William Fitzsimmons, gentle songwriter, lover of honesty, and optimist by nature, comes at the world with his two latest mini albums "Pittsburgh" and "Charleroi," taking a small step back from introspection, and seeing the world through a grandmother's eyes.

Never has there been an artist who handles pain with such delicacy and grace, allowing each word not only to touch the listener, but allowing these words to seep into the heart. As Fitzsimmons often says, "there is no singular emotion," believing that there is joy felt in pain, and pain felt in joy; it's ambivalence at its finest.

Growing up in a home with two blind parents, Fitzsimmons attributes much of his love of music with a "depreciation for all things visual," not focusing on walls hung with art and painted with vivid colors, but on the constant sound that reverberated throughout the home, and spoke to each person individually. Along with this, Fitzsimmons worked as a mental health therapist, saying it was "the most difficult job I've ever had." Working as a therapist was an emotional burden, but instead of wallowing in pain, Fitzsimmons turned to music as an outlet for all things emotional, never disregarding anything, and allowing each to have their say.

William Fitzsimmon's continues this subtle art of honest emotions with his eighth album, entitled "Pittsburgh," after his hometown. This album allows the listener to step not only into Fitzsimmons own world, but into the world where his grandmother lived and had her own voice. He tells her story as best and as accurately as possible, saying in his song "Matter,” "You were a lovely child prettier than I knew. You lost your husband in the war plus all that I have put you through. There is a love I have I never gave to you, that doesn’t matter anymore." He looks past himself, and tries desperately to understand her.

His sound is the same throughout each of his albums, but the honesty and passion revealed in compelling and raw lyrics are what truly make Fitzsimmons so lovely, and so universal. This is the album for the one struggling with pain, as it not only dives into the world of the one who lost, but the one who was lost. One song that speaks loudest, is "Better." Throughout all the pain and loss Fitzsimmons has dealt with, throughout the hurt in his own grandmother's life, he searches for peace and understanding. While ever the optimist, Fitzsimmons realizes his own humanity and mortality. He writes openly, saying, "Relax this won’t hurt a bit. Close your eyes and think of better times before you’d given in. I’m not enough to make you better. Look back for I’m still standing here and I will spread your ashes from the bridge to the city where we lived. I’m not enough to make you better." He knows he is but a mere man, and that the pain is what must be felt, and understood.

His second mini album and part two of "Pittsburgh" is "Charleroi." This album is a personal favorite, and has a beautiful delicacy and gentleness about it. While "Pittsburgh" was about the grandmother Fitzsimmons knew, "Charleroi" tells the story of a grandmother Fitzsimmons never had the chance of knowing. According to his website, Fitzsimmons tells of his father having whooping cough as a baby, left as an orphan, and then being adopted by a kindly doctor. After over 60 years of waiting, his father at last found his birth family, who had been told that he had died in infancy. His mother, unfortunately, passed away several years earlier, never having seen her son again. Fitzsimmons says, "Her name was Thelma and she was my grandmother. She was from Charleroi, Pennsylvania. These songs are about her.”

Fitzsimmons beauty is found in not only being able to understand himself, but in striving to understand others. From this openness, his work becomes so very comprehensive, and so very engaging. One song that truly stands out from the rest is "People Change Their Minds." Fitzsimmons writes genuinely and with wondering, "And I know it's been a real hard year, but I'm hoping you can let it go, 'cause you still have so much love to give to those, who still need you. And people change their minds, and she was happy once, like a mother holds her children close enough to reach, like a mother holds her children close enough to reach her hands." He truly brings to life what was lost.

He continues with "Hear Your Heart," "I can hear your heart from here, though you've long been in the ground, and through earth and 60 years. It's a soft, familiar sound. And I never saw your face, before Jesus took my eyes. And I don't know what I'd say if I'd found you still alive." The pain of a mother and a child gone is all too real still, even after years. A mother's touch is something that is not lost on Fitzsimmons, nor his father. It is incredibly intriguing that he attributes blindness with Jesus, and in exploring that pain is allowed by someone who is greater, and knows us deeper still.

Please take the time to listen to these albums, while taking in each song with openness. And, hear William Fitzsimmons' beautiful heart speak, as he pours into his listener and the world around him. He does not write for fame or to hypnotize the masses, he writes from a soul that is so human, and so authentic. He does not write to reach happiness, but to reach peace. His work does not remain his own, but becomes something so universal, as emotions are, open and available for anyone to drink in and discover. His gift of life through sound is something incredibly precious, and incredibly necessary.

Track List for "Pittsburgh"

1. “I Had to Carry Her (Virginia's Song)”

2. “Falling on My Sword”

3. “Better”

4. “Pittsburgh”

5. “Beacon”

6. “Matter”

7. “Ghosts of Penn Hills”

Track List for "Charleroi"

1. “People Change Their Minds”

2. “Hear Your Heart”

3. “A Part”

4. “Charleroi”

5. “Fare Thee Well”

6. “Nothing Can Be Changed”