Sturgill Simpson Signs with Atlantic Records
Sturgill Simpson is now officially a major label artist.
The Kentucky native who’s been making waves throughout country music over the last year with his award-winning album Metamodern Sounds In Country Music has signed to Atlantic Records, part of the Warner Music Group, and will release his next album currently being recorded through the major label. The announcement was first made by Atlantic somewhat inadvertently on January 7th when they published a missive about their signed artists scheduled to play the Coachella festival in California, and included Sturgill Simpson’s name. Atlantic has also been including Sturgill’s name in other industry materials, leading to speculation in recent days the songwriter had signed with the label, though nothing was made official until today.
Sturgill Simpson released his first two solo records through Thirty Tigers—a distribution company that allows artists to own their own record labels. The move to Atlantic will mean an entirely new world of support behind the resurgent country artist who is up for a Grammy for Best Americana Album in February.
Though none of the specifics of the deal have been disclosed, sources tell Saving Country Music that Sturgill Simpson went with Atlantic after being courted by numerous major labels. Atlantic made him an offer that included what he wanted, including allowing him to retain creative control over his music. Though Atlantic is a major label and does business in multiple genres, they may approach Sturgill more like an indie rock act since his music doesn’t fit in the mainstream country box. That is one of the reasons Sturgill is being featured at many of this upcoming summer’s major mixed genre festivals such as Coachella and Bonnaroo. Sturgill is also playing the country version of Coachella called Stagecoach the weekend before.
Signing with Atlantic has some poetic undertones for Simpson. In late 1972, Willie Nelson was looking for a way out of his RCA contract so he could gain more creative control over his music like many of the rock and roll artists of the day. Lawyer Neil Reshen was able to get Willie out of the RCA deal, and Willie signed with Jerry Wexler as the very first country artist on the label. Willie met Wexler at a guitar pull in Nashville, and after Wexler heard Willie sing “Bloody Mary Morning,” he introduced himself and said he wanted to release Willie’s next album. “I have been looking for you for a long time” was Willie’s prophetic response. Nelson released Shotgun Willie and Phases & Stages through Atlantic.
Simpson has recently been in the Sound Emporium studio in Nashville working on what will be his third solo release with producer Dave Cobb. No word as of yet for a title or release date for new music.
January 15, 2015 @ 6:27 pm
Good news!! Hopefully more people will discover his music!! Nice to see a real artist get a shot at a bigger deal!!
January 15, 2015 @ 6:31 pm
Awesome news!!
January 15, 2015 @ 6:42 pm
And cue up the crowd claiming he should remain on his own forever in 3…2…1…
January 15, 2015 @ 6:46 pm
Hell yea, go get em Sturgill!
I am a little interested to see if they push Sturgill to add some pieces to the 4 piece band… He played “The Promise” on Seth Meyers show with a guy on keys/organ- not saying that means anything because there are keys on the studio version as well, I’m just curious.
Sometimes its good, sometimes bad. When the Avett Brothers signed to a new deal, they added a few people to the band, which in my opinion hurt them. But Sturgill’s live shows are way more than country songs- they really jam. All 4 of them are very talented, including Sturgill who is a hell of a guitarist, but Laur Joemets is one of the best guitarists no one has heard of.
In Sturgill’s case, I think a sublet Allman-like organ and maybe even a pedal steel would fit the sound really well.
January 15, 2015 @ 6:48 pm
Absolutely thrilling! Congratulations to Sturgill Simpson!
It is interesting how this story serves as a contrast to the previous article about the Black Crowes breaking up. I guess it demonstrates the truism that a positive attitude goes a long way.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:20 pm
What did Chris Robinson do wrong?
January 15, 2015 @ 9:14 pm
The brothers (Chris and rich) have butted heads a lot to my knowledge. Rich apparently said Chris was trying to get a bigger share of money than the others (2 sides to every story, of course. Interested to hear what Chris says.). Hard to say for sure who’s at fault, if anyone. With any luck, maybe there’ll be a reunion someday!
