Jonathan Wilson: 21st Century Troubadour

“An antique melody is playing.”
—Jonathan Wilson

Jonathan Wilson personifies the definition of a troubadour. I interviewed him in 2007 after he released his debut solo album, Frankie Ray. On Frankie Ray, Wilson played all the instruments. The album floored me, and I tracked him down when I wrote for Swampland. It turned out to be one of his early interviews. Wilson’s career trajectory ascended over the last two decades. I lost track of Wilson for a couple of years in 2014. By the time I checked back in on him in 2017, he’d taken the job as being Roger Waters’ bandleader.

Wilson’s Gold Star Studio is now located in Topanga Canyon. Wilson’s solo albums include Frankie Ray, Gentle Spirit (2011), Fanfare (2013), Rare Birds (2018), Dixie Blur (2020) and Eat the Worm (2023). Wilson is a talented luthier. He’s built over 100 guitars. A guitar picker of the highest order, Wilson also counts as a muscle car aficionado.

Born in North Carolina, Wilson’s grandfather was a Baptist preacher, and his father played bluegrass music. Wilson grew up mastering various instruments with talented, older players. In 1995, he formed a band called Muscadine. The North Carolina group released an album in 1998 called The Ballad of Hope Nicholls on Sire Records. Once Muscadine broke up, Wilson moved to Georgia, New York and eventually settled in Los Angeles.

Wednesday night jams at Wilson’s Laurel Canyon home served as the nucleus for the “Canyon Scene” starting around 2005. Wilson and Black Crowes lead singer Chris Robinson spearheaded these parties where Barry Goldberg, Susanna Hoffs, Graham Nash, Jenny Lewis and a long list of others played music until the neighbors started complaining and Wilson’s landlady put the house up for sale.

Wilson eventually collaborated with Robbie Robertson, Mike Campbell, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bonnie Raitt, Gary Louris, Bert Jansch, Elvis Costello, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Shooter Jennings and others. His band toured with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers as well as Wilco. Some of his production credits include projects for Glen Campbell, Margo Price, Karen Elson, Billy Strings, David Crosby, Dawes, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Roy Harper and Jackson Browne. Wilson produced Father John Misty’s Grammy nominated Pure Comedy, and Misty’s critically acclaimed 2022 Chloe and the Next 20th Century. In 2025, he produced Benmont Tench’s The Melancholy Season. Wilson is married to the artist Andrea Nakhla. She directs and contributes artwork to his music videos.

I spent yesterday listening to his six stellar solo albums. Our interview can be read in Insured Beyond the Grave Vol. 2. Reviews of Frankie Ray and Gentle Spirit can be perused in the related content below. I urge the reader to explore Wilson’s discography. Notable songs on his third album Fanfare include “Moses Pain”, “New Mexico” and “All the Way Down”. “Moses Pain” captures Wilson’s troubadour spirit. The lyrics paint a vivid picture:

“They just remember that country doctor with the twitching eyelid
The one who showed you, Moses, how you where gonna get to heaven
One who brought you your mothers world just to scrap it and sing it
And the one who you will meet, Moses, when you make it back home

One made you see that maiden in the doorway
She was summoning you to travel on loves sweet two-lane highway
Just remember the art of war and them affairs down in Eden
Don’t become the type of person that you told me you would never become

And there in the paradise when you put your pen to the page
And beauty never knew the world until you came of age
There clowns whispering if thunder whispering with rain
Keep writing those sweet, rugged melodies of love
If Moses’ all right the legend of pain.”

Rare Birds, like all of his records, employs deep grooves, lush instrumentation, musical dexterity and memorable lyrics. “Trafalgar Square” “Sunset Blvd.”, “Loving You” (featuring background vocals by multi-instrumentalist Laraaji and Lana Del Ray) and the country-psychedelia of “Hi-Ho the Righteous” rank as cornerstone compositions.

Steve Earle suggested Wilson should record in Nashville. On Dixie Blur, Wilson returned to his bluegrass roots. Marty Stuart’s guitarist Kenny Vaughn, crack bassist Dennis Crouch, iconic fiddler Mark O’Connor, pedal steel wizard Russ Pahl, drummer Jon Radford and keyboardist Drew Erikson contributed to these quicksilver sessions. Dixie Blur was recorded in 6 days at Cowboy Jack Clement’s Sound Emporium Studio with few overdubs.

Wilson’s 2023 Eat the Worm exists as his most sonically adventurous album that almost travels into Frank Zappa country with tunes “Ol Father Time”, “Hollywood Vape”, and “Charlie Parker”. The crown jewel of Eat the Worm is “Ridin’ in a Jag”.

Wilson’s dedication to songwriting remains unchanged. Wilson explained to me how he approached the craft: “The songwriting process to me is usually akin to painting, or visualizing to fruition, and nothing is more gratifying than starting with something and seeing it through the recording process and mixing, every step is shaping the final tune. So, I leave parts of a song purposely unfinished to insure an element of chance in the process. Most of my songs start on an acoustic guitar or piano. I have yet to be able to compose or record riff-based tunes, or studio wizardry that cannot be stripped down and played on my porch.”