Sturgill Simpson Signs To Atlantic

Last year, the grizzled country-music adventurer Sturgill Simpson spent $4,000 making his great album Metamodern Sounds In Country Music and released it on his own. That album found its audience, and now Simpson is nominated for a Grammy and showing up on practically every worthwhile festival bill. He's also touring hard; he sold out his upcoming show in Charlottesville, where I live, months ahead of time, which almost nobody does. So it's not a tremendous surprise that Simpson is moving into the major-label universe. He is, after all, an earner. Rolling Stone reports that Simpson has inked a deal with Atlantic and that he's already gotten to work on a new album with Metamodern Sounds producer Dave Cobb. Look for this guy to get really famous really soon.