Bay Simpson Rising
I first met Bay Simpson in Muscle Shoals in 2021 at Wishbone Studios when I was producing a track with Damon Johnson of Brother Cane/Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bay was hanging out at the studio. It’s always fun hanging around Wishbone because Billy Lawson has an “open door” policy and you never know who might walk in.
Simpson has just finished a stint on Season 29 of NBC’s “The Voice.” He covered Tom Petty’s “The Waiting” for his Blind Audition and joined team Adam thereafter. He won his Battle Round over Hunter Jordan with Morgan Wallen’s “I’m The Problem.” He then advanced to the Knockout Round where he was pitted against Alexia Jayy, a great R&B singer/songwriter from Irvington, Alabama. Bay performed The Wallflower’s “One Headlight,” which is one of my favorite songs, as well as the aforementioned “The Waiting’ by Tom Petty. I could hear shades of Jason Isbell on his performance of “One Headlight.” Although that was the end of the line for Simpson on “The Voice” – he established his brand and proved that he is a solo artist to be reckoned with. Simpson has been getting a lot of attention in the past 2-3 weeks. He was recently named a Rising Star by The Tennessean, and he did an interview with my friend Mark Narmore at Muscle Shoals Oldest radio station, WLAY, on the same day that he and I had chatted.
Bay comes from a musical family. His mother Angela Hacker, a native of Muscle Shoals, won Nashville Star Season 5 in 2007. His step-father James Leblanc, is a Hall of Fame songwriter who wrote Travis Tritt’s “Modern Day Bonnie And Clyde” with the late, great Walt Aldridge, and “I Aint’ Easy To Love,” which Candi Staton performed on “Late Show With David Letterman” in 2013 backed by Jason Isbell, John Paul White, David Hood, the late Jimmy Johnson, and Spooner Oldham, promoting the great documentary “Muscle Shoals.” Bay’s stepbrother Dylan LeBlanc, son of James, has released several great Americana albums over the past 15 years including Cautionary Tale (2016), and Coyote. Dylan and James were two of the first musicians I met at FAME Studios when I made my first trip there many years ago. Dylan was maybe 12 or 13 years old and was starting his first band.
Simpson graduated from Florence High School and The University Of North Alabama studying Music Performance and Commercial music. That program has churned out many legendary recording artists, producers, and engineers since its inception, which was founded by my friend, Muscle Shoals producer, Terry Woodford. Woodford and Clayton Ivey bult Wishbone Studios in Muscle Shoals.
Simpson also told me that he was active in sports at Florence High School, and it was at that period in his life that the music bug bit him. At the age of 20, Kid Rock recorded “Never Enough.” Co-written by Bay, this was his first big break. In 2018, Simpson started a band called Outlaw Apostles and they had the good fortune to open for Dwight Yoakum, Jamey Johnson, and Easton Corbin. The band released a single called “The River” in 2022, which features great vocals and nice guitar work. In 2024, they released a self-titled EP which features the songs “Ain’t No Love Like Mine” and “Ric Flair.” The former features some great acoustic guitar work and both excellent lead and harmony vocals. About halfway through the song, it changes tempo with the drums driving the electric guitars playing harmony lines reminiscent of The Allman Brothers. The song also has kind of a Copperhead Road vibe.
Regarding the latter, how can you not love a song called “Ric Flair”? I saw Flair at the Omni in Atlanta when I was a kid in the mid ‘70s and I watched him and others on Georgia Championship Wrestling every week – some of the best memories from my youth. The song has kind of a retro vibe which has been popularized over the last 15 years by artists such as Amy Winehouse, Elle King, and Alabama Shakes, Billy Allen and the Pollies, others. I love the twangy baritone guitar and the rhythm guitar parts as well. Simpson really has a unique voice- kind a cross between Tom Petty and Geddy Lee of Rush, with a little Jason Isbell thrown in. The track “Down Bad” has a U2 vibe to it and features some Slash style guitar lines.
Simpson has a hometown show at the historic Ritz Theater in Sheffield, Alabama on April 9th, as well as shows in Nashville on April 19th Martin’s Family BBQ Joint, and on May 25th at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Run.
On April 10th Simpson will release a new song called “Too Good To Be True.” Over the weekend The Family’s “Everybody Loves You Know” which features his mother Angela, stepfather James , and step-brother Dylan, was picked up in The Drop Weekly on Spotify. It’s really a great song reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, The Wallflowers, and Crowded House, especially the drums, Hammond organ, “out of this world” harmony vocals, and cool guitar work. I knew it was a great song a few seconds after I started playing it.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Simpson- both new recordings and live shows. He’s such a cool, laid back guy, it’s hard not to root for him.
Find our more about Bay Simpson here: https://www.baysimpson.com