We visit with old friends this week. All of these artists have been recommended before at one time or another. Glad to know they’re still rockin’ around the clock.

Let’s round ’em up:

Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds — Mutiny After Midnight

Sturgill Simpson has taken a winding path since first appearing here at The Clock back in 2014 with his debut album, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music. Iconoclastic to the bone, he’s the modern equivalent of the outlaw country artists from the 70s, operating outside of the Nashville machine. Simpson announced he would only release five albums under his own name, and true to his word, dropped the debut of his alter ego, Johnny Blue Skies, back in 2024 (which actually didn’t sound significantly different than his previous albums).

He’s got a new record, and this is an alter ego! I don’t know what Johnny’s been doing in his spare time but he’s suddenly a disco-funk, rock & roll cowboy. To paraphrase The Contours: now he’s back, to let you know, he can really shake ’em down.

The Paranoid Style — Known Associates

Why mess with success? The Paranoid Style’s 2024 album saw the perfect marriage of the band’s eclectic rock and lead singer Elizabeth Nelson’s jam-packed, referential lyrics. Their new album feels like Part 2, but rather than sound formulaic (or like a batch of leftovers), it sounds like the second record of a bitchin’ double album.

The Sheepdogs — Keep Out Of The Storm

The Sheepdogs have always sounded like a lost band from the 70s. And they don’t really sound like anybody else from that time period while doing it. What’s fun is that every album has sounded like it’s from a slightly later year than the one before, so if you listen to their entire catalog it seems like you’re moving from 1973 to 1979. Rock solid rock.