Stephen Simmons “Grandpa’s Jacket” – welcome to the show

There is an unnamed, but well stocked, subgenre of music in general which reflects on the toll that the troubadour life takes, and ‘Grandpa’s Jacket‘ by Stephen Simmons is well within that subgenre.  There’s a weariness to the vocal as Simmons relates the tale of dressing up in the best he has and taking the stage to another anonymous sea of faces and plays his songs again.  There are plus sides of course, including the admiration of another woman whose name he’ll soon have forgotten, and there’s the half of the door.

There are other more personal rewards as well as Simmons muses that songwriting is “not therapy, but it’s therapeutic.  People talk about when you first start writing, sometimes it’s almost like clearing your throat. You’re not really at the thing yet, and sometimes you write for a while before you get in some kind of flow. And then something starts coming together. And when you feel it, you know it’s true — and you didn’t know yet how you were gonna say it ’til it comes out. It’s gratifying.”

‘Grandpa’s Jacket‘ comes from the latest album ‘Hunch’ which we reviewed here.