"Omaha has given us the reigning heir to Henry Miller's dark emotional mirror, Townes Van Zandt's three-chord moan, and Lou Reed's warehouse minimalism: his name is Simon Joyner." — Gillian Welch
"Pound for pound Simon Joyner is my favorite lyricist of all time. He has shades of all the greats (Van Zandt, Cohen, Dylan) but exists in a space all his own ... He truly is an American songwriting treasure. It is my hope that more people will discover his music and share in the unique joy that it brings." — Conor Oberst
"Simon's always been a secret handshake amongst me and my peers. He's a pioneer. He's helped pave the way for many people, myself included. He's an artist in its purest form--for his only concern is crafting a
perfect song--which he's done time and time again." — Kevin Morby
ALBUMS
Since the early 90s Simon Joyner recorded plenty of albums released through various labels (as Woodsist, Team Love, Jagjaguwar, Shrimper, Sing Eunuchs! a.m.). For those see also his bandcamp page and his own Grapefruit label.
INFO
Simon Joyner is among America’s best songwriters, so says Gillian Welch, Conor Oberst, Kevin Morby, and others. “Singer-songwriter” is a frustratingly confining term; to truly understand exactly just how confining, look no further than the recorded works of Simon Joyner, an artist whose work consistently transcends the narrow parameters of genre classifications and record shop bin cards. Though his music has always honored, reckoned with—wrestled with—the tradition set forth by his songwriting forebears (Cohen, Van Zandt, Ochs, Dylan, Reed to name a few), Joyner can always be counted on to defy expectations; as a lyricist, melodicist, and arranger, Joyner likes to keep us on our toes.
Joyner traverses the human predicament, in general, and the American psyche specifically, using fiction to tell difficult truths. Characters struggle through personal crises while absorbing America's currently failing experiment.
Joyner’s vision may be dark but it stops short of nihilism. Where do we go from here? The best move towards answering that question is knowing where we stand right now. Joyner's expansive albums offers a poet’s truthful view, however disconcerting, that to survive whatever is coming for us, we have to confront and understand it first. So, go ahead and step into the earthquake.
Simon Joyner Interview at Aquarium Drunkard, 2015 “Parachutes are for deserters”
Simon Joyner Interview (in German) at Gästeliste by Carsten Wohlfeld
