Johnny Blue Skies is finally talking to the people. Believe it or not, the North American leg of Sturgill Simpson's Why Not? Tour is already wrapping up. After taking a break from touring (Simpson hadn't been out on the road since 2021), Stu did a marathon of three months worth of face-melting concerts. I happened to attend the show he had in Nashville, Tennessee... and let me tell you, it was one of the best concerts of I've ever been to. Bridgestone Arena was on its feet for the entirety of Simpson’s 3 hour and 26 minute set. Being there myself, somehow it felt like both a marathon and a sprint. The rocking country artist packed in 36 songs into his show, ranging from classics like “Turtles All The Way Down,” Johnny Blue Skies tracks like the emotional “Jupiter’s Faerie,” and raucous covers like the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider.” It was a 3-plus hour show, but the pacing made it fly by. His stage set up was simple, and visual supplements to the show were limited. Sturgill clearly wanted to create an environment that magnified and elevated the reason that everyone was there: the music. In his mind, it was a “all other distractions and additions to the show be damned” kind of approach – and it was awesome. Simpson has had that same approach throughout the entirety of his tour. He shows up on stage and gives the people there what they want: hours upon hours of loud, precise, mind-bending performances and very little dialogue. And as Sturgill now brings his comeback tour to a close (at least the American leg), he's evidently feeling inspired - and wanted to share that with those in attendance. During the first night of his two-night Boston, Massachusetts tour finale, he stopped ahead of "Turtles All The Way Down" to share a rare message with the crowd. A fan standing in the pit videoed the speech: "I haven't been saying much this year, I've learned that when I open my mouth, dumb sh*t comes out. We've had a lot of really positive feedback this tour. I'm personally in a very positive place most of the time, the last couple years, maybe not so. I finally let go of everything other than just walking on stage with these guys and trying to do the best we can every night. And everything just got so much easier." He went on to provide some thoughts on the current landscape of the world, and specifically the tension that some folks are feeling post-election: "I just want to say that I think it's ok to disagree as long as there's compassion and kindness in everybody's heart. And if you meet in the middle, that's ok. But for anyone that's pretty down right now, for those that don't know how to deal with anxiety of the day-to-day that they find themselves accepting, I just want to tell you something that I believe. I think that... I don't think, I know, because I've seen it. I think that this toxic patriarch energy that we are experiencing right now, this is an age coming to an end. What you are seeing is that energy clinging and clawing for survival because it knows it's dying, and we are heading towards something very beautiful. And we just gotta go through some dark sh*t first to get there. Love everybody around you, don't accept anything other than that, and f**k sh*t up. That's all I've got to say." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBW3R4eeo-M Obviously, Stu is taking aim at the newly-elected 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and his constituents, but it's not exactly a secret that Stu isn't a fan of the Donald. He called him a "fascist f***ing pig" during his legendary CMA Awards busking stunt outside the Bridgestone Arena back in 2017. Of course, the part about having kindness and compassion, while still being able to disagree, should resonate with everyone. But some would argue that being gaslit into a perpetual cycle of fear and anxiety by the mainstream media for the past few years owns more of the blame than the so-called "toxic patriarchy" of the Trump administration. Turn off the news and turn off social media... your anxiety will go down, I promise you. Nevertheless, I think a lot of folks right now ARE all hoping for "an age coming to an end," and that we're "heading towards something beautiful," but seems like folks have vastly different ideas of what that looks like. "Love everybody around you" is another message we can all get behind, right? Whether you agree with him or not, it's always when interesting when Sturgill chooses to really open up with his audience like this, and you'd kind of like to see it more often. At the same time, one can understand why he doesn't...  3 and a half hours of uninterrupted face-melting is pretty rad too. There are plenty more great videos out there circling around on the interwebs. If you didn't get a chance to get to a show this year, you HAVE to check them out... it's pretty hard to argue that this hasn't been the tour of the year. Here's his rip-roaring "Call To Arms" - with another great vantage point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlopFgtM1Og&pp=ygUdc3R1cmdpbGwgc2ltcHNvbiBjYWxsIHRvIGFybXM%3D