Sturgill Simpson is a rare breed in the world of country music, part of a relatively recent crop of artists whose work is rooted in country but inflected with elements of rock, blues, and soul, making it appealing to a broader demographic of fans than the more traditional Nashville fare. In addition to winning this past year’s GRAMMY Award for “Best Country Album”, Simpson’s 2017 album A Sailor’s Guide To Earth was nominated for the overall “Album of the Year” honor, alongside Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, and Drake–although we get the distinct feeling he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t really give a shit about awards.

Watch Sturgill Simpson’s Rocking Performance On Saturday Night Live

Beyond the music, a big part of Simpson’s appeal is his devil-may-care swagger and down-to-Earth demeanor. Last night, ahead of the CMA Awards at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena–country music’s biggest night–Simpson made light of the evening’s pomp and circumstance by taking to the street outside the venue for an impromptu busking session.

As Simpson remarked to begin the session, streamed live on his Facebook page, “Finally made it, guys…the big show. They’re all out of seats, I couldn’t get a ticket, so I thought I’d come down here and play some country music, since we’re celebrating it tonight in Nashville, Tennessee.” He had come to the arena armed with an acoustic guitar, his GRAMMY statuette in his guitar case (according to him, the first time he’d taken it out of the box) and two signs–one reading “I don’t take requests, but I take questions about anything you want to talk about because fascism sucks” and one reading “Struggling’ country singer. Anything helps. (All donations go to the ACLU.) God Bless America.”

Taking things at a leisurely pace, Simpson spoke briefly about the awards show going on in the arena behind him, laughing about how little he knows about who’d actually been nominated as a megaphone-weilding preacher on the street droned away. He did, however, give a nod to Jason Isbell as his choice for “the big prize” (Album of the Year) and remarked on how “it’s even cooler that he’s not here” (Note: Isbell wound up losing out on the award to Chris Stapleton, member of country’s eclectic new guard).

He also shot the shit with a small group of fans on the sidewalk (and thousands via his Facebook page) and played a few tunes, including his own “Turtles All The Way Down The Line,” which featured a hilarious off-the-cuff interjection: “The world would be a lot better place if Donald Trump would smoke some DMT.” Simpson also spoke about various polarizing political topics as gun violence in the wake of the Las Vegas attack, while the CMA Awards only briefly referenced the recent and devastating events.

You can watch the full video of Sturgill Simpson’s laid-back busking session outside the CMA Awards below via Simpson’s Facebook page:

Just one more reason we can’t get enough of Sturgill Simpson…

[h/t – Wide Open Country]

[Cover photo – Adam Gold]