A Sailor's Guide to Earth

Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Critic Score
Based on 23 reviews
2016 Ratings: #20 / 1004
Year End Rank: #26
User Score
Based on 604 ratings
2016 Rank: #81
Liked by 53 people
April 15, 2016 / Release Date
LP / Format
Atlantic / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Exclaim!

Simpson ... seems hell-bent on disassembling the genre and piecing it back together the only way that sounds right to him. While the best of the best learn to master country music, he's turning it into a whole new monster, one that's his and his only.

100
Pretty Much Amazing

Compared to the industry standard, A Sailor’s Guide feels at least five years too early. Artists spend decades working up to the level of instrumental variety and emotional awareness that Simpson seems to comprehend at his core.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Overall, the album is strikingly intimate. At times, it feels like you’ve somehow found yourself in the singer’s hallway, listening as he coos lullabies to his child in a nursery.
90
PopMatters

Afforded creative freedom many felt would be stifled, Simpson’s latest musical offspring is a love letter we can all cherish.

90
Uncut
Simpson hasn’t abandoned country – he’s just made it big enough to contain all he wants to do. The man’s only boundary now is the horizon.
85
Paste

As a whole, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is simultaneously eclectic and of a piece: It’s big and bold and sometimes messy, but never unfocused.

80
Rolling Stone

Sailor's Guide is classic album length – nine songs, 39 minutes – and best heard in one sitting; this is Nashville craft less as pop science than as expansive headphone storytelling.

80
Slant Magazine

Even beyond the chances Simpson takes, A Sailor's Guide to Earth remains a sonically stunning album.

80
The Guardian
It’s hardly a revolutionary album, but its melding of styles ... gives it a fresh, unsullied feeling.
80
Mojo

Simpson invests this bold, widescreen music with such heartfelt and real pathos and joy that it announces him as a major talent, and makes A Sailor’s Guide To Earth so rewarding.

80
The Independent

A Sailor’s Guide To Earth ranges over issues of love, depression and identity with hard-won wisdom. A skilled interpreter, Simpson’s bruised baritone murmur morphs to fit the contours of each song.

80
The Needle Drop
Singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson comes through with the classiest country album I've heard in a while.
80
AllMusic

It's an old-fashioned concept album, one that tells a story -- it's a letter to his newborn son, telling him how to become a man -- and is dressed in garish art suited to the side of a Chevy van.

80
Pitchfork
It's a deeply personal album that, while establishing Simpson as the defining songwriter of his class, displays an artistic growth that defies any sort of easy label.
75
Consequence of Sound

Written for one lucky baby boy, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth also welcomes the unmarried, infertile, abandoned, and middle-aged with unconditional love. If Father’s Day is just another Sunday, let Simpson be your proxy.

70
SPIN

On Earth, Simpson continues to have fun flipping the genre’s tropes on their head.

UltimateLifeFrm
80

Shoutout to @Jc9ers for the suggestion!

Time to review an album from a genre I'm not particularly familiar with: alt-country. I've never been a big fan of country music all that much aside from some iconic artists from the golden era of the 70s.

Here we have the 3rd album from American country soul singer Sturgill Simpson, who's definitely among the best standouts for me in terms of emotional depth, songwriting and personality.

A Sailor's Guide to Earth is packed with many moments of ... read more

WhatTheFunk
NR

"Hello my son, welcome to Earth
May not be my last, but you'll always be my first"

Despite all the criticism that modern country music receives from music snobs around the world, there are still great artists who defend it such as Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton. Outlaw country is not exactly the newest idea in the world, but I will admit that seeing it gain in popularity, especially outside its normal fan base, gives me a glimmer of hope for country music in a broader ... read more

zachthesnack
94

I can sincerely say that this is one of the best musical experiences I have ever had.

So rarely does a piece truly evoke raw emotions from within me and when one does so it is usually a singular, concentrated emotion like grief or anger, but this made me feel so many different emotions and they were all so strong and vibrant.

I avoided this album simoly because of the "country" moniker and this album has not only changed my opinion on the genre, but on music as a whole.

p.s. you ... read more

Shades002
95

1. Welcome to Earth (Pollywog) - 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐
2. Breakers Roar - 9/10 ⭐⭐
3. Keep It Between the Lines - 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐
4. Sea Stories - 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐
5. In Bloom - 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐
6. Brace for Impact (Live a Little) - 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐
7. All Around You - 8.5/10 ⭐
8. Oh Sarah - 8/10
9. Call to Arms - 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐

85.5/90

9.5/10 (Amazing 9.0-9.9)

An album that blew me away upon first listen and aged well with all my following listens. Country fused with funk and soul is a ... read more

91

A Sailor's Guide to Earth was my very first introduction to outlaw country/alt-country in 2016 when I saw him perform this album in Ashville, SC. This is definitely a genre defying project with some of the most fun and powerful songs of the sort. This album features the very best cover of In Bloom with beautiful and bright brass instrumentation that adds so much to the essence of the song. I also love Welcome to Earth (Pollywog) because of the meaningful and real lyrics and vocals. "When I ... read more

Tiki_Edem
80

Me and alt country a better combo then cowboy boots and the gravel country road

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Added on: March 4, 2016