Sturgill Simpson Brings Johnny Blue Skies To Outside Lands

Sturgill Simpson ended a nearly three-year absence from the live stage with a pair of Bay Area performances over the weekend. Sturgill performed songs from his new Johnny Blue Skies album, Passage du Desir during his appearance at Outside Lands, which followed a show at an intimate San Francisco club.

Simpson kicked off his weekend in the Bay Area by performing at Bimbo’s 365 Club on Friday as part of the Outside Lands Night Show series. Simpson was backed by his band, bassist Kevin Black, keyboardist Robbie Crowell, guitarist Laur Joamets and drummer Miles Miller.

The club gig’s setlist featured only one song from Passage du Desir (which was released under Simpson’s newly minted moniker Johnny Blue Skies) with “Right Kind of Dream” landing among other selections from the singer-songwriter’s career and several choice covers. “Right Kind of Dream” was played again at Outside Lands where the setlist also contained the fellow Passage du Desir cut, “If the Sun Never Rises Again.”

“Brace for Impact (Live a Little)” from Simpson’s 2016 album, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth, was played on both occasions in San Francisco, each time incorporating elements of the Grateful Dead’s “China Cat Sunflower.” Both sets presented covers of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” When in Rome’s “The Promise” and Moore & Napier’s “Long White Line.”

The club gig also saw Simpson covering The Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider,” Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine,” Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon” and others, including “Sometimes Wine” from Simpson’s time in his former band Sunday Valley.

Simpson filled in his setlists with songs from his 2013 debut album Hight Top Mountain and its 2014 follow-up, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, as well as the 2019 anime soundtrack rock album SOUND & FURY and his 2020 foray into bluegrass, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions.

Watch video footage of Sturgill Simpson performing at Bimbo’s and Outside Lands below:

Outside Lands

Bimbo’s 365 Club