Johnny Blue Skies, formerly known as Sturgill Simpson, will make his long-awaited live return to Europe and the UK next year. This will be his first European tour since 2020. On 21 March 2025, the American musician will be at La Madeleine in Brussels with his ‘Why Not?’ tour. Tickets go on sale from Friday 27 September at 10am.

The tour announcement follows the release of his most recent album, Passage Du Désir, which received rave reviews in July this year. The album, released on Simpson’s own independent label, High Top Mountain Records, features eight songs, produced by Johnny Blue Skies and David Ferguson, and was recorded at Clement House Recording Studio in Nashville, TN, as well as at London’s world-famous Abbey Road Studios.

Since the release of Passage Du Désir, Simpson and his band – Kevin Black (bass guitar), Robbie Crowell (keys), Laur Joamets (guitar) and Miles Miller (drums) – have toured the United States, including headline slots at the Outside Lands and Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Simpson has released six studio albums since his debut: High Top Mountain (2013), Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014), A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (2016), Sound & Fury (2019), The Ballad of Dood and Juanita (2021) and, of course, this year’s Passage Du Désir. He also released the projects Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 in 2020.

Throughout his extraordinary career, Simpson has always broken expectations and has received numerous awards, including a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Country Album and six Grammy nominations in four different genres: country, rock, bluegrass and Americana.