Singer-songwriter Gary Simpkins helped pioneer the open mic community in Camp Verde and started the Music in the Stacks program at the Camp Verde Community Library, the most successful adult program at the library.
Simpkins grew up outside of New Haven, Conn., and has been playing music for over 60 years. While in college in New Haven in the 1960s, Simpkins immersed himself in the folk music scene. He said this era was referred to as the folk music boom or the great folk scare. Famous folk musicians of the era included Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell.
Simpkins got involved with playing in and running open mics at various coffee shops in New Haven that primarily featured folk music. One of these was The Exit, which was internationally known, as well as The Enormous Room. Simpkins said that those two coffee houses in New Haven brought all kinds of people from across the country to play music.
Simpkins is a singer and songwriter who plays mostly folk and folk rock. He said he started out playing in the vein of the Kingston Trio and Dylan, but has let his style evolve and become his own.
Simpkins remembered that the music of his youth was inseparable from political and social upheaval, such as protests against the Vietnam War and for equality. He recalled playing at The Exit one night during the trial of Bobby Seale — the cofounder of the Black Panther Party and a member of the “Chicago 8,” who were arrested for inciting a riot when protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago turned violent.
“There were really hard feelings on both sides,” Simpkins said. “There are memories there, some of them are not so good. You think back on it, and you go, ‘Oh, wow, was I really a part of that?’ Things have changed so much.”
“The music was the thing that stayed with me all that time,” Simpkins said. “I grew up as a scientist but that wasn’t really who I was. Who I really am is a musician, an entertainer. Music has stayed with me through everything that I’ve gone through over the years, including the regular jobs that I had.”
Simpkins trained as a radiation physicist and was involved in developing linear particle accelerators, used in high-energy physics research and cancer treatment.
Hosting open mics has also followed Simpkins wherever he has gone and with whatever job he has had.
“I’ve had an opportunity to live in so many different places and every place I’ve lived, I’ve started an open mic for the same type of people, the singer-songwriters,” Simpkins said.
Simpkins formerly hosted an open mic at Salt Mine Cellar in 2000 that attracted a strong turnout, starting the open mic community in Camp Verde. The open mic later moved to Thanks A Latte and eventually to the Camp Verde Community Library, where it still takes place every Monday.
The event also includes a Music in the Stacks concert on the fourth Thursday of every month and a round robin on the second Thursday, which was the original Music in the Stacks that launched in 2016. It showcases three singer songwriters who trade off songs during a two-hour concert. The MITS concert features a single act each month.
Mark Gifford, who handles the sound engineering, helps Simpkins decide who will be playing. Simpkins said that between the two of them, they know almost every musician in the Verde Valley.
Simpkins added that while the population of the Verde Valley may not be large compared to Phoenix, the percentage of talented musicians is very high.
