Bassist Rhandy Simmons’ resumé includes regular onstage jams with Stevie Ray Vaughan and membership in Roomful of Blues as well as Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets.
Born in Garland, Texas, Simmons was yet another babyboomer who asked for a guitar after seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. He played in country bands before gravitating to Texas blues.
“I started playing in country bars around 1968, when I was 15,” he recalled. “An older guy who needed a bass player masqueraded as my father so I could do the gigs.”
His first instruments were a “dolphin-nose” Silvertone 1444, followed by a Fender Precision. He moved to Kansas and went on the road with a band called the Cross Country Express, using a rare four-string.
“I used to collect Ampeg scroll-heads and Baby Basses,” he said. “I bought my first in 1970 from Larry Morgan at Arnold and Morgan Music Mart. It had the ‘mystery pickup’ under the bridge.”
In an improbable exchange, in 1985, Preston Hubbard left the Boston jump-blues band Roomful of Blues to join the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and was replaced by Simmons, who had to quickly take up a different instrument.
“I had never played upright until I joined Roomful,” he said. “I started on a ’52 Kay, but soon switched to my Baby Bass.”
After a year on the road with Roomful, he returned to Houston, where he met Alan Haynes and Uncle John Turner.
“I did a couple of European tours with them, and along the way met Freddie Cisneros, the manager at the Rockin’ Robin music shop. I played bass in Freddie’s band, Little Junior One Hand and the Blasting Caps. He was kind enough to give me a part-time sales job, and I worked there between tours until I moved back to Dallas to join Anson and the Rockets, with Sam Myers.”
During Simmons’ time at Rockin’ Robin, the store’s Robin guitar brand was thriving, and he recalled offering input on the design of the then-new Medley bass, touted as the first with three pickups – two single-coils and a humbucker.
“I recommended that the single coils be wound in a humbucking configuration, because I really like the thunder of the single-coil pickups on early Precisions and Ampegs,” he recalled. “I also thought a humbucker by the bridge would provide the low-mid definition of the early Music Man Sting Ray.”
Simmons played a red Medley and used it on numerous studio recordings, including Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets’ 1987 album, Sins, which won four W.C. Handy blues awards. His primary instrument was still a Baby Bass, but he appeared on the album cover with a doghouse bass.
“That belonged to a buddy, Tony Dukes,” he said. “We used it for the photo shoot because it looked the part.”
A regular Monday gig with Funderburgh at the Dallas joint Poor David’s Pub saw Stevie Ray Vaughan jam with the band more than once.
“When he wasn’t touring, Stevie would sit in from time to time. The moment he walked through the door, everyone knew they were about to be rocketed to another dimension. He’d show up with no guitar, no amp… he’d grab Anson’s ’59 Strat.”
Simmons’ career lasted for many years and aw him back guitar luminaries including Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland. He eventually opened Siesta Ranch Studios, in Gilmer, where numerous musicians have recorded, including Kacey Musgraves (Simmons co-produced her first album), Mike Morgan (Ain’t Worried No More), and country band Perfect Stanger.
These days, Simmons is retired from music and serves as a fishing guide on Lake Fork.
“Every once in a while, I get together with some friends to do some porch picking,” he said. “The idea of crawling on a tour bus doesn’t excite me much anymore. I had my day and they tell me I had a good time! I’m one of the luckiest men on Earth for having been able to spend time playing with some of the greatest musicians in the world.”
This article originally appeared in VG’s June 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
