A Place to Sleep tells the story of a wounded vet who has lost everything and has to make a difficult decision to survive.

Lucky's Blues

A Place to Sleep

A Place To Sleep

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/piano 
Nick Maclean – bass/lead guitar/strings arrangement 
Jordi Comstock – drums 
Anthony Rissesco - violin 

This song tells the story of a specific female character, Lilly, that is an amalgamation of various people and observations I have made while either being a patron or a performer in taverns/bars/lounges all over the world.  The song is a story of one night at a drinking establishment where various aspects of the character Lilly’s life are revealed from the point of view of a performer who is watching from the stage.

Dark and Dirty World

Lilly Likes Leanin' on the Piano

Lilly Likes Leanin'  On the Piano

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/acoustic guitar 

I can only say about this song what I take away from it.  It is written so that the central character is gender agnostic, and unable to follow a relationship path that would lead to some sort of lasting partnership. In the context of the album, it makes a book end from Dark and Dirty World in the use of the metaphor of the sun.  In Dark and Dirty World, the lyrics reference a burning earth, for example “all around us are flames”, in Lover of Unreason, the chorus references “a hole where once was the sun” as in the end of all things

Lover of Unreason

Lover Of Unreason

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/rhythm guitar/harmonica 
Nick Maclean – lead guitar 
Mark Merrimen – bass  
Chris Brown – drums  

This is again a humorous look at a troubled sort of relationship.  I don’t think any of the characters are likeable or sympathetic in any way. The music is a blow the doors off blues rock fueled good time. Mostly it was an exercise fitting as many of the months in the calendar into a song. The story line follows a regular guy who has many surface relationships with women who are named after months in the year.  The main one being with April who is here one day and gone the next.

Rainy Day April

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/rhythm guitar 
Nick Maclean – lead guitar/backing vocals 
Mark Merrimen – bass /backing vocals 
Chris Brown – drums /backing vocals 

Here the album moves into a more humorous voice.  Ain’t It a Shame is a classic rock influenced tale of a man who gets figuratively run over by his woman, but she is so attractive he basically can’t stay away.

Ain't it A Shame

Ain't It a Shame

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/rhythm guitar/lead guitar/piano 
Mark Merrimen – bass  
Chris Brown – drums 
Ronok Sarkar – synth 
Laura Merrimen – backing vocals 

On the surface Hey Baby I’m Gone is another break up song, but it is more about the difficulties that the central character is facing in life.  The actual split in the relationship is due to circumstances beyond the characters control and the main character’s life ends up spiraling out of control.  He is forced into a situation where is perpetually travelling, scattering pieces of himself wherever he goes, and he is left with a longing for a safe place to call home.

Hey Baby I'm Gone

Ted Simmons – lead vocals 
Nick Maclean – bass/lead guitar/organ/backing vocals 
Jordi Comstock – drums/backing vocals 

Runnin’ into the Fire speaks directly to the theme of working-class displacement told from the perspective of one man in a dying factory town.  It details some of the hardships that people in those types of communities face, for example, opiate overdoses, abandoned veterans, and a lack of economic opportunity.  It also touches on the theme of relationships with the central character being in an estranged relationship that has been strained by economic hardship.

Runnin' Into The Fire

Runnin  Into The Fire

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/rhythm guitar 
Nick Maclean – lead guitar 
Mark Merrimen – bass 
Chris Brown – drums 
Bill Travis – backing vocals/rhythm acoustic guitar
 
Another song about two people who are unable to be together, in this case it is more of an acceptance of the situation, we can’t make it work but sometimes that is just how it goes.  The chorus can take on a broader meaning, to just in general somethings are never the same, the idea that if you try and replicate or reboot something it never really matches the original regardless of what it is.

Some Things Are Never the Same

Somethings Are Never the Same

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/piano/harmonica 
Nick Maclean – bass/lead guitar 
Jordi Comstock – drums 
Stef Nicholson – backing vocals 
Dawn Hatfield – baritone saxophone 

This was written on a flight from Vancouver to Halifax.  The arrangement is an easy boozy romp. Obviously, there would be no way to write the words and music at the same time on an airplane, so the words came first then the music which made it much easier to make an interesting arrangement because there were essentially no rules.  This is the first of the relationship songs and it tells the story of two lovers whose fate was to separate due to circumstances beyond their control.

Susanna

Ted Simmons – lead vocals/piano 
Nick Maclean – bass/lead guitars/rhythm guitar 
Jordi Comstock – drums 
Stef Nicholson – backing vocals 

Commentary on the state of human existence is the best way I can describe this song. In Bob Dylan’s song Slow Train Coming, from the 1979 album of the same name, he uses the metaphor of a slow train to describe how the world is headed for some sort of looming disaster, in 1978 it was a slow train, in today’s world that pace is more like a jet plane. Dark and Dirty World is intended to be an unapologetic commentary on the destruction of the planet due to corporate greed and political corruption.  It ends on a somewhat positive note that not all hope is loss and that there is a movement of people that is pushing back against the power base that is desperately trying to hold on to the status quo.

Dark And Dirty World

Ted is originally from Newfoundland, but currently calls Dartmouth, Nova Scotia home. His youth in Newfoundland was the start of his vagabond journey, it was spent traversing the island in a single engine airplane with his father, going into the wilderness, exploring, fishing, camping, and just generally being out there, up in the air.  He learned how to live going from place to place carrying very little and needing even less.
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He has travelled to, and lived in, many other parts of the world. "I looked beyond the where I was from and saw something bigger at very early age". He traveled to America on his for the first time when he was just thirteen years old. That was the first time he experienced New York City; it changed him forever. He has travelled all over the United States and Canada since then.
 
It was the sounds and stories of the south that captured his imagination as a child. "The first time I heard blues music, I wasn't very old, and had no idea what any of it meant, but it captivated me". From Blues to Country, Folk to Rock and Roll, and RandB to Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, and with influences like Muddy Waters, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and The Band, with powerful, poignant, pretty and sometimes politically driven lyrics Ted has created a diversity of songs that cover the spectrum of the Americana experience.  His lyrics range from topical social commentary, to fun and humorously ridiculous tales, to the poetry of love, loss, loneliness, and longing. 
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Songwriting has been one of the only constants in his life, a life that has been shaped by the many people, places, and things he has encountered along the way. Some fantastic, some strange, some he wishes he had never seen, and others he wishes he could see at least one more time. He at one point lived in a village in Sweden, true story.  
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When not working as a singer/songwriter, he enjoys spending time with his family, fishing with his son, swimming in the ocean, and working in his garden.
 
In 2012 he was nominated for two Music PEI awards-Male Solo Recording of the Year and Roots Contemporary Recording of the Year.

Ted Simmons

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