Sturgill Simpson didn’t mount a comeback this year: He staged a reinvention. In 2021, Simpson bid farewell to a solo career that stretched from bluegrass picking to rock concept albums and, of course, country music upheaval. He briefly retreated from music to focus on acting, only to re-emerge this summer as Johnny Blue Skies. Under the new moniker, Simpson released Passage Du Desir, an eight-song collection that pulls together the best of his songwriting. There’s the laid-back Simpson on the beachy hang “Scooter Blues.” There’s the pensive Simpson on the heartbreaking tale “Jupiter’s Faerie.” And there’s the ambitious Simpson on eight-and-a-half-minute, album-closing epic “One for the Road.” If a new name is what it takes to get an album this good, let him change up whenever he wants to.
Best Alter Ego
Sturgill Simpson, aka Johnny Blue Skies
Sturgill Simpson
