Long White Line
Simpson's cover of a 1965 bluegrass song, track five of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.
Sturgill Simpson, from Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014)
James Buford Abner of the Swanee River Boys wrote it. Charlie Moore and Bill Napier first recorded it on July 25 and 26, 1965 for King Records and issued it on a 45, King 45-6004, backed with "Truck Driver's Romance", then on their LP. Aaron Tippin later put it on a 2009 collection. Simpson's version runs 4:01 on an album recorded in late 2013 at Low Country Sound in Nashville, produced by Dave Cobb and released on May 13, 2014 on High Top Mountain, Thirty Tigers and Loose Music. It was not a single; those were "Living the Dream", "Turtles All the Way Down" and "The Promise".
Saving Country Music calls it very much a traditional country traveling song, with possibly deeper themes underneath. Simpson played it on a Daytrotter session in April 2014 and has re-recorded it as a 2:21 bluegrass cut on Cuttin' Grass, Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions. We found no statement from Simpson on the song and no setlist count.
More songs by Sturgill Simpson
Sources
- Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Wikipedia
- Moore and Napier, King 936, Clinch Mountain Echo