Music star Sturgill Simpson returns to Woodford Co.

Miles Miller gives Sturgill Simpson a thumbs-up as Judge-Executive James Kay and Mayor Grayson Vandegrift applaud. 

This story, first posted before the event, has been reposted and updated to include news at the event.

Woodford County High School alumnus John Sturgill Simpson now goes by his middle name, and it's a name that has become globally famous for his singing and songwriting. He came to Versailles for a public welcome-home ceremony and a special honor Thursday morning.

At the fire station on Big Sink Road, the road received the additional name of Sturgill Simpson Way, from Versailles Mayor Brian Traugott and Woodford County Judge-Executive James Kay.

Simpson said the honor was ironic: "I can't tell you how many mailboxes I smashed on Big Sink Pike in high school."

Miles Miller, a Woodford native who is the drummer in Simpson's band, was also recognized.

“Woodford County is excited to welcome home and recognize Sturgill Simpson and Miles Miller before their Good Lookin’ Tour show at Rupp Arena,” Kay said in a press release. “We are so proud of their success and accomplishments, representing Kentucky and Woodford County.”

Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift took part in the event. He wrote afterward, "I was talking about how music has such an ability to move people and used my friend as an example: My friend said he saw Sturgill play in a Lexington bar a few years back and was apparently having too much fun because he was approached by Mr. Simpson’s security who said to 'please stop dancing'."

Simpson, a native of Jackson, Ky., won a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Country Album for A Sailor's Guide to Earth, which was also nominated for Album of the Year. It won Album of the Year in the Americana Music Awards, where he was also nominated for Artist of the Year and his "All Around You" was nominated for Song of the Year. In 2015 his song "Turtles All the Way Down" won Americana Song of the Year and his Metamodern Sounds in Country Music received a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. His 2019 album Sound and Fury made Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 50 Albums list.