Ever a wild card, Sturgill Simpson released his latest project under a little-known name. The critically acclaimed, famously elusive country singer-songwriter followed 2021’s The Ballad of Dood & Juanita with Passage Du Desir, attributing the project to an alter ego, Johnny Blue Skies. Sonically and thematically, the record hews most closely to Simpson’s celebrated 2016 LP A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, which added moody pop and rock to the psychedelic twang of its predecessor, 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, and found Simpson in a deeply introspective place. Passage Du Desir highlight “Who I Am” epitomises that through line, as Simpson grapples with his identity (“Thank God, I couldn’t tell her if I had to who I am”) and existence (“They don't tell you when you're born it's gonna be this way/They don't tell you until you die it's all a sham”) over deceptively laidback production. This playlist tracks what’s happening from the heart of the country scene to its outer edges. Check back here early and often, and if you hear something you like, add it to your library.