January 15, 2015 @ 11:11 pm
Here’s one from a few years ago that struck me as particularly disrespectful, gratuitous, and borderline sexist. I haven’t forgotten, nor has he asked for forgiveness:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/taylor-swift-attacked-chris-robinson-picks-kanye-west-left-calls-horrible-article-1.440134
January 16, 2015 @ 8:24 am
I should have known that this had something to do with your girl crush, T Swizzle. I think Chris Robinson was a real d-bag when the Black Crowes first came on the scene. That being said, I enjoyed their early albums and I have seen them many times in person. They always put on a good show and Chris Robinson gives it his all. New Earth Mud’s first album was pretty good and they were really good live…
January 16, 2015 @ 9:15 am
Wow Eric,
After reading that article, I think Chris Robinson’s a really cool guy. Thank you for changing my mind about him.
January 15, 2015 @ 11:14 pm
Here’s another one about a different artist:
http://www.997thefox.com/articles/wrfx-news-464606/the-black-crowes-chris-robinson-calls-11082719/
Basically, it’s obvious that Robinson has a respect problem.
January 16, 2015 @ 7:49 am
That’s not a great example, Eric. What he described about top tier bands like the Stones is pretty much how I felt the last time I saw Bruce Springsteen (2009). And I am a HUGE fan of Bruce’s music. As far what he had to say about Mick, he’s far from alone there. Keith Richards would probably agree with him. And I would shocked if you could find an instance of Chris Robinson dissing the Stones music, as they had to be a huge influnece on the Black Crowes.
January 15, 2015 @ 9:48 pm
By, “…goes a long way…”, do you mean about 24 years?
January 15, 2015 @ 6:50 pm
I’m pretty confident that Sturgill wouldn’t have agreed to this without the guarantee of creative control. I truly believe this guy is going to help turn country music on its head. My biggest hope though, is that he continues to write songs and make music for himself and not for anyone else. The fact that he is able to do that while making a solid living is just awesome.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:10 pm
ewww, it’s a shame they put skrillex’s name next to so many other greats.
January 23, 2015 @ 10:07 pm
If you knew that skrillex”™s is one of his ( Sturgill’s) favorites would you of made that comment? or are you one of those people who insist that they only like what you like ? If you really want to know more about him and who he is watch the 3 hour podcast he did with Joe Rogan….freely available on YouTube.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:10 pm
*What a sellout! The last person I thought would do that. I hate it when artists I like are successful. What a load of crap!
*sarcasm
Good for him. To paraphrase Metallica, hope he “sells out” every show he plays. Good music of any genre should be celebrated. Here’s to a better 2015.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
Congratulations, Sturgill. I want this to work out well for all parties. Now he’ll presumably have the opportunity to break through to a larger audience, with the recording budget and promotional support that most artists only dream about these days. I just hope that if things don’t go the ways the suits expect, that Sturgill will still have the freedom to do things his way.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:34 pm
As long as Zach Brown doesn’t cover his songs I think it’s great!
January 15, 2015 @ 7:42 pm
LIKE
January 15, 2015 @ 7:51 pm
Please, it was great ZBB covered Isbell. Was a compliment and will help Isbell.
January 15, 2015 @ 9:51 pm
It’s been tough, but I’ve managed to prevent Zach Brown from covering any of my songs so far. It’s exhausting, but the fight to keep the masses form hearing your music is well worth it n the long run…
January 15, 2015 @ 7:41 pm
Awesome! I can’t help but think what could have been if Metamodern Sounds had a major label’s support and politicking behind it, but let’s just forge ahead.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:42 pm
I just want all of you to know I listened to Sturgill Simpson way before he made it big on Atlantic records.
But seriously I hope he sells out arenas. How cool is it to listen to someone for years & just wish for them & know that their music could blow everyone away if only everyone could hear it & then see that happen. There are many artist who sign with major labels and maintain artistic integrity Triggerman has featured a few of those himself. This is really good news for me the last 2 times I tried to catch a show in GA (the state I live in) he played really small bars & theaters it sold out very quickly. My husband intervened & decided skipping the mortgage payment to get tickets on stubhub wasn’t a good idea. I’m still on the fence about it, but I guess a warm house is cool. Maybe I’ll actually get to see him live now.
January 15, 2015 @ 8:04 pm
I said it awhile back that the “Turtles” video was basically Deepak Chopra meets Country music and thought it was relaxing and therapeutic…if he ever went the stadium route I think he should make a special type of light show for those songs.
But that’s just me and how I’m viewing this album: it’s full of special effects and this stage show should be the same thing.
