Bay Simpson Makes Room for Every Side of His Sound on The New Normal

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There’s a funny irony at the center of Bay Simpson’s The New Normal: the song that once didn’t fit may be the clearest explanation of why Simpson does.

The Muscle Shoals native has never sounded particularly interested in choosing between Country and rock ’n’ roll. On his new five-song EP, those influences aren’t competing for space. They’re simply different parts of the same artist.

That makes The New Normal feel less like a reinvention and more like Simpson finally giving himself permission to put everything on one record.

The title track has been waiting for that opportunity since 2019. Simpson wrote “The New Normal” during an early Nashville writing trip alongside Dylan LeBlanc, Keith Stegall and Vicki McGehee. Originally considered for his former band Outlaw Apostles, the song ultimately stayed behind because it leaned too heavily into rock.

Time has been kind to it.

“The New Normal” looks at a society increasingly divided into opposing camps, but Simpson resists turning the song into a lecture. Instead, he zooms out. Every generation has experienced upheaval, disagreement and change; perhaps what feels unprecedented while we’re living through it isn’t quite as unprecedented as we imagine.

That restraint is important. Simpson acknowledges the tension without prescribing a political answer, allowing the song’s larger message of acceptance and unity to do the work.

There’s also something satisfying about hearing a supposedly “too rock ’n’ roll” song become the centerpiece of Simpson’s solo project. Years earlier, Adam Levine recognized that quality when Simpson appeared on NBC’s The Voice, praising the understanding of rock ’n’ roll he heard in Simpson’s delivery. Kelly Clarkson similarly picked up on the combination of intimacy and rock edge in his voice.

Those instincts haven't disappeared. If anything, The New Normal gives them more room.

Recorded at The NuttHouse Recording Studio in Sheffield, Alabama, with Grammy and Juno Award-winning producer and engineer Jimmy Nutt, the EP draws together songs from different periods of Simpson’s career rather than presenting five tracks written specifically to function as one project.

That could easily make a short record feel disjointed. Here, it works in Simpson’s favor. The common thread isn't a strict genre or concept; it's the artist performing the songs.

“Over Me Eyes,” co-written with Brian Maher, pushes directly toward Simpson’s rock tendencies, while “Different Animal” and “Livin’ the Blues” arrive with the advantage of already having been tested in front of audiences. Both have become closing numbers in Simpson’s live show, giving the back half of the project the feel of music built to leave a room buzzing.

That stage experience matters.

Before this solo chapter, Simpson spent years fronting Outlaw Apostles, touring and sharing stages with artists including Dwight Yoakam and Jamey Johnson. Even earlier, songwriting had already opened an unusually large door when Kid Rock recorded Simpson’s “Never Enough” when Simpson was just 20 years old.

Those experiences help explain why The New Normal doesn't sound like an artist searching for an identity. Simpson has had one for years. The challenge has been finding enough space for all of it.

Growing up in Muscle Shoals probably didn't hurt. Country, rock, blues and soul have long existed within arm’s reach of one another there, and Simpson approaches genre with a similar lack of concern for artificial borders. His Country foundation remains evident, but so does the heavier musical instinct that once made “The New Normal” difficult to place.

Now, that inability to fit neatly is the point.

The most interesting thing about The New Normal may ultimately be what it doesn't attempt to do. Simpson isn't announcing an entirely new sound, distancing himself from his past or chasing whatever happens to be working at the moment. Instead, he has collected songs that survived changing bands, different writing rooms and years onstage because they continued to mean something to him.

For a five-song project, that gives the EP an unusual amount of history.

And perhaps that's why the title works on another level. Bay Simpson’s “new normal” isn't really new at all.

Country songwriter, Muscle Shoals musician, rock ’n’ roll vocalist and seasoned live performer — those pieces have been there all along. The New Normal simply stops asking them to take turns.

THE NEW NORMAL TRACK LISTING (songwriters in parenthesis)

1. The New Normal (Bay Simpson, Dylan LeBlanc, Keith Stegall, Vicky Mcgehee)
2. Over Me Eyes (Bay Simpson, Brian Maher)
3. Different Animal (Bay Simpson, Logan Platt)
4. Livin’ the Blues’ (Heath Owen, Brian Maher, Bay Simpson, James LeBlanc)

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