“I drank a lot.”

That’s how Morgan Simpson says he prepared for his role in the drama Redemption Road, which hits theaters today. Simpson plays a down-in-the-dumps alcoholic Jackson Bailey who meets blues and country loving Texan Augy (Michael Clarke Duncan). Duncan’s character shows him how he can get his life back together by playing music onstage. Simpson says he always wanted to do a film about redemption with heart and the blues. “I wanted some deep themes with heartache,” he says. “When Mario [Van Peebles] got involved, the idea of Augy and AA evolved over time.”

Simpson felt like he knew Bailey pretty well by the time the film was ready to be finished. “I based Bailey off of plenty musicians I see in L.A.,” he says. In the film, Bailey is heavy smoker and drinker, which added a bit of a challenge. “It had been a few years since I’ve smoked.”

As for for the crew and cast, “We attached Mario on the project and Tom [Skerritt] was great.” Simpson calls getting Michael Clarke Duncan lucky, and remembers seeing Luke Perry in 8 Seconds and knew he would be good for the role of Boyd. “It was a group effort.”

The production of the movie took two years and the scripts took a couple of years to work on as well. Simpson feels that the south really set the mood for the story they were trying to tell. Hailing from Mississippi, he felt that Austin and Alabama were natural settings for the story. “The south itself has character and landscape.”

Redemption Road received rave reviews at the Nashville Film Festival, where it also took home several awards. “The film is about communicating with audiences; it’s uplifting,” says Simpson.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WMHcGaMVr4[/youtube]