Sturgill Simpson at Islington Assembly Hall

Sturgill Simpson

Joe Pug

Islington Assembly Hall, 20 August 2015

At one point during his opening set tonight, singer-songwriter Joe Pug tells us that he wrote his next song in his angsty early 20s when he says most guys are at the most brooding. The following song though, a sad acoustic number, doesn't sound hugely different to the rest of his set. Pug is clearly a talented, amicable guy who appears to be as much influenced by Bob Dylan as Hank Williams and with his sweet and funny banter in between songs its hard not to like him. He certainly goes down a treat with the country-loving crowd in the Islington Assembly Hall tonight, a fact that rather endearingly even seems to surprise him, as he tries out a few quieter numbers due to how little chatter during his set there was, which is high praise indeed with picky London crowds these days.

Sturgill Simpson has to be one of the most country gigs I've been to in ages but there was also a surprising amount of rock n' roll to the whole thing too. Obviously, Simpson's two albums have a little bit of a psychedelic edge to them in places but they are more old school authentic country than most of the big country superstars around today. A recent interview with Simpson in The Guardian compared him to a character in the show Nashville called Deacon Claybourne - the "tortured artist" who contrasts with the much more popular mainstream Luke Wheeler - remarking that he even looked a little like Claybourne, which is funny because all through the show (and before the article was published I should add) I kept thinking the exact same thing (although it may more be due to my obsession with the show that any deep thinking on the subject).

Truth is Simpson is much harder to put in a box. He and his band walk on to a Led Zeppelin track, which somehow seems completely appropriate, but then start playing rootsy country straight out the outlaw handbook, like Waylon Jennings reincarnated. But like the Deacon Claybourne character, there's something so refreshing about how they look, like Regular Joes, playing for the love of the music rather than the glory.

It the start of the set they seem to stick to the country side of things, even throwing in a little bluegrass for good measure (on the foot-tapping Railroad Of Sin), but there's a lot of the cool 60s and 70s country during this part, reminding me of greats like Merle Haggard and George Jones (and Jennings too of course). Simpson seems more cautious during this part, as if testing the water. Not that it doesn't sound great and full of feeling but it's later when the band really starts jamming that he appears to properly let loose and things rise to a completely different level. 

It's clear Simpson is a country boy at heart but there's also plenty of rock in his soul, aided of course by his superb guitarist Laur Joamets, and the interplay between them gets really exciting when they play Living The Dream from Simpson's excellent second album Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, one of 2014's best in my humble opinion. Simpson is finally tempted away from his microphone and at this point seems taken over by the music as they get into a strangely grooving, honky tonking, psychedelic jam that is rather astonishing good to witness. They easily hit this again and again throughout the set after this, particularly on Life Of Sin, the strangely great cover of New Wave classic The Promise (originally by When In Rome) and, my favourite, the amusingly titled Turtles All The Way Down. 

By the end Simpson pulls it back to the pure country and brings out a truly moving version of the old Lefty Frizzell classic I Never Go Around Mirrors, stripped down but full of that pure country heartbreak that's enough, like the lyrics tell us, to make a grown man (or woman in this case) cry.  I would have been perfectly happy with this ending but the band return briefly for a rip-roaring encore: a cover of The Osborne Brothers' Listening To The Rain featuring snippets of T.Rex's The Motivator (earlier in the show an audience member shouted out for T.Rex and Simpson plainly told us that anyone who didn't like Marc Bolan could "go fuck themselves"). It's amazing to hear this old bluegrass tune infused with the spirit of glam rock but then that's exactly what makes Sturgill Simpson so special himself: he's good old homegrown country but with a sneaky twist. Simpson tonight says Islington Assembly Hall is one of the nicest places he's played so far but if there's any justice in the world he'll be playing far nicer and far bigger places soon. Lucky for me though, I caught him on the way up.