Producer and singer-songwriter Phillip BenSimon is a founding member of Whiskey Tango, The Hideaways, and Tornado Magnet. A multi-year San Diego Music Awards nominee and winner for Best Americana, his music is rooted in American, infused with rock and roll muscle, and driven by hook-centric power pop sensibilities.
A new single called “Smuggling Contraband” dropped in July 2026, set along the lonely lost highways stretching from the Pacific coast through San Diego County, Tecate, and the Imperial Valley. "Having grown up and spent my life along the Southern California border region," he says, "I've watched this landscape evolve for decades. 'Smuggling Contraband' is a snapshot of a place, a culture, and a stretch of highway filled with stories that most people never see. It's part folklore, part reality, and entirely rooted in the desert Southwest."