Todd Simpson

By Jan King; Photo by Jan King

How do you go from picking up an instrument for the first time to playing the biggest venues in Birmingham, Ala. in just two short years? According to Todd Simpson, it’s all about heart. At the age of 19, Simpson has been through more than most 90-year-olds and he has the battle scars to prove it. Born with a congenital heart problem, Simpson spent more than 700 days in the hospital before reaching the age of three. The same heart that has been so fragile in the past leads his music today; Simpson taught himself to play guitar and harmonic by feel and from the heart.

“To me feeling the music means keeping it real,” says Simpson. “I don’t know how people can say that music is an art form and a creative thing and then put so many rules and labels on it. Some people say this isn’t blues or this isn’t that, to me it’s just music or it should be. I never play a song the same way twice and have no interest to. I don’t feel today like I did yesterday so if I’m being real it’s gonna be different. I play a lot of interpretations of songs but I don’t call them covers because they’re not going to be like the original. I know it’s special and I think that people know when you connect with a song. So I guess that’s what feeling it means, it’s connecting. When I’m really into it I never look at my guitar, I close my eyes and go with it and sometimes I’m surprised where it ends up. I think the key for me is that I don’t play with my mind, I play with my heart. I may not know a lot but I feel a whole lot.”

The guitar was not Simpson’s first heart instrument. “When Todd was eight he picked up a toy harmonica and it was like he had played all of his life,” recalls Simpson’s dad, Wes Simpson. “This was a kid that had spent years in the hospital only being told what he couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to do, so we were so excited that he had found something positive.” Three days later Simpson was on stage with Willie King playing his harmonica.

Simpson first picked up the guitar around two years ago after watching a Jimi Hendrix DVD. “He had a hard time picking up chords but just started playing the intro to ‘Voodoo Child.’” explains Wes Simpson. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll play these chords and you just play what you want.’ It was more amazing than the harmonica experience. We put together a band and within a week Todd played his first gig.” Since then Simpson and his band, Mojo Child, have played some of the biggest venues in Birmingham. Mojo Child features Simpson’s dad Wes Simpson on rhythm guitar, Jessica Keenum on drums and Corey Mitchell on bass. The band won the 2007 Magic City Blues Society’s Battle of the Bands and placed in the International Blues Competition in Memphis. The group was a featured act at this year’s City Stages festival.

“We were told that there was a certain path that we had to take to break in to the Birmingham scene but we did it a little differently,” says Simpson. You can act like a rock star onstage, but when you come off, be yourself. If you can connect with a song it’s special, if you can connect with your fans it’s more than special. We’ve been lucky doing it on our own to have played some big shows in a short time.”

Simpson is ready to see where his heart and music lead him. “My plans are to keep working hard and reaching new fans,” he says. “I would love to be able to travel and see things and meet different people and bring them some pleasure with my music. God has blessed me with my music and I feel like this is what he wants me to do. I don’t know why. Whatever the reason, I just hope do it in front of a lot of people for a longtime with my band Mojo Child.”

www.myspace.com/toddsimpsonandmojochild