Despite winning Best Country Album at the Grammys earlier this year, Sturgill Simpson wasn't invited to the Country Music Awards this past Wednesday night, November 8. While the CMAs claim that Sturgill wasn't banned from the show, he wasn't nominated for any awards, presumably because according to Variety, last year he criticized the Academy of Country Music Awards for "all the formulaic cannon fodder bulls*** they've been pumping down rural America's throat for the last 30 years."
Instead of sitting home like a sourpuss, Simpson decided to do what any good music star does: He busked in the streets to raise money for the ACLU.
Sturgill Simpson is a Grammy winner and a country star, but when he wasn't invited to the CMAs, he didn't just stay at home and twiddle his thumbs.
People took videos of Simpson playing his acoustic sets in the streets, and he live-streamed the whole thing on Facebook:
Meanwhile, outside the #CMAawards, #SturgillSimpson played a surprise acoustic set. https://t.co/paq8Zx4DsH— WSMradio (@WSMradio)1510196008.0
The first said "I don't take requests but I take questions about anything you want to talk about because fascism sucks."
This might be a dig at the fact that the CMAs tried to ban reporters from asking performers questions about the Las Vegas mass shooting last month, which happened at a country music festival. But it's also just a nice sentiment. Sometimes you just gotta talk it out with people, you know?The other sign read "'Struggling' country singer...anything helps. (All donations go to the ACLU.) God bless America."
@GoldAdam @JasonIsbell God bless #sturgillsimpson. Go bless us all. These signs are great! https://t.co/f3eZGgX7bQ— Bridget 🪕 (@Bridget 🪕)1510191405.0
Not to mention, he delivered a mic-drop level message when someone asked him to give a mock acceptance speech. Here's what he said:
Sturgill Simpson is genuinely heroic. https://t.co/BqEBl9I5vP— Steven Hyden (@Steven Hyden)1510200122.0