Sturgill Simpson gives early YouTube release to album he said would only come out physically

A few weeks ago, Sturgill Simpson announced a new album under his Johnny Blue Skies moniker (officially Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds this time) called Mutiny After Midnight, and he said it would only be released on physical media–no streaming. However, on Sunday night, about a week before its release, Sturgill posted the entire album to YouTube.

“Ooops,..mighta just posted the whole fuk’n album on YouTube….for the real ones,” he wrote in his Instagram stories. Sturgill has made a lot of different types of music over the years–country, bluegrass, hard rock–and he calls this one a “dance record.” It’s “dance” in a way that channels the ’60s/’70s breeding ground between soul and rock, somewhere between Tina Turner doing “Proud Mary” and the Grateful Dead doing “Dancing in the Street.” Its opening track, “Make America Fuk Again,” is probably the first and only “make love not war” style protest song that makes references to both autism/ADHD diagnoses and Hunter Biden. Outside of the twangy, sentimental “Don’t Let Go,” Sturgill eschews his country side entirely on this album. It’s yet another left turn for an artist who’s always making left turns, and you can hear it for yourself below.