See Sturgill Simpson’s Horn-Heavy ‘All Around You’ on ‘Fallon’
Boundary-pushing country provocateur Sturgill Simpson brought a meaty horn section to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night, delivering a rousing performance of “All Around You.” The soul-inflected track appears on his chart-topping latest album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
The soaring song features horns and strings on the album, and Simpson reproduced those sonics on Fallon, pairing a massive seven-piece brass and woodwind section and a four-piece string ensemble with his standard backing band. His vocal delivery was particularly ferocious, while a wailing saxophone solo served as an emotional crescendo.
Written as a message of hope for Simpson’s young son, the lyrics focus on resiliency and inner strength — an admission that bad things happen, but “You can let go of the pain if you want to.” Simpson promises that he and God will always be around, even when it seems like they’re not, and that daylight follows the darkest of nights.
Simpson is currently in the middle of his world tour, with about a month of shows set for Canada in August, a trip to Germany and the Netherlands in September and dates scattered all over the U.S. through November.