Savoy Brown

Savoy Brown stood as an enduring force in blues-rock, releasing more than 40 albums while maintaining a near-constant touring schedule, chiefly across North America, across six decades. English guitarist, songwriter, and producer Kim Simmonds established the group in 1965 and guided it until his passing in 2022, serving as its sole unchanging presence and resolutely preserving its core blend of electric Chicago, Delta, and Detroit blues with roadhouse boogie. The 1969 release Blue Matter scored a hit single via “Train to Nowhere.” Persistent road work propelled global notice for 1970’s Street Corner Talking, 1971’s Looking In, and 1972’s Hellbound Train. A series of well-regarded live documents came after 1981’s Rock ’n’ Roll Warriors and 1988’s Make Me Sweat. Guest guitarist Duke Robillard appeared on 1999’s The Blues Keep Me Holding On. The 2003 album Strange Dreams surfaced on the independent Blind Pig imprint. Ruf Records issued 2011’s Voodoo Moon, 2015’s The Devil to Pay, and 2017’s Witchy Feelin’. Following the move to Quarto Valley for 2019’s City Night and 2020’s Ain’t Done Yet, the posthumous Blues All Around arrived in 2023.

Simmonds and harmonica player John O’Leary launched the ensemble in 1965; the initial roster featured singer Bryce Portius—the lone Black blues vocalist in the entire British blues movement—alongside keyboardist Bob Hall, guitarist Martin Stone, bassist Ray Chappell, and drummer Leo Manning. That lineup recorded the 1967 debut Shake Down, which consisted of blues covers. Seeking fresh direction, Simmonds disbanded the group and recruited guitarist/vocalist Dave Peverett, bassist Rivers Jobe (later replaced by Tony Stevens), drummer Roger Earl, and singer Chris Youlden. Youlden ranked among the era’s most singular frontmen across any style, sporting a bowler hat and monocle while drawing deep knowledge of blues, R&B, and jazz; his versatile baritone could shift seamlessly from croon to lament, shout, or soulful roar. This configuration produced some of Savoy Brown’s most lasting records, among them Getting to the Point and the same-year Blue Matter that yielded the original hit “Train to Nowhere.” They also released the half-live, half-studio classic A Step Further that year. Youlden departed after 1970’s Raw Sienna, and Peverett, Earl, and Stevens soon left to form Foghat.

Simmonds assembled a fresh lineup and launched an intensive American touring campaign that highlighted the band’s now-polished bluesy boogie-rock approach with new lead vocalist Dave Walker. From 1971’s Street Corner Talking onward, that sound remained the dominant thread throughout their catalog. Walker also fronted the commercially successful Lion’s Share and the charting Hellbound Train in 1972, whose unusually psychedelic title track became a hit single.

Savoy Brown briefly disbanded after 1973’s Jack the Toad, yet Simmonds reconstituted the group the next year for Boogie Brothers. In 1975 a new configuration featuring keyboardist/vocalist Paul Raymond delivered Wire Fire, the first of three well-received albums for the London label; Skin ’n’ Bone (1976) and Savage Return (1978) followed.

Throughout the 1980s Simmonds adopted a philosophical view toward the band’s revolving-door personnel while continuing to tour and record. The decade yielded several key releases across labels, including Rock ’n’ Roll Warriors (1981) and the acoustic Slow Train on the independent Relix. Make Me Sweat (1988) and Kings of Boogie (1989) appeared on Dave Gruisin’s GNP Crescendo. After 1990’s Live and Kickin’, the group signed with Germany’s SPV for the studio album Let It Ride, which featured three alternating lead vocalists, numerous instrumentals, and a fourth vocal from Simmonds on the closing track “Down All the Days.” Following two world tours that kept the band on North American roads for at least twelve months, Savoy Brown issued Bring It Home, listed under both the band and Simmonds. Although constant touring continued, the next studio effort did not arrive until 1999’s The Blues Keep Me Holding On for the European In-Akustik label. Bassist Nathaniel Petersons handled most vocals, yet Simmonds sang on three tracks and brought in American roots guitarist Duke Robillard as guest. After three archival live sets—The Bottom Line Encore Collection, Looking from the Outside: Live ’69/’70, and Jack the Toad: Live 1970-1972—Savoy Brown returned to the studio in late 2002.

Strange Dreams appeared on American blues independent Blind Pig in 2003. That same year Castle Music, aided by former producer Neil Slaven, released the important archival concert recording Hellbound Train, Live 1969-1972. The 2004 live album You Should Have Been There! carried the confusing credit Savoy Brown featuring Kim Simmonds. 2007’s Steel marked the first album on which Simmonds served as lead vocalist throughout.

Savoy Brown moved to Germany’s respected Ruf Records for 2011’s Voodoo Moon. Simmonds produced and engineered the nine-song collection, singing on only two tracks while saxophonist Joe Whiting handled the remainder. The live Songs from the Road followed in 2013, along with the studio albums Goin’ to the Delta that year and The Devil to Pay in 2015. In 2017 the band delivered its final Ruf outing, Witchy Feelin’, which reached number one on the Billboard Blues Albums chart.

Riding that momentum, Simmonds and Savoy Brown issued the group’s 40th studio album, Ain’t Done Yet, in 2020; the concert recording Taking the Blues Back Home appeared later the same year. Leader and founder Kim Simmonds received a diagnosis of a rare colon cancer in 2021 and died on December 13, 2022, at age 75 during treatment. While undergoing chemotherapy he temporarily lost sensation in his hands and fingers yet still started and finished one final album. On Blues All Around, Simmonds not only played guitar and sang lead but also performed on piano and organ while producing the sessions. The album emerged in February 2023 on Quarto Valley Records.