Sturgill Simpson - The Promise

American singer/songwriter Sturgill Simpson released his second album, thrillingly titled Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, this year. It's a badass cosmic country record, featuring a string of songs that sound as if they have emerged from a mysterious love child of a holy union consisting of Gram Parsons and Waylon Jennings, and then, in the middle of the album, from God knows where, emerges a sweet and tender cover of the British synth pop band When In Rome's 1988 single "The Promise". A bigger hit in the US than in the UK, I presume it's a song the then 12 year old Simpson grew up with, and he totally nails it, making the song his own. Starting out as almost a whisper of a song, Simpson slowly turns it around, making it a ballad that means everything it says, which basically is an apology and a promise to make things alright. This is stunning in every way, an amazing version of a song that is way better than its original intent, or at least way better than the original version. The melody and the lyric reach new heights in the hands of a true craftsman. Just beautiful!

Watch and listen