01.25.07 The Southern Illinoisian Flipside Nashville singer plays Longbranch CARBONDALE - Stephen Simmons knows what it's to play Devil's advocate. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter wrote a few songs from Beelzebub's perspective on his last album, "Drink Ring Jesus." Now, Simmons will bring his spiritually character-driven brand of Americana to Longbranch Coffeehouse at 8 p.m. Friday. Simmons will sing from his last album and his first album, "Last Call," and will throw in some work from his upcoming album, set to be released this spring. While his music is spiritual, Simmons stresses that his music is not gospel or contemporary Christian. "It's kind of all over the map, spiritually," Simmons said. Simmons said he holds a strong distaste for contemporary Christian music, at least that he's heard, and said the best gospel music came from artists such as Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Sr. His last album included the songs about the devil, including one in which he has it out with a crooked preacher, and others, including a song based on the Seven Deadly Sins. He said that his upbringing in the Church of Christ in Woodbury, Tenn., the son of a factory worker and a schoolteacher, had a major effect on him as an artist. "Southern small-town religion had a big influence," Simmons said. "It definitely played into my writing." Simmons has been performing in Nashville since 2001 and said he is extremely pleased with it. He said that while the perception of Nashville has been mired by commercial country, it's a great music town. "As a music fan it's great because there's more music than you can literally shake a stick at every night of the week," Simmons said. "As a musician it's great because I feel the creative energy here is really off the charts." While Simmons often plays with a band, he prefers to go solo for smaller venues like coffeehouses. He said this expands his library, letting him perform songs he's just written and not having to worry about playing songs the band knows. "Drink Ring Jesus" shared this trait of a stripped down acoustic sound. "Last Call," however, had a more studio sound with a full band in the back. But as for his upcoming album, Simmons referred to it as a "curve ball" when comparing it to his first two albums and is eager to get the music out. "It's just so different from the other two albums I've recorded, that I'm excited for folks to hear it," Simmons said. – Codell Rodriguez