Even in February, we
thought we had a good hunch about what would make our annual list of Nashville s best musical moments, some 10 months later.
Concerts, album rollouts and awards shows, of course, are typically planned out well in advance. We were looking forward to seeing the Rolling Stones return to rock Nissan Stadium, new venues opening their doors and one of the most exciting Bonnaroo lineups in years.
But one month later, everything changed.
The coronavirus pandemic has sidelined the concert industry, threatened the livelihood of millions who work in music, and claimed the lives of Charley Pride, John Prine and Joe Diffie, among more than 300,000 Americans.
Sturgill Simpson
Taylor Swift isn t the only artist recording at breakneck speed these days. Today Sturgill Simpson has announced
Cuttin Grass, Vol. 2: The Cowboy Arms Sessions, his second surprise album in as many months. Like the previous installment, these songs reinterpret his catalog through bluegrass and feature an all-star lineup of acoustic musicians he s dubbed the Hillbilly Avengers. On Volume 2, we recorded everything I was too afraid to do on Volume 1, Simpson says in a statement.
The Cowboy Arms Sessionslargely draws on 2016 s
A Sailor s Guide to Earth, but it also features two previously unreleased tracks, Tennessee and Hobo Cartoon, the latter of which Simpson co-wrote with the late Merle Haggard. Haggard sent Simpson the track before his death, which Simpson ultimately finished years later.