Among that mythic group of songwriters that songwriters love is Simon Joyner, who has put out 11 records no one has ever heard of, but he’s trying once again with Out In The Snow, his 12th release through dedicated Joyner fan Conor Oberst’s Team Love Records.
It’s easy to understand why Oberst is among the faithful—besides for being touted as the forefather of the Omaha scene—Joyner’s songwriting is Kristofferson-Dylan-esque excerpts of Americana with early Velvet Underground’s almost menacing undercurrent. But it’s also easy to understand why it hasn’t been on the pop charts in the over 15 years that Joyner’s been putting out LPs, as its rather clear he’s writing in a way that the fans of those comparisons would discard as derivative and there’s a dearth of fans of this kind of Americana in Oberst’s and younger generations.
You never know, however—Joyner may be the next decade’s Tom Waits, though if that is the case, I recommend he stars in a Sylvester Stallone movie. Just a thought.
In A Word: Midwest
