Simerly

Growing up in East TN, Simerly was surrounded by music as a child. Her Dad's reel to reel collection contained everything from Willie Nelson to Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, & her Mother had 8 tracks for days...The Carpenters, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Mathis, John Denver, Barbara Streisand, The Commodores, The Bee Gees...just to name a few. Simerly taught herself piano by ear on the family's 2 pianos, a concert grand and an upright, which was formerly owned by the legendary Tennessee Ernie Williams. Simerly joined her first band in high school in Pensacola FL, where she and her Mother had moved while Simerly was still a teenager. At 17 Simerly saw an ad for a bar-tending job, but when she arrived she was told she was too young to be serving alcohol, but old enough to join the house band as a singer. She learned over 100 songs that Summer & fell in love with being on stage. Her smokey/bluesy/grungy sound stemmed from that experience, where she sang many covers of Led Zeppelin, Scorpions, G&R, and AC/DC just to name a few. She got bored quickly with covers and wanted to incorporate her poetry and lyrics into original music. This need led her to Atlanta GA where she joined a band named Crave, who found her vocals & lyric-writing to be amazingly quirky, uniquely original, and downright moving. Crave proceeded to play out regularly in Atlanta and built a faithful following. Simerly became sidetracked however, right after Crave had recorded but not released their first CD, when she found out she was pregnant with twins. Her focus shifted from rock and roll to raising kids and running a household. She dabbled in music during these years, and tried to find her passion in many other forms...but to no avail. One day she decided to buy an acoustic guitar and sign up lessons, what she had learned during that short time later became her foundation to begin writing, playing, and singing some amazing music. In 2019, Simerly won an Honorable Mention in American Songwriter's magazine for her lyrics to a song she wrote called "Love Don't Live Here No More". She continues to progress daily with her songwriting and performing skills, and continues to strive to speak through her music and encourage others that it's never too late to follow your dreams.