jd simo

JD Simo’s main guitar is this 1962 Gibson ES-335 that’s been modded by Nashville master luthier Joe Glaser so it can be set out of phase.

Photo by Brad Elligood

The stripped-down production of the blues-rocker’s latest captures his evolving mastery as an improviser on road-tested originals and Delta blues and jazz classics.

“We’re always in a state of becoming,” says blues-rock guitarist JD Simo. And his new album, Songs From the House of Grease, contains five tracks that spotlight his unrestrained, rock-informed improvisation, gritty vocals, and gristly slide guitar, along with a sense of emergence. “There’s probably hints of Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell, just because they’re such big influences,” he shares. “But it’s more natural than anything that I’ve done thus far, because every year that goes by I’m that much more comfortable with myself and whatever I can do to trick myself into not overthinking—which, in this case, was incredibly fortuitous.”

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