Unlike in the States, music hall had a much longer life span in the U.K., kept alive at summer season seaside shows, its influence percolating out as far as punk – think Ian Dury & the Blockheads, and even into Two Tone via Madness. Sailor represented the best of this tradition, from their sailor caps to their bell bottom trousers, their port of call stage set, and their sing-along songs.
Back when he released High Top Mountain in 2013, the retro sensibilities of Sturgill Simpson seemed to be rooted solely in outlaw country: he swaggered like the second coming of Waylon Jennings, a man on a mission to restore muscle and drama to country music. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, his 2014 sophomore set, was a curve ball revealing just how unorthodox his rulebook was. After nearly two decades of alternative country doubling down on po-faced authenticity where simpler was better, Simpson embraced indulgence, pushing new wave, psychedelia, and digital-age saturation, all in an attempt to add the cosmic back into American music.