Simpson is somewhat of an enigma, shifting and changing through music, bending genre and vanishing and reappearing from the public eye.
Sturgill Simpson has become known as one of the best and most progressive country singer-songwriters on the planet since his breakthrough in 2014. In recent years however he has also been revealed to be an excellent guitar player across many different styles and has laid down some of his best playing to date under the moniker of Johnny Blue Skies on his new record Passage Du Desir.
The Sturgill that country fans came to love originally was an acoustic wielding singer who mostly relied upon the jaw dropping talents of one Laur Joamets (who really deserves his own article) for lead guitar duties, but since 2019’s synth-rock concept album Sound and Fury, Simpson has been playing a lot more electric guitar and has been showing the world he’s much more than just a world class singer. So let’s take a deep dive into everyone’s favourite outlaw’s tools of the trade and discover how he has achieved the myriad of sounds across his diverse discography.
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Martin Guitars
For the bulk of his career, Simpson’s main guitar has been his trusty Martin HD-28 V. Purchased from Gruhn’s Guitars in Nashville, Simpson famously carved his name in the back of the headstock so that he would never sell it and if somebody ever stole it, it would ‘still be his’. For a player with strong roots in Bluegrass music, the D-28 is a logical choice for Simpson. He is known to have equipped his main squeeze with an LR Baggs Lyric Microphone/Pickup system for incredibly rich and organic live tones, which he uses in conjunction with the LR Baggs Venue DI.
After becoming a brand ambassador for Martin, Simpson also acquired a Martin Custom Shop 12-Fret Slot Head modelled after the original Martins built for Ditson department stores in the 1920s. The Slot Head has mahogany back and sides, an adirondack spruce top, is 12 frets to the body and features a signature slotted headstock. On why he added this guitar to his arsenal, Simpson had this to say in an interview for the Martin Journal of Acoustic Guitars: “I like a lot of bottom end, because I’m primarily a rhythm player and a singer. I picked up a couple 12-fret older model Dreadnaughts in the stores, and they just felt like more resonant, louder guitars. And then I saw the Ditson in the Martin Museum when I toured the factory and just kind of fell in love with the simplicity of the aesthetic of it. No bells or whistles, just a workhorse.”
Fender Telecaster
When it comes to electric guitars, Simpson is best known for playing Fender Telecasters, often custom made, unbranded Partscaster models that he has hinted at potentially having built himself. Along with his mystery Teles, Simpson has often been seen playing a gorgeous butterscotch blonde Fender Esquire, the single-pickup precursor to the Telecaster, which looks to be a modern Custom Shop reissue but could very well be a vintage model in excellent condition. Also in Simpson’s Fender collection have been several Stratocasters, many that look to be 70s models with the tell-tale larger headstock shape. Most notable among his Strats however was a stunning 1954 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster which now happens to be for sale at Carter Vintage Guitars.
Simpson is also a huge Les Paul fanatic, having first fallen in love with them when he heard Eric Clapton’s guitar sound on John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers Beano album. Simpson has regularly been seen rocking his 2014 Gibson Custom Shop Historic Select ’59 Sunburst Les Paul since around 2019. In a recent appearance on Matt Sweeney’s Youtube series Guitar Moves, Simpson demonstrated his unique Bluegrass-influenced rock and roll licks on a 70s Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop loaded with mini-humbuckers, however its unconfirmed as to whether the guitar actually belongs to Simpson.
Hiwatt
Like the man himself, Simpson’s live rig is ever-evolving and changing. Having explored traditional country, psychedelia, hard rock, bluegrass, blue-eyed soul and everything in between over the course of his eclectic career, Simpson’s live setup depends on the stylistic phase he is in at the time. Simpson mostly seems to favour British amps at his live shows, having been sighted using Hiwatt SA20 heads (rebranded to be ‘Sowatt’ amps) as well as a Marshall 1987X 50w Plexi. In the studio, Simpson seems to prefer Fender amps. For his 2014 breakthrough record Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Simpson lent his then-lead guitarist Laur Joamets his customised Silverface Fender Champ which had been hot rodded with a larger speaker. In a rare recent interview, Simpson stated that all his own lead guitar parts on the new record Passage Du Desir were recorded with a Les Paul plugged directly into an old Fender Princeton with no pedals or effects.
Boss pedals
For his live performances, Simpson has a modest pedalboard consisting of a Boss Waza Craft TU-3w Chromatic Tuner, Xotic EP Booster, Fulltone Deja Vibe, Fulltone Supa-Trem, Moog MF Delay V2 and a TC Electronic Hall of Fame reverb. Reverb pedals are common for players who use British style amps like Hiwatt and Marshall due to their lack of internal spring reverb units.
In an online interview, longtime Co-Producer and engineer David Ferguson stated that Simpson prefers to sing into a beyerdynamic M160 microphone in the studio, noting that “Those ribbon mics will take a lot of sound pressure and they don’t leak very much. You get any mic in a room with a bunch of drums, bass amps, and all that going on, and it helps to have a mic that doesn’t leak very much but has a warm, smooth sound.” Also in Simpson’s vocal chain: the same UA 6176 preamp that Ferguson used with Johnny Cash, and a Fairchild 660 compressor. For 2016’s nautical country-soul concept record ‘A Sailor’s Guide To Earth’, Ferguson also stated that Simpson’s acoustic guitar was captured with an AKG 451 mic into a UA 2-610 preamp.
And that’s a wrap!
Keep up with Sturgill Simpson and his ever-evolving and changing rig here.
