Give it up to Sturgill Simpson: In a music world that doesn’t always value artistic left turns, he’s been making them relentlessly for nearly a decade. When his 2013 hard-country debut High Top Mountain arrived, who would have predicted that it would be followed by forays into soul, headbangers, and straight-up bluegrass? With few exceptions — Taylor Swift comes to mind — it’s hard to summon up too many others who willfully change directions with almost each new album.
The creative success of each of these projects is another matter altogether: As 2019’s Sound & Fury demonstrated, a lurch into metal-riff bombast maybe wasn’t the best idea for Simpson. Now comes The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, which is both the most natural and most baffling record he’s ever made.
Inspired by both his real-life grandpa and Willie Nelson’s landmark Red Headed Stranger, Simpson, who’s something of an old soul, has made an old-soul record: a concept album, and a mini-Western at that. Set about 150 years ago, during the Civil War, it lays out the story of Dood, a hardened, uber-rugged military vet who can “shoot the balls off a bat” but hangs up his rifle (more or less) and settles down with his wife and kids on a farm. To ensure we all know what time frame we’re entering, a “Battle Hymn of the Republic”-style marching song (clomping boots included) opens the album, setting up that story.
All is well, frontier-wise, until a “bandit” sneaks onto the property, shoots Dood and leaves him for dead, and abducts his wife Juanita. Recovering from his wound, Dood gathers up his mule and dog and goes in search of Juanita. Along the way his trail hits a dead end, his dog dies, and he’s rescued by a Native American tribe (for that Dances with Wolves touch). After reuniting with his wife, Dood goes in search of the villain, culminating in a violent brawl. As in the movies, things end happily ever after, but not necessarily for everyone.
As anarchistic and slightly WTF as all that sounds, there’s nothing remotely lighthearted or offhanded about the album. Using a small acoustic band, Simpson sets the songs to mountain music, hangdog country and spry bluegrass, the latter heavy on fiddle and banjo. “Juanita,” steeped in cantina guitars (including guest Willie Nelson’s lead), has the feel of one of Marty Robbins’ vintage cowboy ballads. Simpson is clearly invested in each word he wrote, even somewhat clunky lines like, “He was a deadly warring daddy with a gun gleam in his eye/Until he found him a good woman that calmed down the rage.” And the austere and often lovely arrangements bring out the best in Simpson’s voice, which has deepened and toughened up since his first record.
At a mere ten songs and a half-hour playing time, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita doesn’t pretend to be anything other than another step on Simpson’s creatively restless journey. Melodically, the songs are slight, as if Simpson spent more time on the story and imagery than the melodies; “Sam,” the song about Dood’s departed doggie, won’t make you mist up the way the Byrds’ “Bugler” will.
As much as you have to admire Simpson for making such an oddball and ambitious record, the album rarely transcends its tale. The best thematic records — even muddled ones like Quadrophenia or American Idiot— feel timeless in spite of their settings. The Ballad of Dood and Juanita is akin to stumbling upon an old Western on a streaming service. It returns you to a time when men were rifle-wielding men (whose enemies would “damn shore get slayed”), women had to be rescued, and bloody payback came if you were pushed too far. The album isn’t just an elegy for the concept album but for the very culture it chronicles.
Dave Mustaine has chosen to bring Megadeth to an end after completing one final tour due to ongoing health challenges.
The band plans to step away next year once they wrap up their farewell run and release their final album. Frontman Dave, 64, has now shared that he reached this decision because arthritis and issues with his back have left him “unable to give a hundred per cent every night”.
Speaking on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Dave said, “It had been building up for a long time, just physical things happening with my hands … My hands were starting to fail me.
“And there were other difficulties tied to everything going on with my neck and my trunk. That whole area has arthritis and some bulging discs.
“I have a fractured lumbar bone. And of course, my back has been fused near my shoulders and neck. There is just a lot going on …
“I always said that when the time came where I could no longer give a hundred per cent each night, that would be the moment I would start thinking about slowing down.”
He continued by sharing that the choice became clear after the band completed recording their final self-titled project.
Dave explained, “It was not that I couldn’t give a hundred per cent, because we finished the album and I feel we did well with it, but while we were working I had a moment where I told my manager … ‘I am not sure how much longer I can continue. My hands are really hurting.’
“I did not intend to set things in motion. I was just talking, but it led to conversations with the band, then taking time to reflect, speaking with my family, and praying about it.
“And the answer was obvious to me that by the time the album was finished, I would know how it would perform. If it does really well, I can still deliver one final strong tour.
“And the idea of a farewell feels connected to that. We have certain shows we want to play so we can say goodbye to the people who have supported us.”
Dave added, “We are an American band, but we perform all over the world. We are not weekend performers like some country acts in the States. We have a lot of ground to cover if we want to say goodbye the right way.”
The band’s seventeenth studio album, Megadeth, will arrive in January, and their This Was Our Life tour begins in Canada in February.
