We first saw Stephen Wilson Jr supporting Brothers Osborne on their UK tour almost a year ago to the day. (Read our review of that show right here) The thought, power and intelligence behind his music made a big impression. We described his music as sitting at the intersection where Nirvana meets Johnny Cash meets The Cadillac 3. Our first interview with him (here) saw us go deep into his history as a child boxing champion and guitarist for Indie rockers AutoVaughn. We also talked about his marriage to Leigh Nash, lead singer for Sixpence None the Richer. This time round we wanted to focus on his new EP ‘bon aqua’ and his upcoming visit to the UK for the Highways festival, supporting headliner Kip Moore at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Stephen, so lovely to catch up with you again, thank for your time today.
Absolutely, thanks for taking the time to talk to me, it’s good to see you again.
It was great to meet you & chat on the Brothers Osborne tour last year. Did that tour leave you with some fond memories of the UK?
Oh, for sure, it was an incredible tour. I’ll never forget that tour and I couldn’t have imagined a better introduction to the UK than going over there with TJ and John. The crowds were insane and so respectful – I wish I could play there all the time! (laughing)
You’re back over here soon for the Highways festival at the Royal Albert Hall. Is that a one-off or can we expect some other shows around it?
That is a one-off. I’m going to Germany right after, doing four shows there. I wish I could do some more dates but I’m out on tour with The Lone Bellow here, then the Highways festival and then Germany so I wish I could do some more dates but the schedule is full!
Does it ever surprise you when you think that this particular style of music you make, which is very unique and quite individual is so popular over here in Europe?
(laughing) Oh yes! I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a weird hillbilly making a very particular sound of the southern states. I’m not your average typical Country crooner, right? I’m an Indie-influenced hillbilly but when you put that on paper it does make a lot of sense as people in Europe have a reverence for songwriters and a big love of Indie guitar music too. When I toured over there with AutoVaughn it was obvious how big a thing Indie guitar Rock was.
When you combine those two elements it makes a lot of sense on paper but it still was a surprise to me how well my music was received. Over here it’s a little harder to climb uphill and I have to fight a little bit harder to breakthrough all the noise.
European audiences aren’t as bothered as pigeonholes and ‘what’ type of music it is, which probably suits you too.
Yeah, American’s love to compartmentalise you into a marketable genre and it seems like that sort of thing doesn’t matter to y’all all that much. It doesn’t matter to me all that much either, which is why I think we get along! (laughing)
Congratulations on your recent Opry debut. Were you nervous? Did it pass in a blur or did you get chance to soak it in a bit?
No, I soaked it all in to the best of my abilities. I was very nervous ahead of it but it was a stamp of a memory that I will never forget. I’m still just kinda in awe of it and I can’t really believe that I got to perform up on that stage. I know a lot of people say that but I really, truly mean it. I’m still trying to process the emotions it stirred up and they are very hard to put into words.
Ten years ago I never even believed that I would be a singer, it wasn’t even anywhere near a possibility so I like to think of it as an answer to a prayer that I didn’t even know I could pray for. I’m not sure I had a whole lot to do with it – whether you believe in God or not doesn’t matter, I think other things were at play here. It was so awesome.
‘bon aqua’ is such a powerful EP and highlights what you are about terrifically well. What’s the meaning behind the title of the EP?
There’s a lot of reasons. Where I’m sitting today, having this conversation with you is in Bon Aqua, Tennessee. The water is good out here and it’s known for its natural springs. Johnny Cash lived and died out here and he was a big believer in Bon Aqua too. After my dad died I would just get in the springs and the creeks and let the good water just run over me. It was a real healing experience that helped me come to terms with his loss. I didn’t talk to anybody, this was my therapy and the good water was a big part of that, it was transformative.
I used to be a microbiologist and a food scientist in my former life and I came to see that everything is made of water. We’re made of water, the Earth is made of water, right? I’ve also always been fascinated by water purity too and always tried to drink the purest water I could.
Everything from Aspirin to shampoo to dog food to everything we consume has water in it or used in the processing of it. It has to be good water and so water has always been a big part of who I am, it’s like a river running underneath my soul.
I wrote the EP out here in Bon Aqua and it’s a manifestation of the various incarnations of the good water that has always been a part of my life. It seemed like such a no brainier and I couldn’t call it anything else.
That’s a very powerful description. ‘American Gothic’ is also a very powerful song on the EP, very cinematic and impactful with the references to various images of Americana in its purest sense. How did you come to work and write with Hailey Whitters on that track?
Right before the pandemic Hailey saw me play in Nashville, right when I had first just started out as an artist. I was a staff writer and just beginning to branch out on my own. Hailey and I had first met when we were both staff writers writing songs for other people and we both admired what each other was doing. She came out to a show when her music was just starting to take off, which I loved to see. She told me about her fascination with the painting ‘American Gothic’ by the artist Grant Wood which was painted in Iowa – Hailey’s obviously an Iowa native, so it’s a big deal for her and she saw the duality of the woman and the man in the painting and the Americana behind it.
We kinda used that as a staring point and it inspired both of us to write the song that Hailey had been thinking about for a while. I was extremely honoured but then Covid happened and everything shut down. A year or so went by and no-one was writing in person back then so it all got delayed. I was driving around in Bon Aqua one day, looking for song ideas and inspirations and the (singing) ‘Mellencamp, Springsteen, marijuana, seventeen’ refrain came into my head. I’m from Mellencamp’s hometown, so that made sense to me and next morning I woke up with that line in my head and it was the day I was scheduled to write over zoom with Hailey! She was, like, ‘Shall we write that ‘American Gothic’ idea?’ and I was, like, ‘I got a chorus!!!!’ (laughing) The timing of it was uncanny.
We had a lot of parallels in our upbringings. She was from rural Iowa, I’m from rural Indiana and there’s a lot of similarities in how people live and how we were brought up so it made sense for us to share the references to Stephen King and ‘Children of the Corn’. That movie shook us ‘corn-field-kids’ to the core! (laughing)
Nostalgia is something that you feature on a lot of songs on the EP. Tracks like ‘American Gothic’, ‘1994’, ‘Hometown’ and even ‘the devil’. Country music can be a little bit mawkish sometimes in terms of its use of nostalgia and over-romanticising what for some folks is semi-subsistence, hand to mouth living in the poorer areas of the south. Was that something you ever worried about?
It has never been a concern for me but I understand what you are saying. I grew up listening to a lot of Country music. McGraw’s ‘Don’t Take the Girl’ had a massive influence on me as a kid, that’s the song that made me want to be a songwriter, it kinda wrecked me. That song is very nostalgic and paints a kind of picture in the way that some songs can be a little ‘Hallmark-y’, if that makes sense? Some Country songs can stray into being a little hokey and cheesy, for sure.
Nostalgia, for me, however, is one of the most powerful tools a songwriter possesses. Nostalgia is just another word for a collective memory, which is a powerful thing to tap into if you can do it. It’s like a hive mentality memory, right? Collective memory can be a very powerful thing because it unites people, even if you grew up in different states or even different countries, if you can tap into a collective memory where the colours or people might have been different but the experience or emotions it provokes are the same, that’s incredibly powerful.
Nostalgia can be abused if it is overused or done redundantly, for sure, but I felt like the songs on ‘bon aqua’ were both equally nostalgic and reflective at the same time. I like to hold up a mirror for the things I saw and experienced rather than make opinions on them and see if those experiences resonate with anyone else. I agree with you in that nostalgia can get cheesy sometimes but I tried to keep it honest and even visceral on ‘bon aqua’. It’s easier writing for myself and it happening organically, where it’s harder is when you are sitting in a room trying to write a song for somebody else – sometimes those ideas that you mentioned or the tendency to force a rhyme or an idea into existence can mean you need to check what you’ve written and make sure it is authentic or not overly sentimental.
I’ve kinda stopped writing songs for other people now. I just write songs and then we see what happens to them. It keeps you authentic and helps the process to be more organic. If someone else gets it, that’s awesome but if you try and write a song targeted towards a particular artist it can get a little hokey if you aren’t careful.
That phrase you used about ‘holding up a mirror to the things you see’ is a very powerful one. It made me think of the EP’s opening song, ‘the devil’. That song touches on gun control, abuse and opioid addiction amongst other things. A lot of Country artists are reticent in expressing opinions on divisive political or social issues. Is that what you are doing on that song, holding up a mirror?
Absolutely. I’m not making statements or arguments, I’m just writing about what’s happening right now. My job as a songwriter is to be something akin to a visual stenographer if that makes sense? Our job as a society is to then decide what we do with that knowledge once we are aware of it. Songs are a way of bringing attention to subjects that society needs to address. They tend to wipe away bias and political constructs sometimes, especially when people listen to them in private.
A song can dig its way into your soul and maybe even begin to change the way you see an issue or think about something. I’m not here to change people’s minds I’m just trying to raise awareness and give people the opportunity to consider how they want to think about a particular issue, what they do with that after is up to them.
I’m not really a political person but I’m also not afraid of the politics of things either. I try not to take sides, I’m just trying to reflect some of the crazy, crazy things I’ve seen in my life on that song ‘the devil’. I had a classmate killed by a gun and I’ve seen all of the other things that I mention in that song at first hand. I’m using art to try and give people courage to think differently and I think that’s what people need sometimes, that permission to maybe think differently about something, which can be transformative when it does happen.
You’ve got a really busy year ahead. European shows, American shows and even out on a cruise with Midland next year! Is that the plan for the year ahead: shows, shows, shows? Or can we expect some new music too?
Both! (laughing) It’s going to be a very busy touring year, that’s for sure, but I’m going to be having a couple of new singles out too and hopefully a full length record coming out in the fall too! ‘bon aqua’ was just the beginning, I’ve got a lot more songs on the way, after all, I’ve spent the last four or five years of my life making it! A record that I never thought I would make! It’s on the way.
Check out Stephen Wilson Jr’s ‘bon aqua’ EP and grab one of the last remming tickets for the Highways festival right here.
