A Sailor's Guide to Earth

Last updated

A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Sturgill Simpson A Sailor's Guide To Earth.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 15, 2016 (2016-04-15)
Studio
  • The Butcher Shoppe (Nashville)
  • Atlantic (New York)
  • CaVa (Glasgow)
Genre
Length38:54
Label Atlantic
Producer Sturgill Simpson
Sturgill Simpson chronology
Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
(2014)
A Sailor's Guide to Earth
(2016)
Sound & Fury
(2019)
Singles from A Sailor's Guide to Earth
  1. "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)"
    Released: March 3, 2016
  2. "In Bloom"
    Released: March 24, 2016
  3. "Keep It Between the Lines"
    Released: January 30, 2017

A Sailor's Guide to Earth is the third studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson. It was announced on March 3, 2016, with the release of the single "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)". The album was released on April 15, 2016, [1] and won Best Country Album at the 59th Grammy Awards; it was also nominated for Album of the Year. [2]

Contents

Background

Prior to the album's announcement, Simpson stated in an interview with GQ that "what's next is already finished... Quite honestly, I need about six months at home with my family." [3] On March 3, 2016, Simpson released "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)" on YouTube and his website; the next day he released the nine-song track list of A Sailor's Guide to Earth. [4] A week later, he published the music video for "Brace for Impact", which was directed by Matt Mahurin and contains the Grim Reaper, a hot rod coffin and sailboats. [5] On March 24, 2016, Simpson released his cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" along with its music video, also directed by Matt Mahurin. Simpson said, "I wanted to make a very beautiful and pure homage to Kurt [Cobain]." [6] Streaming of the album became available on April 7, 2016, on NPR's official website. [7]

The song "Oh Sarah" was previously recorded by Simpson's former band Sunday Valley and appeared on their only full-length album, To the Wind and On To Heaven, in 2011.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 8.3/10 [8]
Metacritic 86/100 [9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
The Daily Telegraph Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Entertainment Weekly A− [12]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [13]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Pitchfork 8.0/10 [16]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Spin 7/10 [18]
Uncut 9/10 [19]

A Sailor's Guide to Earth received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 86, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 19 reviews. [9]

The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 52,000 copies (55,000 units when tracks and streams are included) in its first week. [20] The album sold a further 13,400 copies in the second week. [21] The album has sold 217,900 copies in the US as of October 2017. [22]

Following his Grammy win, Simpson saw a 346% increase in streaming on Spotify. [23]

Accolades

PublicationAccoladeYearRankRef.
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 20162016
19
Rough Trade Albums of the Year2016
91
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 20162016
26

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sturgill Simpson except "In Bloom", which is written by Kurt Cobain.

No.TitleLength
1."Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)"4:53
2."Breakers Roar"3:33
3."Keep It Between the Lines"4:01
4."Sea Stories"3:17
5."In Bloom" (Nirvana cover)4:01
6."Brace for Impact (Live a Little)"5:49
7."All Around You"3:36
8."Oh Sarah"4:15
9."Call to Arms"5:30
Total length:38:54

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

Artwork

Charts

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References

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