Owning the Guitar of One of my Heros: Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown

[macg1]

Cool, I always liked Savoy Brown. On a side note: Years ago my brother and I were driving in his car listening to an old Savoy Brown album at a stupidly loud volume. My brother said it smells like an old Marshall amp burning up, then seconds later a speaker blew up in the car. LOL

Hilarious!!

 

[tjdjr1]

One of my all time favorite live albums was Savoy Brown in Denver. The band had Kim Simmonds, Barry Paul, Humphries on bass and Ralph Mormon on vocals. One of the best loud guitar playing live music session on record ! I think it was in the early/mid 80's. Nice guitar !

 

[GoldTopBunny]

wow, thank you for sharing the story it was great! i can only imagine having your guitar hero's guitar! im sure i'll never have Duane Allman's guitar haha but that's ok hehe..i love how your now wife knew you so well to know you were thinking about the guitar hahaha that was awesome
Also beautiful guitar, the T top pick ups sound great, i have them in my 76 custom, killer

 

[AA00475Bassman]

Kim Simmonds so under rated huge fan of everything he plays , MR Simmonds has been very kind to the upper Midwest booking shows really a huge inspiration for me since 1971 !

 

[Budman2k]

Great story!! Congrats on the guitar. Enjoy it and play the hell out if it.

Kim Simmonds has been one of my main influences since I first heard Savoy Brown back in the late 60's. I named my band after one of their albums - Blue Matter

Budman

 

[RicOkc]

Great story, thanks for posting!

I grew up listening to savoy Brown (Yup....I'm a geezer), like said before they were so underrated one of the many great English blues bands.

 

[Gadsden]

What a fabulous story!
What a fabulous musician and body of work too.
(I will be digging into the SB archives for sure)

But more than anything, it was very well written - especially for an online forum.
Thank you for that.

 

[klimbo]

Thank you! It really to this day seems surreal. I try to see SB live whenever I can, which means I need to fly to do it, because the Tampa Bay area is just not in a good route to any traveling musician. I remember seeing Kim with this guitar when Nathaniel Petersen was on bass. His tone at the time had so much reverb and it was a bit cleaner. He was still playing a nice old Marshall head through a 4x12. It was unreal and hypnotizing. Nowadays seems like he sticks with a Fender DeVille with a TS type pedal (sometimes a Fulldrive) in front. It sounds good, but maybe it is also those Zelinsky guitars he travels with... the tone is just shy of good. Maybe I am wearing tone goggles so to speak, but seems like convenience of carrying gear trumps live tone. I am not judging or criticizing, <style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style>Lucky Patcher 9Apps VidMate just some notes from the several past shows.

Quite cool you got the opportunity to see him utilizing your guitar sooner or later! That improves it even!

 

[macg1]

I should check in here more often... Thanks for all the comments, guys. It really is a great guitar that gets used ALL the time. I did have to refret it after I got it so that I could do my thing, but so far that was the only change. I have often thought about getting some different pickups on it, just to tinker. But then I go back to "Well I love it, and so did Kim, so why bother?" Guess I am getting older... If it ain't broke...

 

[macg1]

Kim Simmonds so under rated huge fan of everything he plays , MR Simmonds has been very kind to the upper Midwest booking shows really a huge inspiration for me since 1971 !

Yeah I am pretty jealous of that geography for that very reason!

 

[macg1]

What a fabulous story!
What a fabulous musician and body of work too.
(I will be digging into the SB archives for sure)

But more than anything, it was very well written - especially for an online forum.
Thank you for that.

Thank you Gadsden! I try. I could have embellished even more but opted for brevity and ummm... Getting to the Point! (pun very intended)

 

[macg1]

One of my all time favorite live albums was Savoy Brown in Denver. The band had Kim Simmonds, Barry Paul, Humphries on bass and Ralph Mormon on vocals. One of the best loud guitar playing live music session on record ! I think it was in the early/mid 80's. Nice guitar !

Wait... there is a live album of this show?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNRhrphtgoI&t=

I have Live at Central Park and Live and Kickin'

 

[OlivsGirip]

Savoy Brown is the best! They remain the best in blues and rock! I wish I had a guitar from them, or maybe their autograph. I would be the happiest man in the world! I decided to learn to play guitar because of them. Now, my GF says that I’m obsessed with them, but I don’t even care what she thinks of them. BTW, I’ve recently found a classical guitar tab, and surprisingly for me, some of their songs are considered classical. I have no idea why, though, but it’s cool to learn how to play some of their songs.

 

[macg1]

Savoy Brown is the best! They remain the best in blues and rock! I wish I had a guitar from them, or maybe their autograph. I would be the happiest man in the world! I decided to learn to play guitar because of them. Now, my GF says that I’m obsessed with them, but I don’t even care what she thinks of them. BTW, I’ve recently found a classical guitar tab, and surprisingly for me, some of their songs are considered classical. I have no idea why, though, but it’s cool to learn how to play some of their songs.

This may be my favorite Lazarus thread! Recently I found in a record collection that was being sold in an estate sale, a copy of Getting to the Point that is autographed by the entire band. Kim and Winter are the only two that I am such a fan boy for. Met both and both played my guitars. Unfortunately I was born in the wrong continent and decade, but Bloomfield would be the only other for me.

 

[macg1]

And in case you want to see it in action with Kim, here it is

 

[macg1]

Just to keep this thread updated, I recently got a chance to hang with Sean Chambers and the Savoy Brown Rhythm Section (Pat and Garnet). I took the guitar to hang with the lads and Sean played it on a couple of songs.

Sean Chambers and Savoy Brown

Sean Chambers and Savoy Brown part 2

Anyhow, we shared stories and it was a delightful time with some serious great playing. The lads will have a live record and a studio album released next year so stay tuned.

 

[macg1]

BTW, if you are not familiar with Sean, he has a bunch of great records and is a world class blues rocker.

 

[Gridlock]

Cool story and guitar, and at 3k, you got it at a great price, even back in 2016.

I was a frequent customer of the Steive B’s on US 19 in Clearwater. I bought quite a few amps and guitars there and had many amps serviced over the years.

Quite a few famous rockers living in the area used to frequent the Stevie B stores. I’ve heard some cool stories. I’m still friends with some of the previous store’s employees.

Congratulations and enjoy.

 

[macg1]

Cool story and guitar, and at 3k, you got it at a great price, even back in 2016.

I was a frequent customer of the Steive B’s on US 19 in Clearwater. I bought quite a few amps and guitars there and had many amps serviced over the years.

Quite a few famous rockers living in the area used to frequent the Stevie B stores. I’ve heard some cool stories. I’m still friends with some of the previous store’s employees.

Congratulations and enjoy.

Between Stevie B's and the old Thoroughbred Music, we were always around some excellent players. I am still great buddies with Kent from Thoroughbred, then Legends, and now Replay in South Tampa. It becomes like a family.

 

[Gridlock]

Between Stevie B's and the old Thoroughbred Music, we were always around some excellent players. I am still great buddies with Kent from Thoroughbred, then Legends, and now Replay in South Tampa. It becomes like a family.

Definitely, I bought my first Marshall from the Thoroughbred on Nebraska before the moved and I am also a friend of Kent at Legends and now Replay.

You probably also know Clay and Tom from Clay’s Guitars.

Small world!