Sturgill Simpson, A.K.A. Johnny Blues Skies, is still in the middle of his Who The F*** Is Johnny Blue Skies? Tour. Saying “in the middle” might not be the right way to say it, since he’s really only got the month of May to go as far as regular concert dates are concerned, followed up by a couple of festival stops in July and September. But all in all, he and his band have been busy spreading their jamming music all across the world, and considering Simpson/Blues Skies specializes in three hour shows… that’s a lot of music. Though back in April, a couple of tour dates that were originally on the docket were cancelled without much warning or explanation. Many fans were left scrambling after Simpson’s team put out this statement via a video on his YouTube Channel, which read: “The Orange Beach, AL and Spokane, WA shows have been cancelled. Check the email associated with your ticket order for refund information and contact Ticketmaster or the venue with any questions. The band has decided to play smaller club shows in select cities. More information to come soon.” Now to be transparent, that message can probably translate to something like “ticket sales weren’t great in Orange Beach and Spokane, so Sturgill is going to play some more dive-bar-esque venues.” That being said, fans never really got an explanation as to why the Johnny Blue Skies Tour didn’t come to town. That is until Sturgill played the Showbox SoDo in Seattle, Washington. On April 19, Simpson and his band brought his arena-filling sound to the 1,800 capacity venue in Seattle… instead of the Spokane Arena show. For those not great with geography, Seattle is on the far left side of the state, and Spokane is on the far right. Coincidentally, the city of Seattle also leans to the liberal side of politics, and Spokane tends to be more conservative. From the small quote that Simpson provided during the Showbox SoDo (according to the Seattle Times), politics had a little but to do with the cancellation of his Washington tour date: “We were supposed to play an arena in Spokane, but I opened my mouth about eight years ago and isolated half the people. Little bit my fault, but I’ll take it.” What was that “opened my mouth moment” eight years ago? Well, that timeline sure seems to point towards the time when Sturgill Simpson called President Donald Trump a “fascist pig,” and added that he was “not afraid to say” it. That took place when Simpson famously busked outside of Bridgestone Arena in Nashville while the CMA Awards were taking place inside. He was feeling very anti-establishment that night, and said plenty of other things during his mock CMA Award acceptance speech. But like he pointed out, that was eight years ago, and it’s water under the bridge as far as he’s concerned. Did it mean he didn’t sell tickets in Spokane? Probably. Though there was a silver lining to having to cancel that show… he got to play a bit of a hometown gig, and shared this nice message with the audience there since he used to call Seattle home: “It’s good to be here – back here, I should say. Your fair city has changed quite a bit since I lived here, I will say that.” Here’s a clip from that Seattle show (of Sturg covering “Purple Rain”) in case you were interested: The post Sturgill Simpson Explains Why He Cancelled His Washington Tour Date: “Little Bit My Fault, But I’ll Take It” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.