# Former Cadillac Sky Lead Singer Releases Debut Album with New Band

- Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2014/03/former-cadillac-sky-lead-singer-releases-debut-album-with-new-band/
- Published: 2014-03-21T08:40:05-04:00
- Author: Max Hammer

During a 2010 tour, in which **Nashville** band, **Cadillac Sky**, was opening up
for the Grammy-winning band **Mumford and Sons**, lead singer **Bryan Simpson**,
a **Nashville** local, hit a wall – spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally.
In distress, Simpson made the incredible decision to leave the tour and his band
right at the time when they had seemingly achieved the kind of success that just
about any other band would give just about everything they had for. Supporting one
of the hottest bands in the world is not a minor thing. But Simpson simply could
not continue the rigorous tour. He battled demons and went to a very dark place,
he told IRC.

Simpson left it all behind to strike out on his own, and formed **The Whistles and
the Bells**, making peace with himself and his former band mates. The entire experience,
from the highs of a national spotlight, to the lows of his darkest moments on the
road, provided plenty of material for the young songwriter. The result is his new
band project’s debut album, described by his publicist as “the dark, and at times
musically twisted, autobiographical snapshot of Bryan’s personal earthquake surrounding
the education of studying his maker.” Obviously, he was particularly struggling 
with his faith. The debut album encompasses “all [of] the modern southern gothic
swirl of sounds from blues, to Americana, to New Orleans-style horns and darkness
of the [sic] self-exploration,” the type of material, he contends, that creates 
a “personal soundtrack of a character from a Faulkner novel.” The first single, “
Mercy Please” was a _Rolling Stone_ magazine daily download.

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“Mercy Please” – **The Whistles and the Bells** from _The Whistles and the Bells_–
March 4th

[“Transistor Radio”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/The%20Whistles%20&amp%3b%20the%20Bells%20-%20&quot%3bTransistor%20Resistor&quot%3b.mp3)–**
The Whistles and the Bells** from _The Whistles and the Bells_

Simpson described indie rock as initially “sounds that were too edgy for a major
label, but with some of the best ‘indie rock’ bands in the world all being signed
to labels, this term really takes on a new meaning,” he wrote, describing it as “
rock music without limits. Indie rock has spawned so many genres…that I think is
incredibly exciting. The more sub-genres you have, the more experimentation there
is; someone does something new that can’t be categorized,” he wrote, so “it’s usually
put under indie rock.”

[The Whistles and the Bells Official Website](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/thewhistlesandthebells.com)