Sturgill Simpson will perform his first solo show in three years at the 2024 Outside Lands festival in San Francisco from August 9th–11th. This announcement comes after the alt-country singer-songwriter dipped his toe out of semi-retirement with gigs alongside members of Dead & Company and Margo Price.
Simpson is a bit of an odd man out on the indie-leaning Outside Lands lineup, with Charley Crockett, Paul Cauthen, and Katie Pruitt the only other country artists of note, along with a country set by Post Malone. Sturgill will headline the festival alongside Tyler, The Creator, The Killers, The Postal Service, Grace Jones, Kaytranada, JUNGLE, Chris Lake, and Gryffin. For his Outside Lands appearance, Simspon will reunite with his most celebrated backing band lineup featuring guitarist Laur Joamets, bassist Kevin Black, and drummer Miles Miller. Tickets for Outside Lands 2024 go on sale on Wednesday, April 24th at 10 a.m. PT here.
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Tuesday’s lineup announcement follows a period of (not unwarranted) speculation among Simpson’s fans. His followers were likely disappointed when earlier this month a “Coming Soon” message on his website amounted to simply a 10th anniversary reissue of his landmark album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Then on Monday, a clock appeared on his website counting down to 10 a.m. on Tuesday—10 a.m. PT, it should be noted—which coincided with the Outside Lands lineup revelation.
Simpson stepped away from live performing back in September 2021 when damage to his vocal cords forced him to cancel his tour midway. At the time, Sturgill warned that it’d “be a long hot minute” before he returned to the stage. Coupled with the fact that the month prior Simpson released his fifth and allegedly final solo album The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, it was unclear when fans would see or hear from Sturgill again.
Following his break from the road and release of Dood & Juanita—completing a five-album promise he made throughout his career—Simpson appeared as a featured guest on songs by Angel Olsen and Diplo (though under the pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies). He also produced albums by Brit Taylor and Miles Miller in 2023. That same year, he appeared in season three of The Righteous Gemstones and Martin Scorsese‘s epic Killers of the Flower Moon. Simpson even recorded a song for The Righteous Gemstones, an a cappella cover of “All the Gold in California“, under the name Brother Marshall and the Choir of Fire which showed his vocal cords were in good shape.
Last year also saw Simpson step back onstage for several high-profile gigs. He made his first live appearance post-injury for a brief one-song spot at Willie Nelson‘s 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in April. Then in September, Sturgill was included on the lineup for the Dead Ahead Mexico destination event featuring members of Dead & Company, Goose, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and more. Two weeks after the lineup announcement, Simpson made a surprise appearance at Farm Aid in Noblesville, IN, where he joined Bob Weir & Wolf Bros and Margo Price throughout the evening—two acts also on the Dead Ahead bill. While Simpson’s appearance at Farm Aid was certainly historic and made up for his canceled 2021 appearance, it was ultimately overshadowed by Bob Dylan‘s surprise appearance later that same evening, his first trip to Farm Aid in over 20 years.
While down in Mexico in January for Dead Ahead, Simpson got around. In addition to two full-show performances with Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Don Was, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Rick Mitarotonda, Margo Price, and others, Simpson made a surprise sit-in with acoustic Goose offshoot Orebolo. Clearly in good spirits, during his afternoon appearance with Orebolo he even threatened the crowd, “I’m here all week, if I see you I’ll steal all your weed.”