Born in North Carolina, Jonathan Wilson moved to California years ago. Wilson’s musical talents enabled him to work and collaborate with Robbie Robertson, Jackson Browne, Chris Robinson, Gary Louris, Jenny Lewis, Dawes, Elvis Costello and others. Wilson, a multi-instrumentalist, exists as one of this generation’s most talented musicians.
Wednesday night jams at Wilson’s Laurel Canyon home served as the nucleus for a homegrown ‘Canyon’ music scene several years ago. Gentle Spirit is the follow-up album to Wilson’s brilliant debut Frankie Ray. Gentle Spirit was recorded on analog and released on vinyl as a double album. Wilson kept busy on various other projects during the recording of these 13 songs.
Wilson began tracking Gentle Spirit in his Laurel Canyon home, but finished the album at his new Five Star Studio in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles. Gentle Spirit emits a dreamy sonic landscape. A Pacific breeze drifts through these quiet, hallucinatory songs. Lush instrumentation braids colorful melodic patterns on this musical tapestry. The album begins with the quiet title track complete with acoustic guitars, piano, drums and a lucid lyrical maze that gives a heavy-lidded sentiment where “Love is a melody…”
“Can We Really Party Today” counts as a folk tune that transforms into a high and wide musical atmosphere. “Desert Raven” is a song that circles high above the clouds. The mystical “Canyon In The Rain” fits any rainy day scenario, which gives this tune such a timeless quality. “Natural Rhapsody” retains an earthy, yet outer space musical magic that acts like a sedative.
“Ballad of the Pines” serves as the crown jewel on this collection. It’s a beautiful tune that captures Wilson’s Appalachian finger-picking roots, and he sings like a troubadour of the highest order:
“Looking for a reason not to stay drunk all the time
Feel my way through the creases of those wrinkled linen sheets of time.
When you wandered off for Mexico leavin, lettin’ no one know you’d flown
That’s the moment I made a truce between the feather and the goose
Come back speaking Spanish to me…I don’t mind….”
“The Way I Feel” retains a Western sound that wanders towards the outskirts of a cactus-littered desert. The organic “Don’t Give Your Heart To A Rambler” crosses folk and blues music as waves rolling on the beach where distant children and seagulls can be heard in the background. “Woe Is Me”, a slow-burning dirge that serves as one of the electric rockers on Gentle Spirit, showcases Wilson’s gifted guitar playing.
A quiet acoustic guitar intro commences “Waters Down”, a song that might be heard in a soulful church on Sunday morning. “Magic Everywhere” contains some of Wilson’s finest poetry, and the album is worth seeking out just to hear the lyrics on this song.
The ten-minute “Valley of The Silver Moon” closes Gentle Spirit. The song begins with an eerie introduction as if one is about to enter a heart of darkness. Wilson’s guitar tone on this closer resembles Cortez The Killer’s dance across the water. The musical journey of Gentle Spirit is well worth the trip.
Jonathan Wilson Interview in Insured Beyond The Grave Vol. 2.