Hear Sturgill Simpson's 'Sugar Daddy,' the Theme Song for HBO's Vinyl [Fresh Track]

Just over a year ago, I interviewed country singer Sturgill Simpson for the Scene's annual Country Music Critics' Poll issue in the wake of his breakout LP Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. "You always just want to keep moving forward with anything, I think," he told me when I asked about the differences between Metamodern and the new material he was writing. "If nothing else, for my own sanity."

Well, if Simpson's brand-new tune "Sugar Daddy" is any indication, the songster is indeed trying out very new and very different sounds. The song — which Simpson posted today, and which you can hear via the YouTube embed after the jump — will serve as the theme for Vinyl, the Martin Scorsese- and Mick Jagger-produced HBO drama set to debut this Sunday, Feb. 14. The show stars Bobby Cannavale as a 1970s record exec. 

The song itself? Well, it's a far cry from the trad-country sounds of Metamodern, loaded instead with mean, dirty, distorted blues-rock riffs and yearning, impassioned lyrics that — speaking of Mick Jagger — use sugar as a metaphor for something … well, something even more enticing than actual sugar. 

Give it a listen after the jump, where you can also see the Vinyl trailer.