# A Sailor's Guide to Earth

A Sailor's Guide to Earth is the third studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson. It was announced on March 3, 2016, with the release of the single "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)". The album was released on April 15, 2016, and won Best Country Album at the 59th Grammy Awards; it was also nominated for Album of the Year.

## Background

Prior to the album's announcement, Simpson stated in an interview with GQ that "what's next is already finished... Quite honestly, I need about six months at home with my family." On March 3, 2016, Simpson released "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)" on YouTube and his website; the next day he released the nine-song track list of A Sailor's Guide to Earth. A week later, he published the music video for "Brace for Impact", which was directed by Matt Mahurin and contains the Grim Reaper, a hot rod coffin and sailboats. On March 24, 2016, Simpson released his cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" along with its music video, also directed by Matt Mahurin. Simpson said, "I wanted to make a very beautiful and pure homage to Kurt [Cobain]." Streaming of the album became available on April 7, 2016, on NPR's official website.
The song "Oh Sarah" was previously recorded by Simpson's former band Sunday Valley and appeared on their only full-length album, To the Wind and On To Heaven, in 2011.

## Reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.3/10 |
| Metacritic | 86/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Daily Telegraph | |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| The Guardian | |
| The Independent | |
| Mojo | |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | 7/10 |
| Uncut | 9/10 |
A Sailor's Guide to Earth received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 86, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 19 reviews.
The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 52,000 copies (55,000 units when tracks and streams are included) in its first week. The album sold a further 13,400 copies in the second week. The album has sold 217,900 copies in the US as of October 2017.
Following his Grammy win, Simpson saw a 346% increase in streaming on Spotify.

### Accolades

| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
| Paste | The 50 Best Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 19 |
| Rough Trade | Albums of the Year | 2016 | 91 |
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 26 |

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Sturgill Simpson except "In Bloom", which is written by Kurt Cobain

## Personnel

Musicians
* Sturgill Simpson – vocals (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4–9), 12-string guitar (1, 5), Moog synthesizer (1, 6), horn arrangement (1, 9), background vocals (4, 6)
* Miles Miller – drums (all tracks), background vocals (3, 4, 6)
* Robert Emmett – organ (all tracks); Moog synthesizer (1, 8), Wurlitzer (1, 3), background vocals (3, 6), keyboards (5)
* Dan Dugmore – steel guitar
* Jefferson Steinberg – string arrangement, horn arrangement
* Dave Roe – bass guitar (1–8)
* Laur Joamets – electric guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9), slide guitar (1)
* Jefferson Crow – piano (1, 3–5, 7–9), Wurlitzer (6)
* Garo Yellin – first cello (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
* Arthur Cook – second cello (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
* Jonathan Dinklage – violin (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
* Whitney LaGrange – violin (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
* Neal Sugarman – tenor saxophone (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Dave Guy – trumpet, flugelhorn (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Ian Hendrickson-Smith – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Clark Gayton – trombone (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Dougie Wilkinson – bagpipes (9)
* Kevin Black – bass guitar (9)
Technical
* Sturgill Simpson – production
* David Ferguson – mixing, engineering, recording
* Gavin Lurssen – mastering
* Sean Sullivan – recording
* Geoff Allan – bagpipe engineering
* Ebonie Smith – engineering assistance
Artwork
* Greg "Gigen's Dad" Burke – art direction, design
* Kilian Eng – cover art, back cover art, ships wheel illustration
* Mark Stutzman – map illustration
* Matthew Meiners – skeletons