‘Where all the people had fun’: Now Hilton Head’s Simpson Brothers need help

The Simpson Brothers Band has finally hit a sour note.

Mike and Brian Simpson have been our own Sam and Dave, performing the background music of Hilton Head Island’s booming tourism industry for 32 years.

People who came to live the dream danced their nights away with the Simpson Brothers at The Quarterdeck at the Harbour Town Lighthouse.

They’ve entertained at the Electric Piano Bar, the Salty Dog and The Smokehouse, where sometimes Rascal Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus would sit in with them.

In recent years, they’ve played for the flocks at Reilley’s, the Crazy Crab, Fish Camp and Aunt Chilada’s restaurants.

And this week, that CRAB group of local restaurants will host a benefit concert for the Simpson Brothers from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at The Crazy Crab restaurant at Jarvis Creek.

For the first time since the brothers as teenagers had a “garage band” in their family living room in Albany, Georgia, they’re unable to play music for a living.

Everything changed in an instant. On a Friday in late July, Mike took his daily walk on the beach near his home in South Forest Beach. About 5 o’clock, Brian drove over from his house on the same street to pick him up for their 6-to-9 p.m. gig at Aunt Chilada’s.

But Mike didn’t come out to the van.

Brian went up to the door and heard muffled cries from his 69-year-old brother.

Mike had had a stroke. He was flown to Charleston, where he was in the hospital for five weeks.

He’s home now, doing physical therapy, but paralyzed on the left side, unable to pick up a guitar, or walk.

He’s moved in with Brian, his caregiver. Friends Rick Hilton and Kevin Snyder helped build a wheelchair ramp and remodel a bathroom at Brian’s house.

“He’s in a terrible predicament,” Brian said.

Fortunately, Mike has Medicare. But the musician jobs that set the beat for Hilton Head don’t come with 401(k)s or insurance.

Their sister, Tish, put up a GoFundMe page without her brothers’ knowledge, and it has brought in about $33,000.

Now musicians are trying to help their brothers.

Island pianist Martin Lesch posted on Facebook: “Two of my favorite humans and also legendary area performers for a looooonnnnnggggg time. Love these guys and can’t say enough good things about them. Time to show them the love they’ve earned and deserve.”

National musician James Otto told his 246,000 Facebook followers: “These guys have dedicated their entire lives to entertaining others. They are two of the coolest guys on the planet. Health problems have sidelined them from playing shows, which is their main source of income. Please consider helping them out if you can.”

ROCKIN’ HILTON HEAD

The Simpson Brothers saw signs for Hilton Head in their years of ripping up and down Interstate 95 to gigs in every Holiday Inn, Ramada and Sheraton in the South, or so it seemed.

But they never came to see it until the late Jack Tarver Jr. asked them to play at the Old Post Office Emporium around 1989. The Old PO was a legendary, small venue that literally was the island’s old post office on Pope Avenue.

The brothers came with their drummer at the time, Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson, a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band.

Today, you have to pinch yourself to realize who all played at the Old PO in its mid-80s to mid-90s run.

Widespread Panic played it often. An unknown band from Vermont that locals didn’t really get came a couple of times. You may have heard of them. They’re called Phish. The reggae group I-TAL was almost the house band.

But the brothers found themselves on a stage that had hosted Gregg Allman, the Buddy Rich Orchestra, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Mason, the Nighthawks, the Outlaws, Doc Watson, Edgar Winter, the Byrds, Warren Zevon.

Jesse Winchester, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Poco, Chuck Leavell, Vince Gill, Bo Diddley, Tommy Dorsey, Mose Allison, The Band, Jeff Foxworthy, Delbert McClinton and scores more.

The Simpson Brothers were stunned also by the local musicians like David Wingo, the Mundahs, Billy Blair, the Chilly Willy Band and the Truly Dangerous Swamp Band led by Old PO co-owner David Truly.

They found an active nightclub scene, led by the Headliners at Club Indigo in the Hyatt and Bobby Ryder at Scarlett’s in the Mariner’s Inn.

They found bands rocking the wooden floors till 4 a.m. at Roy Prescott’s Remy’s restaurant and bar.

It was an era when a group of college kids known as Hootie and the Blowfish played at Callahan’s bar, and Edwin McCain played at the Tiki Hut on the beach.

The Simpson Brothers were delighted to be asked to come back to the island to play at The Quarterdeck. And they were happier still when they were asked to become the house band there, following David Wingo, who put it on the map.

“I fell in love with Hilton Head,” Brian says today.

“It was a 35 mph world instead of the interstates of Miami. It was a good, laid back, beautiful place.”

A RICH LIFE

Musicians play for us, but they often have to play for each other.

The first benefit gig I remember was for Marilyn Daly, who had cancer. She was known as Janis Joplin No. 2, so strong was her voice mixed on stage with her husband, Mike, and their musical kids, including Jevon and Gavin.

Years later, fellow musicians would help pay for David Wingo’s back surgery.

About 50 musicians staged a concert to raise money to fight Alzheimer’s disease after it claimed the life of Dick Mariotte, who wrote countless columns about local musicians in the former Hilton Head News.

Twenty local bands played at the Shoreline Ballroom to benefit bass player Cotdney Ulmer when he needed a new heart.

Not long after that, Lavon Stevens organized his funeral service and directed the combined choirs. The Heavenly Aires harmonized the gospel. And Earl Williams’ saxophone rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer” set the tone for 2 1/2 hours of singing, horn playing, clapping, testifying, crying and dancing.

Louise Spencer did her popular version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and regional jazz hall-of-famer Teddy Adams on trombone and Kenny Alexander on saxophone helped lead “Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” “Amazing Grace” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Brian Simpson said the brothers deliberately never tried to make it big in Nashville or cut a bunch of records.

“We’ve had a blessed life,” he said. “We made just enough money to be happy and content. It’s been a rich life. I turned 18 in New Orleans. We played Coconut Grove in the ’70s. We went to where all the people had fun.”

On stage this week for the Simpson Brothers will be David Wingo, Pete Carroll, La Bodega, Jarad Valenti, Sara Burns and Mike Kavanaugh.

“Hilton Head has been good for the music business,” Brian Simpson said.

“And the music business has been good for Hilton Head.”

David Lauderdale may be reached at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com.