The official autobiography of Kim Simmonds, founder and guitarist of Savoy Brown, is now available, offering a detailed account of one of British blues rock’s most enduring careers.
Titled Street Corner Talking, the book has been released by Schiffer Publishing in partnership with Simmonds’ wife, Debbie Lyons Simmonds, following his passing in 2022.
Simmonds began writing the autobiography around 2018, documenting a career that spanned more than six decades. From discovering the blues in post war Wales to forming Savoy Brown during the 1960s British R&B boom, the book traces his journey through the rise of blues rock on both sides of the Atlantic.
Savoy Brown became a key part of that movement, building a strong following in the United States with albums such as Street Corner Talking and Hellbound Train. The band went on to become one of the longest running acts in the genre.
Simmonds was widely recognised for his distinctive guitar playing and his commitment to the blues tradition. In a 2020 interview, he reflected on the artists who shaped his early direction.
“I always wanted to play blues as soon as I heard people like Earl Hooker, Freddie King, and of course B.B. King, because this was the future of guitar music. I recognised as a kid that this was where it was going, and I wanted to be part of it.”
Following his death, Debbie Lyons Simmonds prepared the manuscript for publication, keeping the text exactly as it was written.
“It’s all Kim’s words. I didn’t add, I didn’t delete, I didn’t change anything. Kim wrote this book 100 percent,” she said.
The finished book presents Simmonds’ life in his own voice, covering his influences, the rise of Savoy Brown and the realities of a lifetime in blues rock.
Street Corner Talking: The Autobiography of Kim Simmonds is available now and includes a collection of black and white and colour photographs alongside the full text.
OUR REVIEW by Paul Aaronson
Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown. For me, the man and the band are synonymous, meaning I can’t really think of one without recalling the other. Both were integral parts of the second British Blues Boom of the late 60s, when it seemed that not only was anything musically possible, but in actuality everything was….
Kim’s story is one of humble origins, Welsh-born in 1947. Growing up in the shadow of older brother (and non-musician) Harry, Kim became a self-taught, self-motivated guitar player. He loved to tell the story of how he got his first guitar by saving up some money and sending away for it; upon its arrival, he discovered he’d have to assemble it himself! Kim was no luthier, but he put it together and taught himself how to play. And play he did. The blues held a particular fascination for him as he discovered men like Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker, and Lightnin’ Hopkins, among many others. He began playing locally and developed some real band-leading skills, which led to forming the Savoy Brown Blues Band in late 1965.
Managed by brother Harry, Kim met British blues producer extraordinaire Mike Vernon (who penned the book’s foreword), who became an integral part of developing the band’s sound, and the debut LP “Shakedown” was released in 1967 in both mono and stereo (but not released stateside). That first band didn’t last long as the young Kim searched for more and found it when Chris Youlden, Lonesome Dave Peverett, Roger Earl, and Tone Stevens joined Savoy Brown in 1968. The subsequent four albums they recorded together were, in my opinion, the Golden Age of the band. Raw Sienna, Youlden’s swan song, is a particularly good example of great songwriting, musical collaboration, and Kim’s technical blues (and Jazz) chops coming together to create a classic album. Followed by the Looking In and Street Corner Talking LPs, which really boosted Savoy Brown’s profile in America (of interest is that Raw Sienna, Looking In, and Street Corner Talking all had different lead singers, with Dave Walker joining in 1971). Even with ever-changing band personnel, Kim and Savoy Brown had established themselves as blues-rock linchpins who could pretty much headline any gig anywhere in America.
As the 70s rolled on, however, Savoy Browns’ fortunes dipped a bit, and Kim found himself at a career/life crossroads: what next? The answer was the USA, and Kim packed up his stuff and moved stateside to Ohio. And there truly defined his ultimate legacy: Kim as the master of re-invention. It was in Ohio that he began his American journey, starting a family and playing in a myriad of bands, even straying briefly outside of Savoy Brown, but never for long. Dave Walker returned in the late 1980s for the GNP/Crescendo years, and I’m happy to say I got to work with the band during that period. And Savoy Brown kept right on going as Kim kept evolving, eventually starting a new family with Debbie and Eve and a new musical family with Pat and Garnet. Amazing really that Kim Simmonds, no matter what, could always just pick himself up, dust himself off, and refine his craft and redefine who he was, right up until his passing in 2022. Small wonder that Blues Matters, originally called Shades of Savoy Brown, nicked its title from the life of the one and only Kim Simmonds…and yes, it was quite a life well lived, thank you, Matey.
