Raised in the small town of Woodbury, Tennessee, Stephen Simmons is a seasoned singer songwriter and musician with twenty years on the road experience. He releases his twelfth album `Hunch` this month.
A tapped drum rim and strummed guitar leads us into title track `Hunch` before it fills out musically as it rolls along. A song about living your life your own way and talking Uncle Glen`s advice to play guitar and see how the wind blows, “strummin’ on the guitar and live your life on a hunch.” U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces are mourned on Memorial Day which was known as Decoration Day in the South. `Decoration Days` is a respectful heartfelt reminiscence on this celebration of those gone but never forgotten.
`Song Of Us` recognises a romance or relationship that’s run its course and has a kind of fated sadness about it. It ends with an inevitable parting of the ways. We have in `Grandpa’s Jacket` a rhythmic country cut that the author says, “considers how we crave ties to where we came from, even while we chase adventure.”
`Early Rising Moon` has a real dreaminess about it. The moon and the sun being in the sky at the same time appears to have inspired this love song in praise of a long term partner. The lap steel hues add a further poignancy to this track. A chance relationship in a sushi bar in Germany led to `Dresden Doll` a wistful and faraway reminiscence on a brief but meaningful encounter.
`Amsterdam` is a thoughtful rumination on life on the road and lessons learned from a career that’s much more than just a job or profession but way of life. It`s drum heartbeat or pulse and longing guitar chords drives this meditative offering along. The insightful `Tomorrow Is Another Day` has a “carpe diem” or live for now vibe and is maybe a reflection on the loneliness and an insecurity of life on the road and the need for self-assurance.
`Boy Before The Man` is a revolving consideration on adolescence, a dreamy coming of age analysis or deliberation. The album closes with the balladlike `Someone Like You` a loose admiration of the devotion of a partner whom maybe isn`t always recognised for their importance in your life.
`Hunch` was my introduction to Stephen Simmons and there was much to enjoy here. The songwriting comes from the heart through lived experiences, adventures, and encounters both on the road and at home. We enjoy upbeat numbers and others with a much more reflective hue but with a lived honesty shared throughout.
A worthy listen.
Rating 8.5/10
