Bryan Simpson is an American singer-songwriter from

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

, who is based out of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. Simpson is best known for his solo output as The Whistles & The Bells, his work as a founding member of Cadillac Sky, and the songs he has written for artists including

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...

and

Joe Nichols Joseph Edward Nichols (born November 26, 1976) is an American country music artist. Between 1996 and 2001, he held recording contracts with the Intersound and Giant Records (Warner), Giant labels. In 2002, he signed with Universal South Records, ...

.Eric T. Parker
"No. 1 Party: Joe Nichols' 'Yeah'"
"Music Row", September 17, 2014

Career

As a songwriter, Simpson has written songs for Tim McGraw,

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

Billy Currington William Matthew Currington (born November 19, 1973) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Mercury Records Nashville in 2003, he has released seven studio albums for the label: his self-titled debut (2003), '' Doin' Someth ...

, George Strait, Jason Aldean, and

, whose track " Yeah" went to No. 1 for three consecutive weeks on Billboard Country Airplay in 2014. Simpson also charted with

's " I'll Just Hold On" (2009) at No. 5 and " A Guy with a Girl" (2016) at No. 1, as well as

's " Better Than I Used To Be" (2010), which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard chart. Simpson has won NSAI's Country Awards Top 50 Songs for his work on Brad Martin's " Before I Knew Better", Tim McGraw's "Better Than I Used To Be", Blake Shelton's "I'll Just Hold On", and Joe Nichols' "Yeah''. In 2002, Simpson co-founded

Progressive bluegrass Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it lar ...

band Cadillac Sky in Texas with Matt Menefee (banjo), Ross Holmes (violin), Mike Jump (guitar, vocals), and Clint Sturgeon/Andy Moritz (bass, vocals). They recorded their debut album ''Blind Man Walking'' in 2006 for a January 2007 release on the

Skaggs Family The Skaggs Family, starting from a small frontier town in southern Idaho, came to have an important impact on merchandising across much of the United States. During most of the 20th century, the Skaggs name was prominent on hundreds of stores th ...

label. They followed up their debut with ''Gravity's Our Enemy'' in 2008 and ''Letters in the Deep'' in 2010, which was produced by

Dan Auerbach Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...

and released through

Dualtone Records Dualtone Records is an American record label specializing in folk, Americana, and indie rock. It was founded in 2001 by Scott Robinson and Dan Herrington. The company is run by Robinson and the label's president, Paul Roper. Albums are distribut ...

. Simpson departed the group in 2010 shortly after embarking on a tour opening for

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, k ...

. Following his time in Cadillac Sky, Simpson began a solo musical venture in Nashville, called The Whistles & The Bells. Simpson self-produced and self-released the project's eponymous debut album in 2014. It was recorded over two days with the help of Matt Menefee and Byron House among others. On August 7, 2015, the album was reissued globally by

New West Records New West Records is a record label based in Nashville, Tennessee, and Athens, Georgia. It had offices in Burbank, California, and Beverly Hills, California. The label was established in 1998 by Cameron Strang "for artists who perform real music ...

. The project's second album, ''Modern Plagues'', was released on April 28, 2017, promoted with the lead single "Harry Potter".

Discography

Cadillac Sky * ''Blind Man Walking'' (2007) * ''Gravity's Our Enemy'' (2008) * ''Letters in the Deep'' (2010) The Whistles and The Bells * ''The Whistles & The Bells'' (2014) * ''Modern Plagues'' (2017)

References

External links

The Whistles & The Bells official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Bryan People from Fort Worth, Texas Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from Texas