{"id":59272,"date":"2026-03-03T15:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/johnny-blue-skies-mutiny-after-midnight-review-sturgill-rages\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:56:38","slug":"johnny-blue-skies-mutiny-after-midnight-review-sturgill-rages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/johnny-blue-skies-mutiny-after-midnight-review-sturgill-rages\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Blue Skies’ ‘Mutiny After Midnight’ Review: Sturgill Rages"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tWhen Sturgill Simpson<\/a> announced the existence of Mutiny After Midnight <\/em>\u2014 his second album under the Johnny Blue Skies<\/a> moniker, and his ninth overall \u2014 he promised<\/a> a piece of physical media that could only be heard as a vinyl record, compact disc, or cassette tape. Railing against the status quo of streaming services and compressed bitrates felt very Sturgill, even if the promise of \u201ca dance record\u201d filled with \u201cpure, unfiltered, unapologetic, relentless disco-hedonism\u201d didn\u2019t. Then, during a weekend filled with wartime anxiety, Simpson uploaded the entire album<\/a> to YouTube, giving Mutiny After Midnight <\/em>a digital life after all.<\/p>\n

\n\tRailing against the rules \u2014 even one\u2019s own rules \u2014 also feels very Sturgill. This is a man who doesn\u2019t just give us albums; he gives us left-hand turns, from anime collaborations to alter egos. With Mutiny After Midnight<\/em>, he heads into the glittering corners of the 1970s that his music previously ignored. Disco, country-funk, and hard-driving rhythm & blues all share equal space here, laced with syncopated guitars and Soul Train <\/em>bass lines, whipped into shape by a red-hot band that\u2019s been playing three-hour arena shows in recent years.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Johnny Blue Skies\u2019 first album, Passage du Desir<\/a><\/em>, placed more emphasis on the songwriter himself than the musicians backing him up, then Mutiny After Midnight <\/em>evens out the balance. This is a record inspired by the carnal things that happen after the clock strikes 12, and the Dark Clouds \u2014 Simpson\u2019s wrecking crew of guitarist Laur Joamets, keyboardist Robbie Crowell, bassist Kevin Black, drummer Miles Miller \u2014 set the late-night atmosphere with swagger, steel, and sax. Simpson\u2019s lyrics were reportedly written on the spot, so if there\u2019s more emphasis on Mutiny<\/em>\u2018s strut than its content, it\u2019s easy to forgive. What matters here is groove and mood.<\/p>\n

\n\tEverything starts with \u201cMake America Fuk Again,\u201d an early candidate for song title of the year. Recorded live at Dan Auerbach\u2019s Easy Eye Studio, it\u2019s a song for Trans Am stereos and shag-carpeted bedrooms, mixing mirror-ball nostalgia with rough-edged roadhouse country-rock. The magic-carpet ride continues from there, and although Simpson\u2019s clearly got a bone to pick with Donald Trump \u2014 just listen to the mutinous \u201cAin\u2019t That a Bitch,\u201d where he calls the sitting president \u201ca bad cartoon in an ill-fitting suit, grabbing women by the poon\u201d \u2014 he\u2019s also interested in another type of bone.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThere\u2019s simply no disguising Mutiny After Midnight<\/em>\u2018s horndog heart. Simpson fills the album\u2019s apolitical tracks with the sort of bold, Brut-slathered come-ons that would be problematic if they weren\u2019t so tongue-in-cheek. \u201cBaby, let me be the banana and you can be the split,\u201d he sings in \u201cStay on That,\u201d a song whose lyrical refrain \u2014 \u201cStay on that D, baby, \u2019til you hit that G\u201d \u2014 drives home the album\u2019s hedonistic promise. On \u201cEveryone Is Welcome,\u201d he sings the praises of multi-partner sexcapades, singing, \u201cTwo is enough but three\u2019s a whole lot of fun\/Four\u2019s a fuckin\u2019 party where everybody cums.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMutiny After Midnight <\/em>isn\u2019t a thinking man\u2019s record. It\u2019s an indulgent, immersive record for dark corners and raging libidos, purposely evoking a bygone era where Trump was working for his father rather than running the country. The handful of lines that do feel topical \u2014 such as \u201cHard to move with your knee on my neck\/Hard to have a conversation with fourteen fists,\u201d from the high-speed rocker \u201cExcited Delirium\u201d \u2014 don\u2019t ruin the mood as much as give it heft. Daylight may be coming for all of us, but Mutiny After Midnight<\/em>\u2018s escapism and electricity are a convincing argument to stay up late.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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