Sturgill Simpson | Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (LP)

Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is the follow-up to Sturgill Simpson's critically acclaimed debut, High Top Mountain. The album title - an allusion to Ray Charles groundbreaking 1962 record, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music - hints at the psychedelic sounds found within. Compared to Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, Simpson explores a more progressive side of outlaw country in his wholly unique and captivating second album. Sturgill Simpson won many fans with his 2013 debut album, High Top Mountain. It is unapologetic in its evocation of '70s outlaw country. For his sophomore date, he and his band entered a Nashville studio with producer/engineer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell), and cut Metamodern Sounds in Country Music live-to-tape in four days. These songs and their production values, though immediately reconizable, are more varied and textured than those of his debut--there's no pedal steel here for one thing. The Waylon Jennings-esque quality in Simpson's singing voice r