Sturgill Simpson Expands on Luke Bryan Comments in NY Times Article

Luke Bryan was recently interviewed for a profile in the New York Times, and the country star made a few comments about fellow singer, Sturgill Simpson. Simpson’s response has caused a bit of controversy, and the singer has now taken to social media to clarify things.

In the piece, Bryan discussed the wide range of country music, from commercial artists like himself to Americana artists like Simpson, who has been critically acclaimed and won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Country Album.

“I’ve wanted to go have coffee with Sturgill,” Bryan said. “I am utterly amazed at what he does.”

In an emailed response to the piece’s author, Simpson said, “I don’t know Luke, I don’t think about Luke, and I’ve honestly never heard a single note of his music.”

On Sunday, Simpson took to Twitter to share the full email exchange between himself and the author of the article, who wrote in his email that he was reaching out to Simpson to see if he would be interested in commenting on ” ‘real’ country or Americana vs. ‘bro-country’ or pop country.”

Simpson’s full response reads, “I don’t know Luke, I don’t think about Luke, and I’ve honestly never heard a single note of his music, so I’m afraid I am unable to supply you with quotes you and your editor are seeking from me to fill out your narrative.”

The singer continued, “I can say, however, a more interesting piece would perhaps be how the Grammy winner for this years [sic] Country Album of the Year somehow doesn’t manage to get recognized / nominate[d] (much less invited) by either the CMA or the ACM to their respective award celebrations. When you wanna talk about that I’ll give you all the time you need.”

Simpson accompanied the screenshots of the email with a quote from a recent interview published by Noisey in which he discusses being misinterpreted.

“You just end up being clickbait or filling in gaps in narratives that I just don’t have any need to be a part of because it doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m trying to accomplish,” he explained in the interview. “I’ve been painted as this angry guy just because when you say things in print it’s so easy for context to get twisted … I have a dry sardonic wit and it doesn’t really come through. I’ve learned that if I’m going to do interviews it should probably be on video so people can see what I was actually saying.”

Photo Credit: Sterling Munksgard / Shutterstock.com