January 15, 2015 @ 9:39 pm
I agree. It would have been really cool to catch it in a small theater or bar. I know the last shows he played in GA were very small cool for the people who got to attend. Sad for all of the fans that couldn’t attend because the venue was so small.
January 15, 2015 @ 9:50 pm
This is not about you. At all
January 15, 2015 @ 10:29 pm
Sturgill’s not going to be selling out arenas anytime soon folks. He may jump on some bigger tours with some arena headliners like he did with Zac Brown, but I think he’s still considered a big club/small theater draw at this point. His last tour was at venues that were too small, but he had to do it to prove he deserved the step up in venue size because he’d never played his own headlining tour with any serious success. Now he’ll be able to play some bigger venues so there will be more availability, but you will still get the chance to see him in an intimate setting. Then he’s got another step into the 1,500-2,500 capacity venues before you have to bring your binoculars to see him. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.
January 15, 2015 @ 11:00 pm
Arenas was meant as an exaggeration. I’m very pleased & hope this means more shows and/or larger venues. It’s good exciting news.
January 23, 2015 @ 10:12 pm
A more accurate comparison would be Terrance McKenna, Depock Chockra is a joke, a bunch of Fluffy Talk…….
January 15, 2015 @ 7:45 pm
Does this mean he will be on the radio? Maybe?
January 15, 2015 @ 7:57 pm
It definitely increases his chances, but a lot of it will depend on the strategy they employ. My sense is they know Sturgill’s most receptive audience is going to be with people who don’t listen to mainstream country, but if there’s a right song, mainstream country would be silly to ignore it. Sturgill Simpson is beating out many of the up-and-comers from Music Row’s major labels at the moment. If they continue to ignore him, they risk their own relevancy. But it takes a lot of money are resources to promote a single to country radio these days. 2015 is going to be very interesting. We could see Sturgill and Isbell songs on the charts at the same time. The peasants overrunning the castle.
January 15, 2015 @ 8:13 pm
“The peasants overrunning the castle”
That’s country music being saved. Its happening Trigger. The boat is a rockin.
January 15, 2015 @ 10:05 pm
I, for one, welcome our new peasant overlords.
Seriously, this is exciting. I can’t wait to see what 2015 brings for Sturgill, Isbell, and other great independent artists. Hell yeah!
January 16, 2015 @ 10:48 am
91.9 WFPK out of Louisville spins his stuff.
January 16, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
That’s cool! So does Lightning 100 in Nashville… not nearly enough though.
The funny thing is, both of those are AAA format stations, not country. Go figure.
January 16, 2015 @ 2:25 pm
91.9 is listener supported. Sunday nights they have an awesome bluegrass show. You can listen on their app or their site of course. It’s a great station and the only radio I can listen to.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:48 pm
Not so much a long haired hippie profit preaching from the book of Johnny cash… Waiting on the fires, banging drums as well. Looks like we got that big “revival” already
Congrats S.S.
January 15, 2015 @ 7:59 pm
Good stuff! The tides are turning, Trigger. Slowly but surely.
January 15, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
I need to find a way to see this guy before he get’s any bigger. Waiting until he comes to AK isn’t going to cut it.
January 15, 2015 @ 8:47 pm
This is great news, but I think, in general, we have gone a bit overboard with the Sturgill coverage. Tami Neilson, Karen Jonas, and Kelsey Waldon are all, in my view, better than Sturgill and much less well known. The cause of saving country music would be better served by highlighting these ladies, not telling us something we all ready know about Sturgill Simpson.
January 15, 2015 @ 9:15 pm
Ha ha… what? Sturgill signing to Atlantic is not something everyone already knows about. That why it’s a news story. A story which apparently was broke by Saving Country Music, like five minutes go.
Perhaps this isn’t news to you either because you actually work for Atlantic Records and have inside information, or you are Sturgill Simpson himself. And given Sturgill’s penchant for making self-deprecating comments, I am forced to conclude that you, Truth No. 2, are in fact Sturgill Simpson posting from an anonymous account.
