 7:30 am
The theme that love is more powerful than drugs or religious traditions? Isn’t that what Jesus was getting at when he shamed the religious leaders of the day for abusing their power and shunning the weak and innocent?
“To each our own til we go home,” pretty much sums up the idea of loving each other as we love ourselves. Pretty Christian if you ask me.
Seems like you are getting hung up on semantics and not really appreciating the overall message of the song. When did Christianity shift from the religion of understanding that embraces all, to derisive individuals who are the quickest to judge?
August 5, 2023 @ 2:04 pm
Wicket,
Jesus didn’t embrace all sins. He directly called out sinners. He welcomed sinners to return to the fold but He didn’t say repent and sin some more.
Also, Jesus said salvation can only be found through Him. Not to each his own as Simpson sings.
September 13, 2014 @ 11:25 am
Man, lay off the holy water a bit. The song mentions drugs. Big fucking deal.
The greatest pieces of art don’t limit themselves with silly ideals, and you shouldn’t limit your ability to perceive greatness because of what you believe. It’s silly.
August 5, 2023 @ 2:02 pm
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
-GK Chesterton
August 5, 2023 @ 2:01 pm
It is half-baked stoner psychology.
A whiff of weed and he wrote it. It is a road to nowhere.
September 10, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
Yay!, nothing like listening to two of the most overrated vocalists in the history of American music.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
September 10, 2014 @ 4:53 pm
You do know what the term overrated means right?
September 10, 2014 @ 5:44 pm
It’s best just to ignore him. He’s the resident troll.
September 11, 2014 @ 6:57 am
Having a different opinion than you doesn’t make someone a troll Josh, and the reality is that we probably agree on more topics than we disagree. The thing is, despite the fact that the musicians in Zac’s band are talented, I hate their songs, they’re not Country, and Zac’s voice is the epitome of mediocre. Those guys should kick Zac, and his toboggan wearing in July ass out of the band, and find a real singer. And I don’t give a good dad gum if they admit they’re Southern Rock or not, they still pander to “Country” radio. After “Chicken Fried”, and numerous beach songs, Zac has no business criticizing anybody’s songwriting.
As for Sturgill, along with him being an imitator, he’s also a prime example of how the worst can make “ok” look much better than it is. If the crap on the radio wasn’t so bad, nobody’d even notice this guy. The bar for what’s good is lower than it’s ever been, and I just find it incredibly difficult to let Sturgill love go unchecked.
By the way Josh, wouldn’t ignoring me mean not speaking to me, OR about me to others?
September 12, 2014 @ 8:41 pm
I find Luke’s voice irritating.
September 11, 2014 @ 11:49 am
I see what you were saying now. Luke Bryan lolol.
September 11, 2014 @ 1:22 pm
I hate everything about Luke except the actual sound of his voice.
September 12, 2014 @ 8:12 am
I guess the only thing I like about Luke Bryan is his inability to navigate a catwalk.
September 11, 2014 @ 6:27 am
I think it’d be much easier to just state why you disagree, than to ask a question you already know the answer to.
September 11, 2014 @ 10:48 am
No trolling intended. I just reserve the term overrated for musicians that are actually overrated. I agree with you somewhat about Zac Brown, that he could fit into the overrated category, but Sturgill Simpson? I cant get on board with that. He’s barely known in the greater scheme of things. I could just agree to disagree if you were talking about him being overrated in independent music circles, but you were comparing him to Zac Brown.
Calling either a vocalist is a little weird too… Sturgill is a pretty great songwriter and inventive guitar player, and while I dont like Zac Brown all that much– he’s no slouch. I know Sturgill often gets the Waylon, but there’s a difference between imitation and influence… I hear just as much Keith Whitley and Carter Stanley influence as Waylon…
September 11, 2014 @ 11:13 am
Cool Davey. I say Sturgill is overrated because he gets hailed, especially on this website, as possibly being the “savior of Country music”, a ridiculous notion. I might pay $10 to go see the guy at a bar if I had nothing better to do, but I might as well just use that $10 to buy a Waylon cd, not that I’m a huge fan of his either.
As for Zac, I’ve read things on here like, “All the male solo Country acts are lucky Zac’s in a band, cause he’d win Male Vocalist of the Year every year.” And, “I hate mainstream Country, but Zac Brown Band is awesome.”
Now, I wouldn’t cross the street to see Luke Bryan, but he’s a heck of a lot better singer than Sturgill or Zac.
September 11, 2014 @ 11:34 am
Oh and Davey, I don’t think anyone thought you were trolling. Josh was calling me a troll. There’s a lot of folks on this site who’ll call you a troll if you have a different opinion than theirs.
September 11, 2014 @ 1:36 pm
Hey, strong words. What’s good? – always looking for new music….
