Promoting The Ballad of Dood & Juanita in 2021, Sturgill Simpson emphasized that he wanted to release only five albums of original material. “This is the last Sturgill record,” he told Marissa R. Moss for Rolling Stone. “I always said there would be five, and I wondered if I’d go back on that.”

Well, Simpson has found a way to stay true to his word and release a new album. The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter is introducing a new alias: Johnny Blue Skies. The first Johnny Blue Skies album, Passage du Desir, is out July 12, via Simpson’s High Top Mountain Records. Simpson, as Johnny Blue Skies, produced his new album with David Ferguson. He recorded the album at Nashville’s Clement House Recording Studio and London’s Abbey Road Studios.

It’s worth noting that, while Passage du Desir is the first full-length Johnny Blue Skies album, Simpson tested out the moniker last year on a song with Diplo and Dove Cameron, “Use Me (Brutal Hearts).”

The Ballad of Dood & Juanita was Simpson’s fifth album, following 2013’s High Top Mountain, 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, 2016’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, and 2019’s Sound & Fury. In addition, in 2020, Simpson released two Cuttin’ Grass albums featuring bluegrass renditions of his older songs.

Along with the new album, Simpson has announced the Why Not? Tour. His touring bandmates are bassist Kevin Black, keyboardist Robbie Crowell, guitarist Laur Joamets, and drummer Miles Miller. See the tour dates below.

Johnny Blue Skies & Sturgill Simpson: Passage du Desir

Passage du Desir:

01 Swamp of Sadness
02 If the Sun Never Rises Again
03 Scooter Blues
04 Jupiter’s Faerie
05 Who I Am
06 Right Kind of Dream
07 Mint Tea
08 One for the Road