Jonathan Wilson released his latest single, “The Village is Dead,” ahead of the release of his upcoming album, Eat the Worm.
Wilson, a North Carolina native, moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago. There, he became an integral part of the music community as a respected artist and producer. Also in Los Angeles, Wilson recorded his previous albums Gentle Spirit (2011), Fanfare (2013), and Rare Birds (2018).
Just prior to the pandemic, Wilson went to Nashville to record what would become Dixie Blur (2020). These were a collection of songs that harkened back to his Southern roots, both musically and personally. Dixie Blur found Wilson reaching back to the musical foundation of his upbringing while simultaneously moving forward by infusing the music with modern textures and aesthetic soundscapes
Wilson also has his own Fivestar Studios in Topanga Canyon, CA. This allowed him to devote as much time as he wanted to fine-tune the tracks.
“There are a lot of details to the songs,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of experimentation, and almost none of the songs started as me with a guitar. I really wanted something that sounded fresh and new.”
In “The Village is Dead,” Wilson laments the evolution of New York’s Greenwich Village. While folk clubs once reigned supreme in the 1960s, the area is now gentrified and more upscale.
It’s my homage to the one-time folk revival of the ‘60s in Greenwich Village, with visions of Moondog and Dave Van Ronk crawling down MacDougal Street. But I’ve set it in 2021, where all you find is a few dozen vape shops, karaoke at the Gaslight, beer pong at the Cafe Wah, and wealthy young college boys strutting around NYU’s corner of Manhattan. At the end of the song, just as the strings rise and the music reaches a climax, two young Zoomers set fire in my narrative to Jimi Hendrix’s old guitar, at which point I throw in the towel, stating officially that ‘The Village is Dead.’
Jonathan Wilson
You can listen to Jonathan Wilson’s new song on all streaming services.
Comments are closed.