Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, SWT introduced you to Muscle Shoals, Alabama-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Bay Simpson via a premiere of his song “Too Good To Be True”. He followed it up recently with his new single, “Summertime Classics”. According to a press release, the song is a nostalgic rock anthem that celebrates first love, classic records, and the songs that become the soundtrack to our lives.
You can watch the music video, which captures locations Simpson spent time at while growing up in Muscle Shoals, below:
“Summertime Classics is really a tale about summertime love, and how it coincides with the music I grew up listening to,” says Simpson via press release. “I can almost always tie a certain song or artist to a certain period of time in my life.”
It was written alongside Logan Platt, Chris Miller, and Landon Sears and pays tribute to legendary artists and records while also tying memories, relationships, and milestones to music that most impacts us.
Below, Simpson wrote an exclusive Artist Essay for us about the personal and emotional inspiration for the song.
People ask me what “Summertime Classics” is about, and the truth is, it isn’t really about summer. It’s about memory.
I’ve always believed songs become bookmarks in our lives. Years go by, and then one guitar riff or one lyric comes on the radio, and suddenly you’re right back where you were. You remember the truck you drove, the girl you were dating, the people you spent every weekend with, or that one summer where life somehow felt simpler than it does now. I don’t know if we discover music that way anymore.
When I was growing up in Muscle Shoals, songs found you naturally. They came from your parents’ record collection, a local radio station, or the CD that stayed in your truck until it was scratched beyond repair. Nobody was telling you what the next song should be. You just lived with music. Over time, those songs became part of your story.
That’s what inspired “Summertime Classics.” I wasn’t trying to write a song about nostalgia. I was trying to write about what music actually does to us. The songs we love somehow become tied to places, people, and moments we’ll never get back. Even if the memories are bittersweet, I’m thankful for them because they made me who I am.
When it came time to shoot the music video, there really wasn’t another option besides going home. We filmed everything on Wheeler Lake along the Tennessee River because that’s where these memories actually happened. It would’ve felt dishonest to create that somewhere else.
That river has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some of my best days happened out there. Long afternoons on the water. Friends packed into a boat. Sunsets that seemed to last forever. First relationships. Breakups. Conversations that probably felt bigger than they really were at the time. Looking back now, I realize none of those moments seemed important while they were happening. They only became important later.
I think that’s how life works. Phil Silverberg and I kept talking while making the video about not overthinking it. We didn’t want actors pretending to have fun. We didn’t want a complicated storyline. We didn’t want to manufacture nostalgia.
We just wanted to capture a real Alabama summer. Sometimes I think we forget that authenticity is enough. Growing up in Muscle Shoals teaches you something about music. You grow up surrounded by stories of incredible records that were made not because somebody was chasing trends, but because they were chasing a feeling. Those songs still matter today because they’re honest. That’s the standard I’ve always wanted to hold myself to.
Whether I’m writing something upbeat like Summertime Classics or something completely different, I never want to write a song just because I think it’ll work. I want it to mean something first. If it means something to me, hopefully it’ll mean something to somebody else.
This song also reminded me that going home isn’t always about geography. Sometimes it’s hearing an old record. Sometimes it’s driving down a familiar road. Sometimes it’s stepping back into a place that reminds you where you came from. I think we all need that every now and then.
As I get ready to release my upcoming EP, The New Normal, I’ve realized that’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years. The older I get, the less interested I am in trying to be something I’m not. I don’t need every song to reinvent the wheel. I just want to tell honest stories about real people and real places.
If someone watches the “Summertime Classics” video and it reminds them of a hometown they miss, a lake they grew up on, an old relationship, or even just one perfect day they thought they’d forgotten, then I feel like we accomplished exactly what we set out to do.
Because before playlists and algorithms, we didn’t just discover songs. We built our lives around them. And maybe that’s why they still stay with us today.
You can connect with Bay Simpson via the links in his author box below
Bay Simpson
Contributor
A Muscle Shoals native and Nashville-based singer-songwriter, Bay Simpson is launching his solo career after showcasing his southern rock roots on season 29 of NBC's The Voice.
