Who I Am: From Jackson, Kentucky to Red Rocks
I'm Sturgill Simpson. Here's the short version of where I come from and how I got to the records behind these designs.
Where am I from?
I was born John Sturgill Simpson on June 8, 1978, in Jackson, in Breathitt County, Kentucky, and I grew up in Versailles, Kentucky. Kentucky runs through all of it, the songs and the designs alike.
What came before my own records?
Sunday Valley: before I put out anything under my own name, I played in a band called Sunday Valley. We started in 2004 and called it a day in 2012. High Top Mountain: my first album under my own name came out in 2013. High Top Mountain is also the name of my own label.
What does my music sound like?
People call it alternative country, progressive country and outlaw country. It doesn't always stay there: Sound & Fury in 2019 was a hard, synth-driven rock record, and the two Cuttin' Grass records in 2020 took my songs back to bluegrass.
What has happened along the way?
- A Grammy: A Sailor's Guide to Earth won Best Country Album and was nominated for Album of the Year.
- Johnny Blue Skies: in 2024 I released Passage du Desir as Johnny Blue Skies, my alter ego, and Mutiny After Midnight followed in 2026 with the Dark Clouds.
- Hall of Fame: in October 2024 I was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.
- Ripple: in December 2024 I played "Ripple" at the Kennedy Center Honors for the Grateful Dead.
- The road: in August 2025 I opened for Dead & Company in Golden Gate Park, and I finished a world tour at Red Rocks that September.
Where does the merch come in?
Every design in this store comes from my records or from the Johnny Blue Skies world: suns and moons, tarot cards, a ferryman, a lion and two doves. They come on tees, long sleeves, crewnecks and hoodies, with kids' and youth sizes too.
Want to see them all? Browse the collection.