This track comes from "Beautiful Losers," a welcome compilation of singles and assorted miscellanies that prolific Nebraskan songwriter Simon Joyner released between 1994 and 1999, many of them from obscure compilations and limited releases that only true fanatics would ever take the time to track down individually. The music on this disc has little of the Leonard Cohen-esque gravitas that Joyner has developed in recent years, instead cultivating a far looser tone that recalls Townes Van Zandt. These songs also make it freshly clear (not that it was ever much of a secret) how much of an influence Joyner's music was on a younger and more successful Nebraskan, Conor Oberst.
-- T.B.
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