September 10, 2014 @ 4:40 pm
Got to see them do this a few weeks ago, it was pretty amazing. Sturgill was okay as an opener but his vocals kinda got drowned out, he sounded better in the one verse he sang with ZBB, would like to see him in a smaller venue. ZBB blows me away live, the only hypothesis I can come up with for people not liking them is that they just do not like anybody once they hit it big (Island songs aside, I understand when people have strong opinions about that sub-genre). They are just so far and above anything any other mainstream act has done in recent years. I go back and listen to “You Get What You Give” and I don’t understand how it didn’t win every album of the year award, every song on there is solid (not sure what albums did win those awards that year?). The more I listen to them the more impressed I am by the musical talent in that group.
September 10, 2014 @ 6:40 pm
Let me start by saying these videos were the first time I’ve ever seen ZBB live. I respect the hell outta the guys, I just don’t like them. It has nothing to do with them hitting it big. It has to do with the songs of theirs I’ve heard leaning heavy on the southern rock side of things-and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s just not my thing.
I will give Zac Brown all the credit in the world though, cause the interviews I’ve seen he describes their sound as big on “southern rock” instead of doing like the rest of these jackasses and just calling whatever shit they put out “country.” The man does what he wants, he knows what he’s doing, and he calls it what it is. I respect the bejesus outta that! Just not that into southern rock.
September 11, 2014 @ 4:59 am
I am glad ZB gets credit for the stand he takes. I am OK with him being the Savior of Country Music, as long as he doesn’t spawn a bunch of clones. We have too many Caribbean Cowboys as it is.
He came to a local venue with Blackberry Smoke opening. I skipped that, and instead drove 6 hours to Tennessee to watch BBS headline at The Shed instead. Much worth it!
>>PLEASE STOP COMMENTING ON TAYLOR SWIFT, Y’ALL!!<<
September 10, 2014 @ 5:41 pm
Nothing impressive about a tired cover of a song that’s been covered into the ground by every beginner cover band.
September 10, 2014 @ 9:25 pm
I get what you’re saying, but what is being celebrated here is a small-time independent artist standing right beside a stadium-drawing artist at stage center singing a song together. It’s not either of their faults the chords are easy to learn and Clear Channel wore the sheen of this song and many others over a decade ago.
September 11, 2014 @ 5:21 pm
Trig I figured it out. Clint is Sturgill fucking with all of us.. I love it..
But hes gotta go LMAO
September 12, 2014 @ 3:09 pm
When you’re playing a bunch of songs that you wrote and feel like throwing in a couple covers for fun which ones do you choose?
September 10, 2014 @ 10:05 pm
That’s the best version of “Can’t You See” that I have heard besides Waylon. Just found out that myself and the wife are taking a little road trip to Birmingham in November to see Sturgill. I am honestly as excited for the show (and if not more so) then I am about seeing Garth in Atlanta. This fellow named Cris Jacobs will be doing the show with Sturgill. Listened to some of Jacob”s music on YouTube and I really dig it. He sounds very bluesy…..reminds me a little of Skynyrd’s shade tree recordings.
September 11, 2014 @ 9:44 am
I saw Cris Jacobs open for Sturgill in August. He was verrrry good. I can guarantee that you won’t leave that show disappointed.
September 11, 2014 @ 9:06 pm
Hey trig, thanks for posting this. They always nail this song as they do everything. The Dave Grohl interview on them was cool. And also, Clay Cook is Doug Gray from Marshall tucker band’s nephew. Wasn’t sure if you knew that. Keep up the good work! And Sturgill is awesome.
September 14, 2014 @ 1:39 pm
Little Joe stole the show!
September 14, 2014 @ 9:12 pm
Like a few have already said. I think Zac Brown is a really good band, I just don’t like them much at all. They’re like the male, “country” Lorde to me. I get that she’s “good” – I just can’t stand her.
I dig Sturgill though. His voice has some variance song-to-song, but yea, he can sound a bit like he’s flat out imitating Waylon sometimes. But more than imitating – he just has a very similar voice. He would probably have to go out of his way to NOT sound like Waylon. The music and SONGS are great. Good original stuff.
His November show here in Portland is already sold out (at one of the very few venues I don’t have friends in!). I might have to take a quick up to Seattle to go hear him.
September 29, 2014 @ 8:40 pm
I may have missed it, but who’s the guy leading off in the first video? Really enjoyed that version!
October 3, 2014 @ 6:29 am
For a guy who has only been in the band for a few months, (and the US for a few months), Laur Joamets is secretly one of the best guitarists in Nashville. I am becoming VERY interested in this Sturgill Simpson. His live shows are nothing like I have ever seen from a Country artist.