--------------"Thanks for the support. I have seen you advertising on the boards a lot and decided to look at you music, and I must say... bravo! Well done! " -Sting ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------LEDGER ARTICLE TV, Internet Show Brings Musician Bigger Audience -------Heidi A. DeVries ----------- Timothy Simpson has recently garnered attention from a musical appearance on Studio 10, a 10 a.m. weekday show available on the Internet and on TV at WTSP (Channel 10) out of Tampa. "I'm just amazed at all the feedback I've gotten and people asking me to do shows and make appearances because of the spot," Simpson said. "Things have really started picking up in the last couple months." The "picking up" includes sales of his music on iTunes from his first album, "All for One," released last year, and the playing of his songs on college radio stations throughout the country. "I send out my music to a lot of different stations, and I usually don't hear from them until someone will look me up and let me know that they heard my song playing. Just last week, I got news of an Ohio college station playing my songs. I've heard from as far away as the U.K. of stations playing me," he said. Working in the Lakeland Regional Medical Center Surgical Intensive Care Unit as a nurse gives Simpson less time than most artists to perform live. Of the shows he does play, most are benefits of some sort. He lent his song "The New Year" for use on the Stand Up for Kids benefit CD released by Tampa Bay Muse to raise money for homeless children, and he participated in the One Campaign to stop poverty's concert in Orlando. Being a part-time artist means that Simpson does all of his writing, recording, promotion and booking himself. Simpson said working at 6 String Music Shop, a guitar center in Lakeland, shaped his musical career in every way. It put him in touch with and prepared him to take lessons from some of the top guitarists in Florida. He was able to meet some of his favorite musicians, like Robert Plant, Jerry Cantrell, Aretha Franklin, the Edge of U2 and Dave Matthews. "I was talking with this guy about guitars in the store, but I couldn't place why he looked familiar," Simpson said. "I wasn't sure if he was just a customer that hadn't been in for awhile or what. So I finally asked him what was going on, and he told me he was playing at Florida Southern that night. I put two and two together and figured out it was Dave Matthews." With the excitement the TV spot is generating, Simpson is trying to take it slow. "I'm really doing music as a hobby. I take it day by day and see what happens," he said. "I really like my job ... because I like helping people and I'm pursuing more school in the medical field." For now, his first and foremost responsibility, taking care of often critically ill patients is a major influence on Simpson. "Somber might be a good word for my music," he said. He also draws upon current political situations for his lyrics. The combination of these influences collided with "Home" which will be released on Simpson's upcoming album. "All I want is for you to be there when I get home/So I don't see why I don't just give up and go," he sings. Though he initially wrote it with the patients in the ICU in mind, he's been getting a lot of mail from families all over the world who have related the lyrics with soldiers overseas, and especially in Iraq. Right now, Simpson is concentrating on his new album, "Disarray," which he expects to release in the next two months. "This one is going to be a little more happy," he said with a grin. Simpson's friends, guitarist and singer Harry Behr and drummer Perry Danner, have been invited back with Simpson for a spot on Studio 10 when the album comes out. Until then, the current spot will air periodically for the next three months
