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In the 1960’s – when Nashville seemed focused on taming the hillbilly soul of country music with strings and vocal choruses – a hot, new style of honky-tonk came rumbling out of the oilfields and farms of Bakersfield, California. With a driving rhythm and the sound of electric guitars, it was unabashedly country – with a touch of rock ’n’ roll.

Buck Owens and Merle Haggard became superstars with this new sound, but behind them was an entire community of musicians, singers and songwriters who built the style, including Red Simpson, who Bob Dylan has called “the forgotten man of the Bakersfield Sound.”

Red Simpson in his cowboy shirt – circa 1950s

Pickin’ Cotton and Cowboy Shirts

Red Simpson never wanted to be a star. When he was thirteen, his brother was a member of the hottest hillbilly band in Bakersfield. And all Red really wanted was a cowboy shirt.

“I was sitting out on the step outside the front door,” Simpson says. “No shoes, no shirt, sitting out there – it was in the summertime, and here they come, you know, they got on these cowboy shirts, and I’m thinking boy, these guys are millionaires. I gotta do this and get me a shirt.”

Red Simpson wasn’t born in in Bakersfield. Like many of his generation that grew up in the city called “the gateway to Southern California,” he was the son of migrants who traveled west during the Great Depression in search of a better life. The choice for most these so-called “Okies” was in the oilfields or as a picker, of cotton and produce, or – for those talented few – guitars.

Red Simpson at the age of 10 trying to avoid picking cotton

“I hated picking cotton and potatoes,” Simpson says. “I used to make a little money on the cotton truck, ‘cause they’d pay me. I’d sing a little bit, you know. They’d give you a few dollars. That’s more than you could make in the cotton patch.”

Close Up the Honky Tonks

The country music that evolved in the rough-and-tumble bars and dancehalls of Bakersfield after World War II was loud music played for a live audience. It was a sound built by the entire music community with many local stars who never made the jump to national renown.

Scott B. Bomar is the producer of recently released CD box set, Hello, I’m Red Simpson. “Red Simpson was to the Bakersfield Sound what Harlan Howard was to the Nashville music community,” Bomar says. “Harlan Howard was considered the dean of country songwriters in Nashville, and Red is a guy who is respected first and foremost as a songwriter. People call him the ‘Bard of Bakersfield.’”

Red Simpson in the studio with Don Rich (L) & Buck Owens (Center) – 1965

Simpson’s greatest success came from his songwriting partnership with Buck Owens, a relationship that began when they were both just starting out on the Bakersfield music scene. “I met Buck in 1951,” Simpson says. “I got to talking to him about songs, and he said, ‘Well, I’d like to hear some of them some time.’ So he did, and he cut ‘em — about thirty of my songs.” Those included the hits “Close Up the Honky Tonks,” “Sam’s Place,” Kansas City Song,” and many more, along with half the songs on Buck Owen’s classic 1965 Christmas album.

Country Western Truck Drivin’ Singer

By 1965, Simpson was well-established as a songwriter. Although he had recorded a few singles, he wasn’t looking for a record deal. But country music was in the middle of a truck driving craze. So when Merle Haggard refused to record an album of trucking songs, Capitol records head, Ken Nelson gave Simpson a ring.

“Ken called me and he said, ‘Can you come down here Monday?’” Simpson says. “This was like Friday. I said, ‘Yeah, what for?’ And he said, ‘Capitol Records wants to sign you up.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be there in an hour and a half if they want to sign me up.’”

Red Simpson’s first album for Capitol Records – 1966

Simpson recorded four albums of truck driving songs for Capitol in the late-sixties and early seventies, along with other, non-big rig material, but it is the trucking songs that he is best remembered for today. However, art did not reflect reality says Scott B. Bomar. “The truth is Red Simpson never drove a truck in his life. He was just a talented songwriter who knew how to write songs that were authentic, and he was able to step in and play that part.”

Honky Tonk Hero

Simpson left Capitol in 1974 after a handful of hits. He had tired of the hit-chasing lifestyle of stardom. As Simpson says. “You gotta be pushing it all the time, doing shows and traveling to different towns. I didn’t want that. I just said, I’m gonna stay in Bakersfield.”

And that’s what Simpson did. While he recorded for a few small labels, his main focus for the last 38 years has been the birthplace of the Bakersfield Sound – live in the honky-tonks. Through his songwriting and performing, Simpson became a hometown hero. Merle Haggard paid tribute to Simpson with his song, “A Bar in Bakersfield” in 1990, and Simpson recently acted as Bakersfield’s official ambassador to the opening of the new exhibit The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and California Country at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

Scott B. Bomar says Simpson is a testament that Bakersfield’s music is more than the story of superstars. “Red is the real deal. As the years go by and the importance of the Bakersfield Sound continues to be recognized, there’s Red all along the way, and he still plays, every Monday night at a nightclub called Trout’s”

So if you’re ever in Bakersfield, stop by and see the star attraction, Red Simpson. He might even be wearing his cowboy shirt.

Red Simpson performing at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Bakersfield Sound Concert – March 2012 – (L to R) Dave Berzansky, Kenny Vaughan, Red Simpson, Eugene Moles Jr., Chris Sprague, Gene Breeden, and Deke Dickerson – Photo by Donn Jones