Simo

Simo operates as a Nashville power trio whose robust blues rock foundation carries a psychedelic luster and an insistent current of improvisational invention, all steered by guitarist J.D. Simo. Early life placed J.D. in Chicago, where exposure to a Chess Records anthology repeatedly spun by his sister cultivated a childhood affinity for the blues. He began playing guitar at five and successfully urged his mother to visit the disused Chess Records structure on South Michigan Avenue. At eighteen, after his family relocated to Arizona, J.D. led Dirty Pool through club headlining dates and festival appearances; the band’s independent EP Burnin’ Live moved 5,000 copies. Leaving high school behind, J.D. and Dirty Pool took to the road, issuing the studio album One Night Stand in 2002. Two further releases followed—2004’s The Other Side of Me and 2005’s J.D. Simo Live—before J.D. exited the group and moved to Nashville in 2006. There he joined the Don Kelley Band, dividing his schedule between live performances and session dates while establishing a reputation as one of Music City’s finest guitarists. In 2010 he launched an independent project, recruiting bassist Frank Swart and drummer Adam Abrashoff to form Simo; their self-titled debut appeared in 2011. Extensive road work prompted Sundazed Records to release the single “Shake It” b/w “AoH” later that year. A 2015 live EP, Love, Vol. One, documented a Mercy Lounge performance in Nashville; around the same time Swart departed and Elad Shapiro assumed the drum chair. The band’s incendiary concerts earned slots at Bonnaroo and Mountain Jam as well as shared stages with Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Blackberry Smoke, Deep Purple, and others. A 2015 agreement with Provogue Records led to the 2016 album Let Love Show the Way.