Sturgill Simpson Lets the ’Grass Grow at the Ryman

Following a bout with COVID-19 and the cancellation of his highly anticipated A Good Look'n Tour with Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson engaged his broad fan base to raise funds for three vital nonprofit efforts this spring: The Equity Alliance's tornado relief fund, the Special Forces Foundation and MusiCares' COVID-19 relief fund. The noble campaign had a good dose of silliness in its execution, as you might expect if you've followed the widely loved singer and songwriter of country, rock and lots more on Instagram. It revolved around sales of merch with the logo of Dick Daddy Survival School, an organization he invented for an internet bit.

The gag yielded an extraordinary success, raising more than $250,000 during its eight-week run. Throughout the campaign, Simpson promised that if fans hit the $200,000 goal, he'd do a livestream and release an album later this year. Friday night, he made good on the promise of a stream with a set performed to an empty house at the Ryman, with any donations during the show earmarked for those three nonprofits as well.

"I was being goofy online, giving everybody a great opportunity to take me out of context, as always — having fun and telling jokes, some about male anatomy,” Simpson said ahead of the show. “And somebody commented, 'Man, if you put that on a T-shirt I'd probably buy it.' "

Simpson tapped a band of all-star acoustic players for the stream, composed of mandolin player Sierra Hull, fiddler Stuart Duncan, banjo picker Scott Vestal, guitarist Scott Howard, drummer Miles Miller and bassist Mike Bub. Appropriately, the set hearkened back to Simpson's bluegrass roots. The band kicked off its set with a trio of cuts from Simpson's breakout second album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music: a barn-burning take on fan favorite "Living the Dream," a particularly soulful rendition of "A Little Light" and a spirited performance of "Life of Sin," which featured pitch-perfect harmony vocals from Hull.

One major highlight of Simpson's stream was hearing songs like “All the Pretty Colors" and “Sometime Wine” from his early days in the band Sunday Valley. Simpson set the scene for the tunes: "I was still writing bluegrass songs and having to play them in a punk band in Lexington, Kentucky."

There was also a sampling of his career highlights, including songs from his Grammy-winning 2016 album A Sailor's Guide to Earth ("Breakers Roar" and "All Around You") and his 2013 debut High Top Mountain ("Sitting Here Without You" and "Time After All"). Nothing from Simpson's hard-rocking 2019 LP Sound & Fury made it into the set, but he did play a pair of Stanley Brothers covers, "Pretty Polly" and "Sharecropper's Son."

The stream, which you can check out on YouTube, looked to Simpson's past a bit to help navigate the present, but it also gave a glimpse of the future. Mid-set, Simpson announced that he and the players onstage have recorded bluegrass versions of his back catalog, which he'll release across two LPs sometime later this year. Keep an eye on his website and his Instagram for updates.