Sturgill Simpson (aka Johnny Blue Skies) has been in Europe for the past month, and while abroad he debuted a reggae cover of Eddie Murphy‘s “Party All The Time”. Many of the venues overseas have enforced strict policies against video recordings, so it was a surprise to finally see footage of the cover surface on YouTube over the weekend.
The recording came from Simpson’s European tour closer on Saturday at Le Trianon in Paris. This marked Simpson’s sixth cover of the Rick James-produced pop song, following its debut in Stockholm, Sweden on March 8th, per Setlist.fm. Despite the song’s relative newness to the band’s repertoire, Sturgill’s sidemen Laur Joamets (guitar), Miles Miller (drums), Kevin Black (bass), and Robbie Crowell (keys) already had the groove down to a science. Sturgill’s central reggae riff takes on a tinge of darkness from Laur’s slide guitar, making the song into a more rueful lamentation of the excesses of the 1980s.
Though the “Party All The Time” cover might seem a bit absurd, Simpson has a documented history of transforming familiar songs into unique covers. On his 2014 breakout Metamodern Sounds in Country Music he made When In Rome‘s ’80s hit “The Promise” into a tender ballad, then on the 2016 follow-up A Sailor’s Guide To Earth he made Nirvana‘s “In Bloom” into eerie easy listening and threw in a horn section.
Watch Sturgill Simpson perform Eddie Murphy’s “Party All The Time” in Paris. Simpson will bring his Who The F*ck Is Johnny Blue Skies? 2025 Tour to the U.S. next month, kicking off April 5th in Durant, OK. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates here, and stream audio of all the shows on nugs. Not a nugs subscriber yet? Sign up for a seven-day free trial here. [Editor’s Note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your nugs subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Sturgill Simpson — “Party All The Time” (Eddie Murphy) — 3/22/25
[Video: Beth Boylan]
Setlist: Sturgill Simpson | Le Trianon | Paris, France | 3/22/25
Set: I’d Have to Be Crazy (Steven Fromholz), Right Kind of Dream, All Said and Done, Long White Line (Moore & Napier), If the Sun Never Rises Again, Living the Dream, Party All the Time (Eddie Murphy), A Good Look, L.A. Woman (The Doors), Life of Sin, Turtles All the Way Down, One for the Road, Jupiter’s Faerie, Welcome to Earth (Pollywog), It Ain’t All Flowers, Best Clockmaker on Mars, A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum), Railroad of Sin, Mint Tea, Brace for Impact, You Don’t Miss Your Water (William Bell), Fastest Horse in Town, Scooter Blues, Midnight Rider (The Allman Brothers Band), Call to Arms