Screengrab from Sturgill Simpson's performance on "Saturday Night Live"

New Orleans Musicians to Join Sturgill Simpson for Grammys Performance

Sturgill Simpson’s 2016 release A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, and it looks like the man himself will perform at the ceremony on Sunday, February 12.

Of course, Simpson won’t be alone when he takes the stage. The increasingly popular country music maverick will be joined by a backing band that includes a trio of New Orleans-based musicians: saxophonist Brad Walker, trumpeter Scott Frock (King James and the Special Men, Delfeayo Marsalis) and trombonist Jon Ramm (Magnetic Ear).

“It’s a dream come true to get to tour the world with one of the most compelling artists working in music right now,” Walker tells OffBeat. “This will be a way to put a big exclamation point on a really incredible year with him.”

Walker, Frock and Ramm held down the horn section with Simpson for much of 2016, backing him as he’s crisscrossed the globe in support of his new album. As previously reported, the trio got a chance to show off their chops during Simpson’s appearance of Saturday Night Live, which featured solos by all three of them.

“It’s nice to see someone who has done everything right since the moment he stepped into the music scene—and who is completely honest in everything he does and says—get acknowledged by the biggest platform in music,” says Walker.

“We have some surprises in store,” he adds. “It’s going to be a big show.”