Simon Joyner is a renowned American singer-songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska who has released albums on independent labels since the early 1990s. His earliest records were influential signposts of the Lo-Fi movement which also produced contemporaries like Smog, Lou Barlow, Will Oldham and the Mountain Goats. He is now widely regarded as one of the great songwriters of our time. Gillian Welch calls him her favorite poet and Kevin Morby and Conor Oberst both claim him as a major influence.
Despite often being described as a songwriter’s songwriter, Joyner has soared under the radar for over thirty years. His storytelling has been compared to Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Lou Reed, and Bob Dylan. Over the course of 19 albums his career is hard to pin down as he’s followed a mercurial path, never content to make the same record twice. See him at The Reverb playing the songs from his new album, “Tough Love,” with a band of Omaha musical royalty including David Nance, Jim Schroeder, Sean Pratt, Mike Friedman, and Megan Siebe.
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David Nance is a musician based in Omaha, Nebraska. Nance grew up in Grand Island, Nebraska, played in the marching band and discovered
punk and garage rock before moving to Omaha and joining the mid-2000 garage punk scene happening there with the band the Forbidden Tigers. Several years spent in Los Angeles with his wife Anna led to a period of songwriting and home recording before they decided to move back to Omaha where he began finding his musical identity and started recording his songs with like-minded friends. What developed was a heavy burned-out rock vibe that still somehow fits in the punk universe. Nance also played with Omaha legend Simon Joyner and has continued to record and self-release tapes and cdrs throughout the past decade.
Nance is also known for his lightning punk cover recordings of classic albums such as Lou Reed’s Berlin, Beatles for Sale and Devo’s Duty Now For the Future. For this series, Nance will choose a favorite album, learn the songs and record over the course of a week and release it on CDR or cassette on his own Western Records. Nance plans on continuing this project and would like to release 100 of these eccentric home spun and destroyed love letters to the greats.
Another partnership includes a collaboration with the musician Rosali that has resulted in two excellent albums and subsequent tours with the David Nance Group as her backing band. They had been touring with her band the Long Hots in 2019 and started playing together with mutual affinity. Rosali’s upcoming album was recorded with musical compatriots James Schroeder recording and Kevin Donahue and Nance
playing, as well.
Not content to mine one musical formula, Nance and company continue to explore new sounds and spaces. From the blistered punk blasts of More Than Enough to the introspective stance on Staunch Honey, Nance and his friends find inspiration from the friends and fellow musicians that have accompanied them on their journey. A fruitful one indeed.