After two albums of experimentation – 2016’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth and 2019’s Sound & Fury – Kentucky-born bluegrass picker Sturgill Simpson returns to the more traditional sounds of his earlier work with Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions. Cuttin’ Grass is made-up primarily of Simpson’s Sunday Valley band and his solo materials (with the exception of last year’s Sound & Fury). Simpson takes seven tracks come from High Top Mountain and its follow-up Metamodern Sounds, a pair off the Grammy-winning A Sailor’s Guide to Earth and four tracks from Simpson’s Sunday Valley years and reworks them as bluegrass tunes. Simpson’s latest was recorded in June after his tour with Tyler Childers was cancelled due to the pandemic and Simpson’s own difficulties with Covid-19. The collection of twenty songs features a band of some of the best pickers out there like: mandolinist Sierra Hull, multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan (Nashville Bluegrass Band), and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien (Hot Rize, New Grange), along with Simpson’s drummer Miles Miller. Sturgill Simpson’s Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions is a shout-out to his fans by giving them the music they desired most while paying homage to his grandfather’s and his own love of bluegrass. While there is no new material on Cuttin’ Grass, it is a showcase of some of the finest musicianship in the country/bluegrass scene and some top-notch re-imaginings of Simpson’s back catalogue. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Tyler Childers, Charley Crockett, JP Harris, Zephaniah OHora, Joshua Ray Walker, Colter Wall