12.01.06 The Irish Times Stephen Simmons | Drink Ring Jesus Rounder Stephen Simmons is a singer-songwriter from the small town of Woodbury, Tennessee. According to his website, "his mother was a schoolteacher and his father held a factory job. (In his family, they were the first generation that didn't work the farm) Humble and soft-spoken, Stephen at first seems to exemplify this rural, Church of Christ upbringing," And then you listen to these haunting struggles with faith and living and you hear a man confronting his angels and demons head on. Drink Ring Jesus is deliberately shorn of any ornamentation - we are into baring of the soul territory - with only acoustic guitar and harmonica for comfort. Simmons sings with a questioning and colourful intensity, drawn equally by the bar and the belfry. This is not about religion; it's about searching for and then questioning the things we believe. – Joe Breen