KEATON SIMONS

Beautiful Pain

keatonsimons.com

A prime mover in his hometown L.A. scene, this singer-songwriter and studio musician has opened for Coldplay and Train, done session work for Snoop Dogg and Gnarls Barkley and landed songs on numerous TV shows, among them Celebrity Rehab, which featured his stepfather, actor Eric Roberts, as a patient. Why, then, isn’t he famous? It’s probably a matter of time. Simons’ sophomore effort is an exceedingly pleasant set of radio-ready pop tunes, many of which bear the lightly funky hallmarks of Jason Mraz, one of several co-writers. Simons goes Lenny Kravitz with “The Medicine,” his most rocking track, but tunes like the syrupy folk-pop summer jam “You’re the Spark” are most likely to ignite his career.