Meet Cj Simmons | Singer/songwriter for Hill Country Revival

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cj Simmons and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cj, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
As a band, firstly we want people to know and love our music. We want to see people coming to our shows and singing along. It’s tough because this a job and not a great paying one at that. Most of us in the band have day jobs or side gigs to keep us afloat. The ultimate goal is to get us away from those jobs so we can put all of our energy into creating music and staying as busy as possible on the road. It’s hard to speak for 4 other members but to put a pin in it, a comfortable, busy career is the goal as of now.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Hill Country Revival is an independent texas band rooted in southern rock and country music. Our guitar player (Colton Steiber) left his home in Montana and headed to Georgia to pursue music. Eventually he made his way to Austin and got started in the Texas scene. In 2016 HCR was started with a complete different lineup of artists and an album was released. In 2020 I (Cj Simmons) joined the band. I had only been gigging for about 2 years around my home town in south Texas. In February of 2020 we cut two tracks ”Silver Fox” and “Whiskey Runnin” and started gaining momentum. As like it was for everyone covid put a wrench in the gears. We hit the studio again in this off time and cut a few more songs, one being “Hundred Dollar Bill”. This song would take us a step up in the scene being put on some of the top Texas country playlists on streaming platforms and breaking 1million plus streams in a little under 2 years. The shows started getting bigger and the opportunities to open for bigger artist started pouring in. Ever since we have been staying busy on the road, writing more music and expanding on who we are as musicians. It’s not as easy of a lifestyle as it sounds though. There’s times where we’ll drive 6 hours to play from 9-12, turn around and drive 6 hours back home because someone’s gotta work the next day. At the end of the day we do this for the love of music. Not fame and not money, though those things are nice. Whether we play in front of 10 thousand people or we are by ourselves in a rehearsal room. When we lock in and every beat, every note, every lyric is felt and understood, that’s why we do what we do.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
STOCKYARDS!!!! Everything you need is right there.
Like Brent Cobb said “Bars, Guitars, and a Honky Tonk Crowd”.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents Chris and Theresa Simmons. They have been the bands biggest supporters since I joined back in 2020.

Website: https://hillcountryrevival.com/home

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillcountryrevivalofficial

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillcountryrevivalofficial

Other: https://open.spotify.com https://music.apple.com/us/artist/hill-country-revival

Image Credits
Jimmy Marr