Anyone who knows Sturgill Simpson knows he’s a musical free cannon. Fans never know when, when, or how he will appear next. Throughout his life, it seems that he, too, is unaware of this. But, despite all the unknowns and variations, one thing has remained constant: his family’s presence and his wife’s support. And, although his wife, Sarah, is not a magician, and his resurrections are just symbolic, she has helped him restore calm on several occasions throughout their marriage.
Sturgill Simpson’s Wife Was Present When His Career Began
Sturgill’s career in country music started in 2004 with his band, Sunday Valley. The band, on the other hand, never worked, and he had no idea how to flourish in the country music market. As a result, he decided to take a break from music for a time. He relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah, and began working as a railroad freight-shipping yard for Union Pacific Road, eventually becoming the yard’s manager.
Music, on the other hand, never left him. Back then, Sturgill considered music and songwriting to be a pastime, and he only grabbed his guitar when he needed to work through something. Sarah, on the other hand, recognized in him what he didn’t: a future country music superstar. As a result, she assisted him in leaving behind the “depressive agony of a middle-management position,” as VICE called it in its 2017 profile of him.
“My wife noticed I was unhappy before I ever saw it,” he told VICE. In some ways, this was a wake-up call for Sturgill. She rekindled his artistic passion, and they began to consider a new studio life in Nashville. In 2012, they embarked on a new misery: professionally producing songs. They sold practically everything, loaded their Ford Bronco, and drove to Music City. After arriving, he concentrated on producing music and daydreamed about the future. The first thing they did was devise a five-album strategy.
“My wife really helped me carve it out,” he said to Relix in February 2021, “in terms of how to go about the beginning, middle, and conclusion for each chapter.”
The first of the five, High Top Mountain, was launched in 2013 and was developed and distributed entirely on its own dime. The fifth, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, is set to be published on August 20, 2021.
Sturgill Simpson Would Retire for the Sake of His Family
As Sturgill’s reputation and success grew, so did his disdain for everything else around his music, particularly the marketing and time away from his family. That second point irritates him the most since he loves his time with his wife and children. He never saw himself as much of a family guy as he is today, and he believed his family to be more worthy of his success than himself. Sturgill has shown his love for his family via a song on several occasions. Sarah was the subject of his song ‘Oh Sarah,’ which appeared on his third album, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
His whole record was also about his family. In 2016, he told Charlie Rose that the album was the “direct result of a year and a half plus on the road.” While he was abroad, he missed his wife and his then-newborn kid.
“It was sort of balancing the fact that my aspirations were coming true and it was providing for my family, but it was also a little bittersweet because things kind of took off all at the same time that my family was growing,” he continued. “As a result, I feel like I missed a lot.”
The CD served as both a thank you and an apology to his family.
As he admitted to The Guardian, being apart from his family caused him to consider resigning. “I honestly wondered if this was something I wanted to keep doing,” he admitted to the publication. He couldn’t be away from his family for long, so Sarah flew to him whenever she could. “It’s incredible how much that recharges my batteries,” he adds.
“I have something at home that is so deeply genuine and strong,” Sturgill exclaimed to Uproxx, adding that he did not want to lose “the most beautiful thing I could possibly conceive in this lifetime.”
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As a result, he has now relocated to relative obscurity, at least geographically, in order to spend more time with his family. The country artist relocated to an unidentified location in Southeast Tennessee, which is comparable to his birthplace of Jackson, Kentucky. There, he planned to provide his children an upbringing comparable to his own, one that was not dependent on his achievement. With his wife and three children, he now loves family movie evenings, bonfires, and late-night stargazing.
