05.30.06 American Songwriter Magazine STEPHEN SIMMONS Drink Ring Jesus Locke Creek Records **** It was fitting that Stephen Simmons leave his second album threadbare. The simple combination of his gruff-yet-nimble rasp and fine-spun acoustic guitar work, joined occasionally by forlorn harmonica, allow a lonely wind to rattle through musings on God, the devil and the tumbledown soul. Though the Tennessee-born singer/songwriter’s plainspoken narration of limping, booze-soaked spirituality began with 2004’s full-band debut, Last Call, this unvarnished song cycle stares still more unflinchingly at a jumble of unanswered questions. The title track poignantly portrays a nerveless, God-haunted workingman, while “Devil’s Work Is Never Done” voices a wry litany of complaints from Lucifer’s own mouth. “Dante’s Blues No.7” plumbs the depths of human vice, as the deadliest of sins play out in a dingy barroom scene.  Under Simmons’ intense gaze, hope, despair and human striving earn greater meaning. – Jewly Hight