Blues-Collar Man; Savoy Brown Mainstay Kim Simmonds Now Flourishes From a Home in Oswego

Summary

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Simmonds is the prodigious lead guitarist and bandleader for Savoy Brown. The band, which Simmonds has maintained with frequent lineup changes, rose from the mid-1960s London psychedelic blues movement that also gave birth to Cream and Fleetwood Mac. During the early 1970s, Savoy Brown toured the United States constantly. It scored hit singles like 'Tell Mama" and 'Train to Nowhere" while embodying the cranked-up boogie-blues style and colorful lead work we associate with classic-rock radio. Simmonds himself gained a reputation for his ability to channel rock forebears like Chuck Berry, Grant Green and Freddy King, often all at once.

Hence, we get songs about the loneliness of the road ("My Home is a Highway"), about being in love (a cover of Arthur Crudup's "So Glad You're Mine") and about the lessons of maturity ("The Truth Comes Out" and "Struck By Lightning").

Simmonds recorded the album at his home studio with Blue Wave producer Greg Spencer and local musicians, including keyboardist Mark Nanni of Syracuse's Los Blancos. Nanni says working with the disciplined Simmonds was both a challenge and a joy. While he worked with a very short leash, rarely allowed to improvise his parts, Nanni says Simmonds' material itself was freeing. "For a guy who's really a great veteran musician," Nanni says, "I thought the material was fresh and relevant. There's a surprising variance in groove and harmony."

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Blues-Collar Man; Savoy Brown Mainstay Kim Simmonds Now Flourishes From a Home in Oswego

Kim Simmonds, bluesman and burgeoning solo artist, is a stable guy. He's 57 and lives with his wife of 12 years and their 10-year-old daughter in Oswego. Two months ago, the Simmondses moved into a home they built on family property down the road from Oswego County A...

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