Somebody told me once it takes an Americana song five minutes to say what a country song says in three – so I try to write country songs. But really, all good music is just soul music. – Sturgill Simpson
It’s hard enough to sit at a table and talk to most people as it is. But we can go to some town, and there’s 300 people we’ve never met before, and by the third song, we’re connecting with everyone in that room. – Sturgill Simpson
Part of me still feels like I’ve never had the opportunity to properly express all my earliest influences, so for now, I find isolation to be my biggest influence. – Sturgill Simpson
I just can’t sit down and write three verses and a chorus and a bridge anymore. It just don’t find it inspiring. – Sturgill Simpson
I want people to focus on listening, not the image. And I want to play to everyone: rednecks, dubstep kids, punk rockers, and people who like as-real-as-it-gets country music. – Sturgill Simpson
I just don’t see myself as a songwriter or a country singer or any of those things anymore. It’s more trying to express ideas and emotional textures. – Sturgill Simpson
Even with most finite planning, you never know what the final result will reveal itself to be until it’s staring back at you. – Sturgill Simpson
I just have to do what it is going to make me happy, first and foremost – what is honest and what is sincere. Anybody that listens will hopefully connect with that. – Sturgill Simpson
I’m just gonna write a record for my kid, and if people hate it, it doesn’t matter. – Sturgill Simpson
Let’s just cut a live record with three microphones in four days and talk about lizards and aliens. If I had taken that idea to even an independent label, I don’t see a label out there that would’ve said, ‘Oh yeah, that sounds great. We know how to market this.’ – Sturgill Simpson
I grew up listening to everything. I was in rock n’ roll bands and punk bands, and I loved bluegrass and country music, too. Then, when I moved to Nashville, I put out a very traditional country record because that’s just what you do. I had a bunch of very traditional country songs. Next thing you know, you’re a country singer. – Sturgill Simpson
There are no expectations other than those I place on myself to be a great father and husband. – Sturgill Simpson
I pretty much just hang out with the kid. I want, like three more, because that’s all I ever want to do. – Sturgill Simpson
There’s a lot going on in country music, with indie-label hipsters and underground bloggers arguing their interpretations of what country is, and pop-country stars defending themselves. That deserves to be poked fun at. – Sturgill Simpson
I never really had any grand aspirations of mainstream country success because I know what that entails, and I’d probably be too much trouble for people to work with. If I can just reach the point where I can get 200 or 300 people in small clubs and I’m carving out enough money to pay my bills, then I’m the happiest guy I know. – Sturgill Simpson
I wanted to make an album that takes a journey through all my favorite periods in music and then culminates in something that will most likely end my career. – Sturgill Simpson
All I’m really interested in musically is trying to make concept albums. Serving a larger sum than the parts. – Sturgill Simpson
I someday hope to find the time and coin to invest more of my creative energy towards the visual media side of releasing music. – Sturgill Simpson
Atlantic has been great to me. They didn’t flinch when I told them I was self-producing, and nobody was popping their head in the studio. – Sturgill Simpson
I want all that dirt and grime and life-sauce. A lot of my favorite old soul records have it, but you don’t hear it on country records anymore. – Sturgill Simpson