Go ahead and reveal yourself, Sturg, you’re among friends here. 😉
January 15, 2015 @ 9:37 pm
I was not commenting about Sturgill’s signing to a major label, I spoke more generally about over coverage of Sturgill here. In the past few weeks, Metamodern Sounds was named album of the year, Sturgill was named artist of the year, and Trigger wrote a live review of him. I am not anti-Sturgill. I just think that we have given him too much attention. Also, how do you know Sturgill posts on stories about him unless you Applejack are in fact Sturgill Simpson?
January 15, 2015 @ 10:04 pm
I’ve posted 17 other articles between this Sturgill Simpson story and the last one. Nonetheless, I agree there’s been a lot of Sturgill Simpson coverage lately, but I’m not sure what I can do about that. It’s just the way things fell. Am I not supposed to announce him for Album and Artist of the Year just because I’ve talked about him so much lately, and just not give out these awards like I’ve done for the last few years? And then am I supposed to ignore this story, even though so far it’s been the biggest story all week? Maybe the live review can be seen as superfluous, but it was the first time Sturgill had played where I live in two years. All of these things coincided, and all of them in my opinion were essential coverage. I can’t imagine not covering this announcement. It would be borderline irresponsible.
It’s my job to be topical. This criticism comes up often around big album releases. The artist announces the album, then they release the first single, then they release the album, and people say, “I’m tired of hearing about Kacey Musgraves/Eric Church/Taylor Swift/Sturgill Simpson” or whomever it is. All of these things transpire in cycles. I’m sure there will be much less Sturgill Simpson coverage here leading up to the beginning of his next album cycle, and the focus will merge to other artists. I spent many more hours writing on my Justin Townes Earle review I posted today than I did this.
January 16, 2015 @ 12:24 am
Trigger ,if I’m not mistaken, this is your blog so that being said write about who you want as much as you want. If someone is your artist and has the album of the year it only makes sense to a rational person that you would have extensive coverage of then.
so keep doing what you are doing because you do it well. Because of your site I’ve seen Sturgill 3 times with a fourth coming up in St Louis, Isbell twice and have made it to the Ryman finally. None of which would’ve happened without your “over” coverage of said artist.
January 16, 2015 @ 11:59 am
Thanks for reading Brad.
January 16, 2015 @ 1:13 am
Just keep doing what you’re doing man. Anyone who doesn’t like it can go hang out and nap over at RS Country.
January 16, 2015 @ 5:31 am
I suppose I can’t blame you for overcovering Surgill. I guess it just hapened that way. I’m by no means telling you what to publish. This is your blog, and I will continue to read it. Thanks for doing what you do.
January 16, 2015 @ 3:39 pm
Maybe you should have started the Artist of the Year article with something like this:
“This isn”™t going to be some long form praising of Sturgill Simpson”™s work in 2014, or yet another rundown of his long list of successes last year. There”™s already been plenty of that, arguably too much of it, and I am just as tired of writing about it as you are of reading of it. Yeah yeah, Sturgill Simpson”™s great, but his name has become the independent country version of click bait.”
Wait a minute…….
January 17, 2015 @ 7:52 am
Trigger, I have to agree with Brad’s comment. I have found so much good music from this site, including downloading several great albums without first hearing a note. Never have I been disappointed.
ps…I miss the “like” button.
January 23, 2015 @ 10:16 pm
No truth here just your bias , why not hope for the best out come for all parties….
January 15, 2015 @ 10:01 pm
I think this is better news for country music than all of the NASH Icon signings put together! I think Sturgill could soon be EVERYONE’S 2015 Artist of the year with this major label deal. I too am kinda tired of all the S.S. coverage but FINALLY the cherry on the top! The Voice wants Jason Isbell to audition, Eric Church chooses nothing but roots/Americana artists to open his shows, NOW STURGILL SIGNS WITH A MAJOR LABEL! I’d say a revival is happening alright! BOOM!!! SUCK IT BRO COUNTRY!!!!
January 15, 2015 @ 10:10 pm
Congratulations Sturgill this is excellent! Let’s hope in his liner notes he mentions SCM and its readers for doing our part to spread his name like grease on a frying pan the last couple years!
January 16, 2015 @ 1:38 am
I just noticed that he his playing Red Rocks this summer with the Avett Brothers. As a native NCer, I love the Avett’s as much as anyone… But I’d like to think the average Red Rocks crowd has a pretty good ear to decent music- Sturgill and the boys will steal the show and most likely prove to everyone there he could take on that venue as a headliner by 2016.
