Sturgill Simpson can absolutely blow the roof off of any venue he plays.
That includes the historic Studio 8H at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, New York. When the country artist was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live back in 2017, he laid down one of the most memorable musical performances the sketch comedy show has ever seen.
And that’s saying something, considering all of the bands and artists that have been called upon as musical guests in the show’s nearly 50-year run. But seriously, if you look up best SNL musical performances of all time, Sturgill (or Johnny Blue Skies, whatever you prefer to call him) crushing the fan-favorite song “Call To Arms” is up there with the best ever.
There’s so much that went into this five minute “how-to-properly-rock” performance, though it all started with Simpson’s great song selection. “Call To Arms” is considered one of Sturgill’s finest pieces of work, and it was featured in his Grammy-award-winning album A Sailor’s Guide To Earth (which actually featured a Johnny Blue Skies teaser). Choosing that track to blast for the SNL audience was a masterclass in song selection.
The energy peaked all throughout the emotional, anti-war song that Simpson masterfully rips off so fast, it’s hard to really take in all of the story that the lyrics tell. You and everybody else are too busy whipping your head back and forth to really digest the song’s message… but a quick glance at the lyrics show you all that Sturgill wants you to hear.
The outro of the song especially:
“Turn off the TV
Turn off the news
There’s nothing to see here
They’re serving the blues
Bullsh*t on my TV
Bullsh*t on my radio
Hollywood telling me how to be me
The bullsh*t’s got to go”
Pair the loaded, fiery lyrics sung at breakneck speed with Sturgill literally kicking (and possibly breaking) the organ and slamming down his guitar after the conclusion of the song and you’ve got one of the best, if not the all-time best, Saturday Night Live music performance to ever grace the iconic stage of Studio 8H.
Prepare to have your mind blown if you haven’t seen this already: