Jonathan Wilson

A couple years ago, while he was working non-stop producing albums for the likes of Angel Olsen, Father John Misty, Billy Strings and Margo Price, there was a moment of epiphany for Jonathan Wilson that arrived, not surprisingly, while he was listening to music. Specifically, he had stumbled onto a deeply obscure track called “Warm Rumours” by the late Jim Pembroke, a British singer-songwriter who fronted the Finnish prog band Wigwam starting in the late Sixties. It was bonkers. Of course, Wilson loved it instantly. And with that introduction, we meet Eat the Worm, the brilliant and refreshing fifth studio album from the artist, producer and multi- instrumentalist polymath wizard Jonathan Wilson. A singer-songwriter, producer, recordist, arranger, player, vibe maestro, community builder, musician’s musician, and true sonic architect, on par with the finest of his generation. It is fitting that he made his best album when he decided to stop trying so hard, as he is a true natural. “A lot of this batch of songs is a reaction to the production stuff that I do,” Wilson says of the new album. “I would be in the studio, doing long days with folks, and I’ll have some wild off-the-wall ideas and they’re like, ‘no, no, no, that sounds crazy, JW. So I would save it up for my album. I’m finally at a place to feel totally free to take chances and resist the urge to dumb things down, It’s got to be kind of strange.”