Never say never. After initially releasing the funk-forward Mutiny After Midnight album from his alter ego Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds as a physical-only album in March, Sturgill Simpson is now sharing it on streaming. On his birthday on Monday (June 8), the country maverick finally offered the nine-track album up in a digital fashion, amending such disco-fied tracks as opener “Make America Fuk Again” and country soul burner “Viridscent” with a trio of B-sides.
Among the most interesting is the previously Apple Music-exclusive digital download cover of Eddie Murphy’s 1985 Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 dance jam, “Party All the Time,” which the comedian wrote with late funk icon Rick James. Two more songs that appeared on a Record Store Day 7″ earlier this year, Stax Records soul singer William Bell’s 1961 hit “You Don’t Miss Your Water” and Procul Harum’s 1967 rock classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” have also been added to the LP.
Though the album was previously only available on vinyl, CD and cassette after Simpson briefly posted it on YouTube, he hinted all along that some day it would reach phones and computers as well. Stereogum reported in March that in an Instagram Story after the LP’s release, Simpson hinted that he might reverse course at some point.
“I’ve always really wanted to leak my own record,” he said at the time, adding that the plan all along was for “a physical only release for at least the first 4-6 weeks to support and show solidarity with independent record shops and to promote an increasingly bygone physical and tangible connection between music and music fans.” He vaguely stated then that “at some point” the album would “probably” show up on streaming with bonus tracks.
Mutiny After Midnight debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart upon its release in March. Simpson debuted his Blue Skies alter ego in 2024 on the act’s debut album, Passage du Desir.
Listen to Mutiny After Midnight below.
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