I’ve said before that Metamodern is the best album I’ve heard in several years. If his upcoming 3rd album rivals Meta, I will then say that Country Music is officially saved.
January 16, 2015 @ 6:32 am
Great news for Sturgill…he’s earned it. I wonder if this changes his tune about only recording 3 more albums before he stops making records. He seemed pretty confident on that plan when he’s discussed it in the past.
Hopefully that’s true, it’d be shame to see him stop recording after 3 more records.
Can’t wait to catch him in Grand Rapids in a few weeks….
January 16, 2015 @ 10:59 am
I have tickets to see him mid-February (DC area); haven’t looked forward to a show this much in a long time.
January 16, 2015 @ 11:43 am
I’ll be at that show, too. Saw him at the Birchmere in August and the excitement level of the crowd warmed my heart. Also, never saw such a long line for the merch table and I’ve seen many, many shows there.
Possessed By Paul James is playing a no cover show at Hill Country BBQ tonight. I’m going. It was just 15 months ago that I saw Sturgill there. Also a no cover show. I got the feeling that maybe only a few people in the crowd had heard of him before the show. Things sure have changed,
January 16, 2015 @ 3:27 pm
Garth ‘retired’ once too . He came back to claim the MOST NUMBER OF ALBUMS SOLD BY ANY ARTIST EVER award this week .
January 16, 2015 @ 3:57 pm
I think you mean sales by a SOLO artist IN THE US.
He’s still way behind the Beatles, and will likely never catch up given today’s album buying environment.
He’s about #6 worldwide, and is about 20 million units behind Elton John – who still sells well – so it’s not real likely he’ll get any higher.
And I want to point out that Elvis didn’t do things like re-release his first six albums as a box set with an extra song each in order to boost his sales.
January 17, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
On the other hand, Garth could have even more impressive numbers if he didn’t eschew iTunes or Amazon.
January 19, 2015 @ 7:33 am
Garth’s logic is that, by not selling his material through those vendors, people will be forced to buy a full album rather than individual singles which theoretically would boost his album sales total.
My guess is that he’s probably costing himself a few sales to people who might want “Mom” to put behind a montage of photos to create electronic cards for their mothers but are not interested in the rest of the album.
But most Garth fans are pretty die hard. These are the folks who went out and bough six copies of Double Live so they could have a copy with each commemorative cover, I don’t think having to get a GhostTunes account would keep many of them from buying the latest album.
January 16, 2015 @ 8:54 am
I think this move has the possibility of Sturgill becoming the Nirvana of country music. I mean that he has a chance to turn the tide in country music for the better. Once the masses hear and see him on the awards show and hopefully CMT, they will like him. All we can do is hope.
January 16, 2015 @ 9:13 am
I bet he releases a bluegrass album.
January 16, 2015 @ 9:14 am
Then maybe he’ll get nominated for a “country” award.
January 17, 2015 @ 6:41 am
To paraphrase Metellica, I hope he “sells out” all the venues he plays.
Sturgill Simpson Signing with Atlantic Records Could Make Huge Impact on Country Music | Country Perspective
January 17, 2015 @ 9:02 am
[…] As first reported by the always great Trigger at Saving Country Music, Sturgill Simpson has signed with Atlantic Records and is now a major label artist. Sturgill confirmed the news on his Facebook page with the cryptic photo above. According to Trigger, Simpson will be part of the Warner Music Group and that he was courted by several major labels before deciding to sign with Atlantic Records. And don’t worry Simpson fans: Trigger says that Simpson chose Atlantic because they’re allowing him to retain creative control. In fact Simpson is in the studio now making his third album with his producer Dave Cobb and it will be released through Atlantic Records. […]
Ballou Movie Review Tiddy Bits | Rawhide And Velvet
January 18, 2015 @ 2:59 pm
[…] Let’s all start screaming SELL OUT now. […]
January 19, 2015 @ 7:23 am
Now he just has to figure out what the hell rhymes with Bronco!
Way to go Sturgill! The Lord just threw a damn dog a bone.
January 20, 2015 @ 9:33 am
Hey Trigg you got mentioned by rollin stones
I bet you feel special
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/sturgill-simpson-signs-major-label-deal-with-atlantic-20150116