Stephen Simmons was raised in the small town of Woodbury, Tennessee. Humble and soft-spoken, Stephen at first seems to exemplify this rural, Church of Christ upbringing. As a songwriter, however, his vision is much more complex. The songs on his new recording, Last Call , tell stories of country life's dark side and serve to remind listeners how it feels to stand at the intersection of piety and sin. The Nashville Scene's Bill Friskics-Warren says Simmons is 'a singer-songwriter of marked depth and commitment, (he) recalls a more subdued Steve Earle, a more grounded Ryan Adams and any aggregation of three-named Texas troubadours you'd care to recall.' 'At times I feel like I'm being deadly serious, but at the same time being tongue in cheek,' says Stephen, who admits that Last Call is mostly about 'lying, cheating and drinking.' That said, his vision of life in Tennessee's less populated regions is not nearly as dark as it might seem. 'This is not so much a record about saints, as it is one about sinners,' he says, 'but I truly believe that there's salvation out there for everyone. In that sense, I guess it's really a record about all.'