Savoy Brown was one of the pioneering bands of the “British blues” scene of the 1960s going forward. It’s sound though it could be described as blues rock had a faithfulness to the roots of that musical form that took that style and form to craft a prolific body of work that demonstrates the great versatility of style and emotional range of blues. Obviously the lineup of the band changed greatly over the years and for a brief period included Bill Bruford before he found long-lasting fame as a drummer in Yes and King Crimson. But the main force behind Savoy Brown has been from the beginning in 1965 to the end in 2022, guitarist and vocalist Kim Simmonds. Under his leadership with critical input by other band mates including early on Chris Youlden. It wasn’t until late in the group’s career that it found its most enduring and longest-lasting membership when bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm came on board full time in 2009 having worked known Simmonds for more than a decade. It was this crew of musicians as a trio that worked on and finished the recording of the final Savoy Brown album Blues All Around which came out on February 17, 2023 on Quarto Valley Records. Simmonds, however, had passed on December 13, 2022 from cancer just over a week after his seventy-fifth birthday. A creative triumph the record reflected Simmonds physical limitations later in his career as cancer took its toll on his body but those limitations pushed him and the band to experiment with their methods and in doing so took the songwriting in a bit of a new direction. We had a chance to speak with Grimm and DeSalvo about the making of the record, their origins as musicians and their late, great bandmate.
Listen to our interview with Garnet Grimm and Pat DeSalvo on Bandcamp and for more information on Savoy Brown and to purchase the new record as well as other merchandise and prints of Kim Simmonds’ artwork, please visit savoybrown.com.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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