Good thing Sturgill Simpson Johnny Blue Skies included “One For The Road” on his latest album – Passage Du Desir – because now he’s set to be off the road until the international portion of his Why Not? Tour kicks off in 2025.
Simpson’s return to touring and live music in 2024 was a triumph, and his three-hours shows figuratively melted faces all across the country. If you call yourself a Sturgill fan, I hope you were able to catch him in action while he was in a city near you. If you missed it, go ahead and start looking up pricing on international flights to go see him
I’m serious.
If I can’t convince you to chase Sturgill across the pond, maybe this live performance of “Jupiter’s Faerie” will do the trick. When I saw Johnny Blue Skies in Nashville, I was appalled that some concert goers used the heartbreaking song as their bathroom break. Sure, you have to take a break at some point during a three hour show, but “Jupiter’s Faerie” is one that should freeze music fans right in their tracks (beer bathroom breaks be damned).
I’ve gone back to a number of the tracks from Passage Du Desir, like “Scooter Blues” and “Swamp of Sadness.” Johnny Blue Skies’ debut album wasn’t exactly a country album, but it doesn’t exactly fall under the category of rock either. It was once again a cosmic take on music from Sturgill, and the spaced-out song I’ve listened to and thought about the most since it came out is the soul-crushing tune “Jupiter’s Faerie.”
Like a lot of the other songs in Passage Du Desir, “Jupiter’s Faerie” toes the line between hopelessness and hope. Those feelings are juxtaposed as clear as can be in the song, which tells the story of a person who waited too long to reach out to an old friend or love interest, and eventually found out that they no longer had the chance to say goodbye… seemingly due to suicide.
The verses, led by soft piano, unspool the somber tone and story. It’s when the chorus kicks in (such a cool moment in Sturgill’s live shows) that hopeful energy bursts into the song in place of the sadness, and a comforting-deflection-of-a-thought is belted out as if to clear the storms of despair:
“I hear there’s faeries out on Jupiter
And there was a time that I knew one
But today I’m feeling way down here on Earth
Crying tears of love in the light of mourning dawn”
All in all, it has to be one of the saddest, intricate, most alluring songs that Sturgill/Johnny has ever penned – especially for those of us who have lost someone and only wish they could have said one more thing to them. And though it’s dark – and paints a picture of the illusion and distraction of procrastinating the grieving process – the seven minute ballad just might be one of my favorite songs Simpson has ever put out.
The studio recording is phenomenal, but Simpson has managed to bring the song to life even more when he tackles it live in concert. I’ve kept an eye out for each and every live performance of “Jupiter’s Faerie” that has hit the internet, and each one I’ve seen, Sturgill belted out the emotionally-heavy track like he was performing it for the very last time. But this one below showcases the emotion and vocal power that the track requires (and Sturgill comfortable handles) as good as any that I’ve seen.
Until Simpson gets back out on the road, we’ll have to make do with the live performance videos like this one that have been scattered across the internet: