The phrase “good things come to people who wait” certainly holds true for Jonathan Wilson. After his critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked Sire records rock band Muscadine parted ways, Wilson spent nearly a decade living in different regions of the country and playing music anyway he could. He worked as a producer, spent time as a studio sideman and even hosted freeform Laurel Canyon jam sessions at his home that drew in members of Wilco, The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Van Morrison, The Cars, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Miller Band and Pearl Jam, among others. All the while, Wilson never gave up on his original material and continued to record between projects. Finally, in 2011 he released his official full-length solo album Gentle Spirit, which offered a mix of quiet folk, psychedelic Americana and hipster-approved indie emotions.
Wilson supported the album with an extended tour that mixed headlining club dates with tours alongside friends like Wilco, Dawes and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. During those epic live shows, he also showed off his jamband worthy live band, who are able to swiftly transition from gentle moments to sprawling 10-plus minute songs in a matter of minutes. At the same time, several of the group’s Wilson has mentored and produced over the years—including Dawes, Father John Misty and Vetiver—have turned into national acts on their own, increasing Wilson’s reputation as a producer. (He is rumored to be working on White Denim’s new album as well).
The guitarist and singer scored an entirely new fan base this past August as well when he participated in the Move Me Brightly Jerry Garcia tribute at TRI Studios. Wilson and TRI co-owner Bob Weir hit it off immediately and have collaborated together numerous times during the past six months. Their wide range of projects have included collaborations with Furthur, the Weir-Jackie Greene duo and Weir’s solo TRI broadcasts. This winter they will also mount a joint West Coast tour and also share guitar duties in the new RatDog Quintet.
In late January, Wilson spoke with Relix and Jambands.com about his long, strange journey, his new friendship with Bob Weir and what to expect on his new studio album.
Let’s start by talking about your Holiday Jamboree which took place at Los Angeles’ Troubadour in December. How did that show’s concept come together? Was it based on your regular jam sessions?
It was kind of a result of lots of jams that I would have at my house in the Canyon— and in the studio—but those jams have dwindled [recently]. We had always been in talks with the Troubadour, which is definitely one of the top spots that I like to play [at] in LA.
We wanted it to be a holiday event, so basically we just decided to join up with some buddies and people that we had been talking about doing stuff with—like Tom Petty’s camp. On our tour together, I had been talking to [Heartbreakers’] guitarist [Mike] Campbell, just about collaborating. We decided to [combine forces] and do this holiday benefit together. Part of it was to benefit his organization and things like that. He has an animal rescue organization that was founded by his wife [Marcie Campbell]. It was definitely a good chance to get people together. That was my goal—to get Campbell together with Bob Weir, and to get Bob together with Jackson Browne because those guys had never hooked up. Things like that, man.
Are you still hosting your jams occasionally at home?
Not as much because my schedule has been mostly production and touring, recently. Most of the jams have turned over to [Heartbreakers’ keyboardist] Benmont [Tench’s] house, so that’s kind of where everyone goes. The jam that we had at the Troubadour was insane. It was a treat for everybody. It definitely was big fun.
You have built a solid friendship with the Heartbreakers in recent years. Last year, you toured Europe with Tom Petty and members of the Heartbreakers have popped up on some of the albums you have recently produced. Is it right to assume that friendship started with your jams?
I guess the first thing was through Benmont. Benmont used to come up to my jams. I started to call him to play on albums that I was producing, and I got him to play on Dawes’ album and stuff like that. We became buddies. When it came to them, they were looking for support, so that was when I first heard about it, but those types of decisions definitely come down from Tom. The way I understand it, Tom had just heard my stuff and he was into it, so that was the beginning. We’ve been good homies since then.
That summer tour was the best. It was just awesome to be out there with those guys and share the stage. Two nights at the [Royal] Albert Hall, that was a dream come true. We’d jam in their dressing room and stuff like that. Their whole organization is the best. For a band like ours, it’s a special thing to be involved in and to soak up the good vibes. Of course they were fucking awesome! It’s definitely something that you’ll never forget.
Did you meet Jackson Browne through a similar circle? He was part of your jams for a while too, wasn’t he?
Yeah, and the thing about Jackson that was cool was that he had gotten into all of my stuff before it was even out. So when I actually hooked up with him for the first time, he already knew the tunes, which was a treat.
Yeah, that’s awesome.
Since then, Jackson Browne has become one of my best buddies. He’s just the most amazing guy. He’s just completely special and giving, the way he gives his time to folks; he’s constantly trying to help out, so that’s why he’s the shit—behind the gated pad and being a rock star. He’s one of the guys on the street. He’s constantly trying to find other bands and support things. Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will go with Jackson to be his special guest on some shows in Seattle and Portland, so that will be fun.
Shifting from some of your collaborations to some of your own work, I know that it’s been over a year since you’ve released your first full-length album. Have you started to work on your next album and, if so, do you think you will adopt a similar recording approach? Your songs have definitely developed into these spiraling live jams.
I’m in the process of my second album and I’m almost done. On the first of February, I will start mixing it at Jackson Browne’s place and there will be some guests on it, but the difference between this album [and the last] is that the productions will be bigger because there are strings and horns. It’s probably closer to what the [live] band is like. There are some songs that have some jams that the earlier albums didn’t have. Then there are some pretty complex tunes with a bunch of strings and horns, and I’m trying to figure out how those are going to [be performed] live, but that’s ok. My first album came out July of 2011, so this one will probably be around that time in 2013. That’s the goal.
Gentle Spirit definitely looked past everyone’s expectations, which was a blessing. I was so happy with the way it was received. That was a gift. It’s so easy for albums to waltz in the shuffle, so that was great and it’s sort of driving the ship.
Are you working on the album yourself or is your live band part of the recordings?
Yeah, there are some songs that are with the band and some with other people.
You’ve spent the past decade working in all areas of the music industry: you’ve been a sideman, a producer, an engineer and the host of all-night jams. Was the idea always to eventually return to your own music?
Yeah man, that was always the goal and I was kind of working towards that with different approaches.
One collaboration that’s very close to the heart of our readership is your recent work with Bob Weir and The Dead. I know that you guys first hooked up at the TRI Jerry Garcia Tribute in August but since then it seems to have really blossomed into a friendship and a collaboration that’s expanded past the two of you guys sitting in with each other. I was wondering one, if you could talk about how you and Bob first connected and how familiar you were with the Grateful Dead songbook at that point and two, a little about some of the highlights of playing with him and Phil [Lesh] since then?
I guess it all kind of started with Bob at the Jerry [Garcia] birthday and the way that that had kind of gone down was Justin Kreutzmann, some guys from TRI had come out to the Dublin show to see what I was doing and they asked if I would be part of the birthday and I said ‘of course!’ Being a fan and just being able to collaborate was amazing, so I guess from that that was the beginning. I guess since then we just stayed in touch, then we started to write some compositions. That’s what I was excited about.
Bob and I are going to do some touring also. One of the things that I want to do is do some gigs with my band, but with Bob at the helm. That’s what we did at the benefit show. It would be so exciting to take that to some other towns [in the USA] and countries. Bob is the best, man. It’s tough to describe the guy, but [he’s] the most built-in, the most evolved guy that I know. He’s just a great guy, a tremendous singer and great guitar player. Just to get in there and collaborate with his groove is an honor, just a tremendous experience. Definitely to share a stage [with him] is a dream come true. Those guys are the best, the whole band. They’re so fucking awesome. Just the sensation of collaborating with them is so great because it’s a family and the crowd is so amazing. When I get off stage—getting hugs from everybody—that doesn’t happen in any other sort of situations, so that’s awesome. Being a fan of them in the past, what’s so amazing is that you get to dig into those songs. Like at this point I’m rapidly ingesting Dead songs that I didn’t even know, so that’s been a good experience.
You have played with both Bob Weir and Phil Lesh in recent months, but you are not necessarily an old school Deadhead. How have you studied their music?
Definitely, I knew their music but not well. I definitely [got] lots of stuff from Rhino records. That’s the great thing about Bob—he’s just so completely open, like if I want to pick a tune that I dig the day of the gig, Bob is totally down. To me that’s such an amazing thing, so if you call “Friend of the Devil,” you’d think he’s tired of the song, but he’s not.
One thing I will say about Bob and Phil is that they’re a bit intimidating not as guys but just that the canon is so fucking huge, so they’ll know some of the songs that you’ve never heard of in a heartbeat. I was talking about it with Jeff Chimenti [and] he said that at this point he knows working song lists that are a few hundred songs, so that’s a bit daunting because Bob might call anything. There’s a lot of stuff to learn.
A little known fact is that you actually recorded an unreleased album with Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson and David Gilmour’s drummer Steve DiStanislao before you met Bob, right?
Yeah, that’s exactly right. What ends up happening a lot when you collaborate with somebody or meet them that’s when you’ve got a connection with them that you didn’t have. That actually was an amazing experience, [it was] completely mind-boggling. He’s just so fucking good it’s completely insane. To be able to hear him on albums or on stage, like at Terrapin [Crossroads], it’s an extremely special thing.
And I guess my last question kind of goes back to that, when you did record with Chris and Phil, were those Grateful Dead songs that you recorded or Chris’s songs?
Some of them were Phil’s and some of them were Chris’s songs. That was all done for a show, like a pilot or something and it didn’t get off the ground. Somebody has those tracks. Maybe they’ll come out.
