No one working at Nashville’s Sony studios could find a euphonium. It’s questionable whether most of these engineers and producers knew what the wind brass instrument
looked
like, much less had ever laid eyes on one inside the historic building where countless country, gospel and pop legends had recorded music for decades.
Nevertheless, as producers sprinkled the final touches on RayLynn Records flagship worship artist Kyle Sherman’s debut album, Bob Simpson called for a euphonium part within the string section of a particular song. Eventually, the team found a Nashville Symphony instrumentalist to record the part. The consensus agreed the unique brass melody worked as a wonderful addition.
Bob Simpson and his wife Janice have made a good life for themselves out of their ingenuity and leadership savvy. The Texas businessman has struck billion-dollar deals and turned numerous failing companies around, including Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers, whom he purchased out of bankruptcy months before the organization advanced to its first World Series.
The Simpsons founded RayLynn Records in 2011 well aware that starting a label in the digital age of the music industry might not exactly be the quickest route to generating more income. But profit making was never the point to this endeavor.
“Music has been a part of my entire life, beginning with the earliest childhood memories of my mother playing the piano as she sang classic gospel hymns,” Simpson says. “RayLynn Records is the fulfillment of a dream that my wife Janice and I shared to bring truly God inspired music to the world delivered by talented artists.”
RayLynn (the name derives from a combination of Bob and Janice’s middle names, respectively) came to fruition soon after the Simpsons struck a relationship with Kyle Sherman. At the time, Sherman was serving as worship leader at Lifechurch.TV, Bob and Janice’s home church in Fort Worth—a church plant of nationally acclaimed speaker/author Craig Groeschel’s Tulsa-based LifeChurch.TV. So impressed by Kyle’s musical talent and raw passion, Bob approached him about recording an album and teamed him up with legendary country singer-songwriter, producer and friend Mark Collie.
RayLynn’s label debut, Kyle Sherman’s
Hear Me,
is set for release through Provident-Sony Distribution on October 9.
