“Sturgill Served His Purpose But He’s Dead” – Why Sturgill Simpson Released Music As “Johnny Blue Skies”

Have you had a chance to digest Sturgill Simpson's Johnny Blue Skies ' new album, Passage Du Desir ? If you haven't, what have you been doing all weekend? Ironically, the eight-song project is about as "Sturgill" as you can get, yet it's the first album that Simpson has released under his alter ego Johnny Blue Skies. Personally, I've probably listened to it all the way through at least five times, and its diverse nature is refreshing as an ice cold beer on a hot summer day. But some of you might still be confused as to why Sturgill decided to ditch his already badass, alliteration of a name for the moniker Johnny Blue Skies. As it turns out, there's both a shallow and deep answer to that question. Simpson sat down with GQ and first revealed the shallow reason he went with Johnny Blue Skies: "When I was about 21 years old, there used to be this bar in Lexington, Kentucky with this bartender named Dave who was like Silent Bob and Charles Bukowski, literally in the long trench coat, and he could do way more Zippo tricks than anybody should know. When I started performing and getting my confidence at open mics and stuff, he’d come to this other bar and see me because it was his night off. And he started every time I’d walk into his bar, he’d say, ‘Johnny Blue Skies.’ So I just started using it." There you have it... just a name that he heard and liked (and meant something to him) when he was younger. Simple as that. However, the reason as to why he went all in on Johnny Blue Skies is the deeper - and my preferred - story. Simpson elaborated that as his celebrity grew more and more over the years, he associated with the name Sturgill less and less: "I’d be at an airport or a restaurant, and I’d hear somebody say my name and I’d turn around and realize I had no idea who the person is. All of a sudden I’d hear that name and it was like it didn’t belong to me. It was just a commodity or a brand. Sturgill served his purpose but he’s dead, he’s gone, and I’m definitely not that guy anymore. That’s why I put that skeleton face on that (reissued) cover of Metamodern. I just can’t even relate." Fascinating... That makes sense though, and happens to be the main theme in Passage Du Desir 's fifth, most country track "Who I Am." Imagine being famous and everyone knowing who you are, and knowing a lot about you, and you have no idea who they are. It would be a little freaky, right? And strangely enough, there's a chance your name would start to become unfamiliar the more people recognized you (deep... I know). Though that explanation explains the how of Johnny Blue Skies, it still doesn't pull back the curtain on the who . Simpson made sure to address that in the interview as well, and said that Johnny Blue Skies is simply - or complexly - whoever you wish him or imagine him to be: "He’s anybody you want him to be, man. He’s a mythological hero, come to usher us into this new era of love and light." You can listen to "Who I Am" below while trying to decipher all of those poetic, existential quotes from Sturgill... I mean Johnny. Still getting used to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zluaYB2EH-I