Sturgill Simpson is my favorite kind of artist; the kind who takes an "I'm gonna do what my muse tells me to do, and I don't really care what the rest of y'all think." Classic album that sounds by Waylon Jennings on acid? Check. Concept country album based about the sea, in part based on his time in the Navy? Check. Album of acid-rock accompanied by anime videos for each song? Check. Oh and during all that, some of the most stinging lead guitar ever heard on Saturday Night Live, while accompanying Chris Stapleton? Check.
But Simpson's greatest accomplishment may be the way he transformed "The Promise."
When the album ("Metamodern Sounds in Country Music") and song came out, I had no idea that this was a cover version. And when you listen to the original, what Simpson did is all the more amazing.
If the definition of a great cover version is one that results in an artist claiming the song for his/her own, then "The Promise" has to qualify for one of the greatest covers of all time.
Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #50 - "The Promise," Sturgill Simpson.
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