Gadsden's Simpson releases first solo CD

Some pretty famous albums — Paul McCartney's first solo release, Bruce Springsteen's “Nebraska” — have been do-it-yourself projects by artists who want to make sure their message comes across unfiltered.

Gadsden's Albert Simpson has taken that approach with his first solo CD, “Roll Your Mind.”

He wrote each of the 10 songs, sang and played (guitars, keyboards, bass, vocals, percussion) every note that was recorded and shared the production duties, and the label credit reads “Albert Simpson.”

The CD is on sale at Simpson's shows and online at Amazon and CD Baby, and MP3 downloads are available directly from Simpson through the Reverb Nation website and from other digital vendors.

A CD release party is set for Nov. 25 and 26 at LuLu's in Gulf Shores. The 25th will be Simpson's 40th birthday.

Simpson said the solo CD has been “a work in progress” for years.

“When I was signed by a record label (Rockin' Camel Music) to do my first CD, they wanted me to use a band,” he said.

So he put together Highly Kind, which in 2009 recorded the CD “Don't Wake Albert” that drew impressive reviews.

The songs on “Roll Your Mind” were the ones Simpson actually pitched to the label when he was trying to land a contract — but were rejected.

He had faith in them, however, and decided to take the solo approach to get them recorded.

“I'd wanted to do that for a while,” Simpson said. “The thing about playing with other musicians, you've got to translate to them what you're hearing in your head. That changes when you do it yourself. You can get what you want.”

Simpson started out trying to record and produce the CD himself, but found that was too much of

a challenge.

So he turned to Mark Turnham, a native of England who owns Xcessive Sound, a studio in Newnan, Ga., and “has a good ear,” according to Simpson.“When it was just me, I was having to keep pressing record and play,” he said. “And I had to nail everything perfectly on every song with every instrument.

“With Mark, he could cut, drop and drag, do editing and punch me in and out, and all I had to do was the playing,” he said.

The recording process took about two weeks, the mastering and editing another week.

The songs on “Roll Your Mind” — the title track, “The Key,” “Son of the Blues,” “Broke, Disgusted Can't Be Trusted,” “The Drunk Song,” “One Good Woman,” “Same Old Thing,” “Time to Spare,” “Molehill” and “#49” — feature Simpson's Southern-flavored mix of blues, folk and jazz that has made him popular with local audiences.

“Asking an artist to label himself is like telling a dentist to pull one of his own teeth,” Simpson said.

“My music has been called ‘interstellar trailer park jazz' and ‘Southern-fried hippie funk,' but I kind of like ‘Southern-fried folk funk,” he said.

Simpson's style has been shaped by a variety of influences since he began playing guitar at age 12. He cites Little Feat, the Allman Brothers Band and Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.

While his home base will remain the Southeast, Simpson has plans to branch his performance schedule out to the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast to support “Roll Your Mind,” and a trip to the United Kingdom could be in the works.

“Mark has a lot of connections in the UK, and he's trying to get me lined up with some agents who can put me on the festival schedule over there,” he said.

He's happy his CD release party is at LuLu's, noting that owner Lucy Buffett (sister of Jimmy) and booker Mike Butler have given him several opportunities to play there — a couple of which led to bigger things.

“I was playing there and Mike told me not to get nervous, but that Google would be recording me to use as the feature entertainment in an ad campaign they're planning on the Gulf Coast,” Simpson said. “And the next night, PBS was there filming a show on vacation settings and got some video for me. The timing really was on my side.”