Country Singer Returns After 3-Year 'Retirement': Sturgill Simpson Set for Outside Lands

This will be a return to the stage after suffering a vocal hemorrhage and stepping back from music.

By Andrew Roberts

Sturgill Simpson is making his return from his self-imposed retirement to perform as one of the headliners at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco, CA on Aug. 9-11. It will be Simpson's first full performance in three years, reuniting with a favorite era of his backing band for the performance.

Simpson will take the stage with guitarist Laur Joamets, bassist Kevin Black, and drummer Miles Miller. Black was a former member of Simpson's first band, Sunday Valley, before joining him on his solo career through High Top Mountain. Joamets played with Simpson during the Metamodern Sounds era of his career, falling out after a memorable Grammys performance in 2017. Miller is the only constant for Simpson in the lineup, remaining his bandleader and taking on his own solo career.

The announcement was preceded by a countdown clock on Simpson's official page, finally revealing itself at 10 a.m. PT due to the concert's locale and just saving it for the last possible moment.

Simpson's return doesn't mean he's back full-time for a tour and a new album. His last album, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, was called his final original album as a solo artist, fulfilling a commitment he made to himself. He also has been recovering from a hemorrhaging vocal cord he ruptured in 2021.

"I am currently getting the best treatment available and should fully recover but its gonna be a long hot minute before I can return to stage," he said at the time, only months after calling his last album his last.

"I don't want to say I'll never make another record, but this five-album narrative was really clear when I moved to Nashville. My wife really helped me carve that out, in terms of how to go about the beginning, middle and end for each chapter. But then after that, I am not sure," Simpson told Whiskey Riff in 2021. "I love the studio. I like sleeping in my bed. I like seeing other people succeed. And I really love helping other people succeed-people like Tyler or Margo or Lucette or anybody else who would be willing to work with me."

Despite his movement away from his own music, Simpson has been visible in recent years thanks to his acting roles. He was most recently in Killers of the Flower Moon with Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. He was also in The Creator and made an appearance on Righteous Gemstones on HBO.

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