Coyote Butterfly is the first album of new songs in two years from singer-songwriter, Simon Joyner, following the overdose death of his son, Owen, in August of 2022. Drawing on the kaleidoscopic nature of grief, Joyner explores his loss through a series of imagined dialogues and raw confessions. The album is a tribute to Owen, but what Joyner generously delivers is an intimate glimpse at his attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible.
Where do we go from here? Simon Joyner has tried to answer this question on almost all of his albums. Take it as the starting point for many of his songs. He traversed the human predicament, in general. To tell difficult truths, he used fiction. His characters struggling through personal crises in an inadequate American society. This time the album itself, the process of songwriting and recording might appear as the answer to that question of how to go on . Coyote Butterfly is rooted in Simon Joyner's grief over the death of his son, which occurred unexpectedly, shortly after the release of his 22nd album Songs From A Stolen Guitar. It took two years for his grief to form itself into songs.
In creating an album of such intimacy, Joyner reminds us of the importance of using art to alchemize the deeply personal into transformative beauty. Throughout the album we are invited to stand with him in the aftermath and have our own hearts crack open. Coyote Butterfly is a beautiful evocation of a father's grief but also serves as an enduring testament to love and the life that endures after loss.
Where do we go from here? Simon Joyner has tried to answer this question on almost all of his albums. Take it as the starting point for many of his songs. He traversed the human predicament, in general. To tell difficult truths, he used fiction. His characters struggling through personal crises in an inadequate American society. This time the album itself, the process of songwriting and recording might appear as the answer to that question of how to go on . Coyote Butterfly is rooted in Simon Joyner's grief over the death of his son, which occurred unexpectedly, shortly after the release of his 22nd album Songs From A Stolen Guitar. It took two years for his grief to form itself into songs.
In creating an album of such intimacy, Joyner reminds us of the importance of using art to alchemize the deeply personal into transformative beauty. Throughout the album we are invited to stand with him in the aftermath and have our own hearts crack open. Coyote Butterfly is a beautiful evocation of a father's grief but also serves as an enduring testament to love and the life that endures after loss.
TRACK LISTING
1. Red-Winged Black Birds (March 13, 2024)
2. I'm Taking You With Me
3. The Silver Birch
4. Biloxi
5. A Broken Heart Is Best Kept Out Of Sight
6. My Lament
7. Port Of Call
8. Coyote Butterfly
9. There Will Be A Time
10. Cicada Song (Late August 2022)