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Sturgill Simpson loves a curveball. He's excelled at Americana, country soul, covers of Nirvana and When In Rome's "The Promise," traditional bluegrass and a whole record of ZZ Top-style heavy rock. He's been nominated for both Best Country Album and Best Rock Album by the Grammys. He sounds, and acts, like an outlaw—hell, sometimes he sounds just like Waylon Jennings—but rejects that label. So it should be no surprise that his seventh studio album is such a surprise. It's not an ode to old-time mountain music. It is old-time mountain music, and bluegrass, tent-revival gospel and country from the Carter Family up to Johnny Cash.
The Ballad of Dood & Juanita is like a movie, telling a (tall?) tale of Simpson's real-life grandparents. (That's the singer's late "Pawpaw," Lawrence "Dood" Fraley’s drawl you hear opening 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.) It starts out with a character sketch set to a musket shot-riddled march: "[Dood] was a mighty mountain man, [Juanita] was his one true love." We learn that Dood was "harder than the nails hammered Jesus' hands" but Juanita tamed his heart. Then she was kidnapped by a bandit, prompting Dood to set off with his mule and dog ("One in the Saddle, One on the Ground"). There are odes to the mule (the Cash-like "Shamrock") and dog ("Sam" and its heart-wrenching gospel a cappella). Poor, pitiful Dood suffers insult to injury when Sam dies while they're searching for his wife ("Played Out")—who then shows up in dream form for the Spanish-flavored "Juanita," appealingly Marty Robbins-eque with what sounds like castanets and maraca. Hallelujah, Juanita is rescued, and so is Dood, thanks to a wise tribe of Cherokee, plus some Stanley Brothers harmonies and a slow-train harmonica howl. Perhaps a spoiler warning should've come a dozen times by now, but Dood exacts his revenge on the evil bandit by the end. Even for all that, it doesn't pack the emotional wallop of an old Simpson song like "Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)" but it's an interesting concept and a loving tribute, and much more than just novelty. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz
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Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Willie Nelson, MainArtist - Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Richard Dodd, MasteringEngineer - David Ferguson, Producer - Sturgill Simpson, Composer, Producer, MainArtist - Songs of Pan Bowl (BMI - admin by Wixen Music Publishing), MusicPublisher
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
Album review
Sturgill Simpson loves a curveball. He's excelled at Americana, country soul, covers of Nirvana and When In Rome's "The Promise," traditional bluegrass and a whole record of ZZ Top-style heavy rock. He's been nominated for both Best Country Album and Best Rock Album by the Grammys. He sounds, and acts, like an outlaw—hell, sometimes he sounds just like Waylon Jennings—but rejects that label. So it should be no surprise that his seventh studio album is such a surprise. It's not an ode to old-time mountain music. It is old-time mountain music, and bluegrass, tent-revival gospel and country from the Carter Family up to Johnny Cash.
The Ballad of Dood & Juanita is like a movie, telling a (tall?) tale of Simpson's real-life grandparents. (That's the singer's late "Pawpaw," Lawrence "Dood" Fraley’s drawl you hear opening 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.) It starts out with a character sketch set to a musket shot-riddled march: "[Dood] was a mighty mountain man, [Juanita] was his one true love." We learn that Dood was "harder than the nails hammered Jesus' hands" but Juanita tamed his heart. Then she was kidnapped by a bandit, prompting Dood to set off with his mule and dog ("One in the Saddle, One on the Ground"). There are odes to the mule (the Cash-like "Shamrock") and dog ("Sam" and its heart-wrenching gospel a cappella). Poor, pitiful Dood suffers insult to injury when Sam dies while they're searching for his wife ("Played Out")—who then shows up in dream form for the Spanish-flavored "Juanita," appealingly Marty Robbins-eque with what sounds like castanets and maraca. Hallelujah, Juanita is rescued, and so is Dood, thanks to a wise tribe of Cherokee, plus some Stanley Brothers harmonies and a slow-train harmonica howl. Perhaps a spoiler warning should've come a dozen times by now, but Dood exacts his revenge on the evil bandit by the end. Even for all that, it doesn't pack the emotional wallop of an old Simpson song like "Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)" but it's an interesting concept and a loving tribute, and much more than just novelty. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 10 track(s)
- Total length: 00:27:46
- Main artists: Sturgill Simpson
- Composer: Sturgill Simpson
- Label: High Top Mountain Records
- Genre: Country
(C) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers (P) 2021 High Top Mountain Records marketed and distributed by Thirty Tigers
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