Bryan Simpson is an American singer-songwriter from

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, who is based out of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. 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 and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

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, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

Billy Currington William Matthew Currington (born November 19, 1973) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, Mercury Records Nashville in 2003, he has released seven studio albums for the label: his Billy Cur ...

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...

Jason Aldean Jason Aldine Williams (born February 28, 1977), known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released eleven alb ...

, and

, whose track " Yeah" went to No. 1 for three consecutive weeks on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

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 "Before I Knew Better" is a debut song recorded by American country music artist Brad Martin. It was released in February 2002 as the first single from his debut album ''Wings of a Honky-Tonk Angel''. The song was written by David Lee and Bryan S ...

", 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 Music genre, 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, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has r ...

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 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 are a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, double bass, bass guitar), and Ben Lovett (British musician), B ...

. 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. 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 Musicians from Fort Worth, Texas Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from Texas