A few months back while watching some Lexington Lab Band videos on youtube they did a series of Johnny Cash songs and had a guest guitar player named JD Simo. This guy played Johnny Cash songs like I'd never quite heard before. If Mr Cash were alive to witness JD playing his songs I think he would approve. In fact, if he were still with us he might try to hire JD to play on a new record with him. JD Simo is like the Eddie Van Halen of Nashville. But that's not all this young man has up his sleeve as a guitar player. He's a rocker and he's really into the blues and Jimi Hendrix and all the old great famous rock and blues based bands.This man is a virtuoso guitar player. Here's one with JD Simo covering a Johnny Cash song called Big River, with The Lexington Lab Band and part of The Big River Band.
According to his Wiki page: Simo grew up in Chicago.[2] He began playing guitar at the age of five. By age 15, Simo had already formed a band and released a live EP recorded in Phoenix Arizona, which sold 5,000 copies.[2] He quickly earned a strong local following in the Phoenix area, pleasing crowds of all ages with dynamic stage performances that showcased his guitar skills. He spent most of his teenage years touring, either in his own solo endeavors or in various other bands.
In the winter of 2006 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he established himself as the lead guitarist in the Don Kelley Band. This led to Simo's employment as an in-demand session musician. Simo continued to play in this capacity until 2011.
In the beginning of 2010, he joined bassist Frank Swart and drummer Adam Abrashoff to form the rock band SIMO. They spent much of 2011 on tour and released their debut album in November. They closed out the year with a homecoming show at The Basement in Nashville, the site of their first show. Sundazed Records released a vinyl single of Shake It/AoH off their debut album on January 25, 2013. SIMO was featured at several festivals including Mountain Jam and Bonnaroo in the summer of 2013.
Simo maintains an online blog, featuring videos of his playing style as well as information about vintage music equipment. In addition, Simo often films promotional videos for Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville, TN.
This is what JD's band sounds like when you go to see them live. He just reeks of Jimi Hendrix in this video and it shows that chicken pickin' isn't the only thing Simo has up his talented sleeve. In fact JD said in an interview I watched with him in reference to his chicken pickin' .... "I can't do that" and "what I do is not technically chicken pickin'" ..... I'm not sure just exactly what he means by that because it sure sounds like chicken pickin; to me. But here he is in his element, this is what he likes to play.
Did you get that Hendrix vibe? This dude blows my mind. Anyone who hold down a stage playing lead guitar and singing lead vocals like that is one talented son of a gun in my book. I've tried it, and I've been trying it for many years. I don't think I have it in me to do that, but that's okay. I'd rather watch someone else do it anyway. Anyone who knows what the pressure is like in a live performing situation would probably agree. You can watch JD's videos on his youtube channel and you can catch a lot of others just by putting JD Simo into the youtube search engine.
One big thing I have learned about playing music out live like that is you only get one shot at not fucking the whole song up. Nobody wants to see a band that has to start over a couple of times on a song. And nobody wants to hear you continue to butcher a song from start to finish.
People make mistakes .... that's a given in anything you do. What makes a good musician is one who can cover his own ass in a note or two and make it look like he meant to play it that way. Great musicians can cover the rest of the bands ass too if needed. One thing you NEVER want to do when playing a live show is to just crash and burn a song into complete silence. Its about the worst thing I can think of happening at a show where you're getting paid, Its embarrassing as hell. I've still got some redeeming to do at a place called Fat Jacks one of these days. I didn't crash the songs and I won't name anyone in particular to blame for it. There were five of us on that stage that night. Inexperience played the biggest factor in that incident. Luckily we were only opening for another act and using about 45 minutes to an hour to play while they got set up and ready. Luckily, we also had a lot of supporters in that crowd so nobody booed us at least. But I still felt like I had a score to settle when I left that place that night with my head hung low. It was a real bummer compared to the night before when I was playing on stage with JB and The Moonshine Band and sittin' on top of the world.
One of these days, Fat Jacks ... one of these days!
