It was a rainy day in Paris. Despite the bad weather, the boulevards’ sidewalks were teeming with people this Saturday night. After passing by the Moulin Rouge and observing the thick line at the entrance of La Cigale, I caught sight of La Boule Noire, where I saw American Aquarium two years ago. But my final destination, at that moment, was another famous venue, le Trianon.
On March 22d, Sturgill Simpson aka johnny Blue Skies was in Paris for the last show of his european tour, just after Brussels and Munich. Le Trianon, an old and beautiful venue, was the perfect place for the Kentucky native artist’s parisian gig. Not so far from the venue, during a break, some time ago, Sturgill Simpson had observed a place named Passage du DĂ©sir and had decided to use this name for his new album.
Once inside the entrance hall, there was no doubt: most of the audience was American people, some of them having travelled from a great distance. It was a sold out show, and the venue was packed.
At 8 o’ clock sharp, Sturgill entered the scene with his band, for a uninterrupted 2h30 show. Most of the songs played were chosen among Johnny Blue Skies’ “Passage du DĂ©sir” and among Sturgill Simpson’s “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music“. It was an eclectic selection, with country, rock and bluegrass songs, and also some fantastic covers, particularly Prince’s “Purple Rain“, The Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider“, The Doors’ “LA Woman” and Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale“.
After his traditional country debut “High Top Mountain“, Sturgill Simpson has never limited himself to one genre, and this concert was a perfect demonstration of his evolution as an artist, his creativity and his fantastic capacity to rewrite the rules.
Nicolas Davelu
Country Music France 