William Fitzsimmons

8:30 p.m. Sunday, May 1. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Apr 28, 2011 at 4:00 am

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Spare folkie William Fitzsimmons has made not one, but two divorce albums. Goodnight, released in 2006, focused on the divorce of his parents, who were both blind amateur musicians. Then came 2008's The Sparrow and the Crow, on which Fitzsimmons, a former mental-health counselor, confesses the sins that led to his own divorce. The prodigiously bearded musician is now based in Jacksonville, Illinois, and he's remarried. Still, he asks for nightly forgiveness from the stage. Fitzsimmons emerges with lovely, moving songs like "The Tide Pulls From the Moon," which he sings in an assured higher-register whisper. Recalling Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, the Low Anthem, Bon Iver and Elliott Smith, Fitzsimmons keeps good — if melancholy — company.