Stephen Wilson Jr. on Singing with Eddie Vedder, the Pixies Connection in “Hardwired,” and Finding His Father in “Cornerman”

0:00 [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are. [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org, from Louisville Public Media. [SPEAKER_02]: Our last interview went a little long, sorry about that. [SPEAKER_01]: and welcome to another edition of Kyle Meredith with.

0:31 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the interview series presented by WFPK at WFPK.org Consequence and the Consequence podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: Network, thanks for making a new way here for checking us out. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what to do. [SPEAKER_01]: You'd like what you see, what you hear, hit that subscribe button.

0:45 [SPEAKER_01]: I put out new interviews just like this when every single week you can grab it. [SPEAKER_01]: It's Spotify, Apple Podcast, NPR, WFPK.org Consequence. [SPEAKER_01]: YouTube for the video versions. [SPEAKER_01]: Anywhere you get your podcast from. [SPEAKER_01]: you can subscribe to Kyle Meredith with.

1:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Please do give the series rating, leave a review, wherever you're listening to watching from. [SPEAKER_01]: We've had some great guest drop in by lately, just spoke with the area of winter from a modern family. [SPEAKER_01]: She, of course, voices. [SPEAKER_01]: She's a dozen lot of voices, including the second season of the sister's grim on Apple TV.

1:16 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, we also talked to him with Lorraine Newman about that. [SPEAKER_01]: She does the grandma on the show, Lorraine Newman. [SPEAKER_01]: the OG cast of SNL. [SPEAKER_01]: Danny Elfman was here, Richard Patrick from Filter, Riza. [SPEAKER_01]: He has got one of the films in the new VHS series on Shutter.

1:32 [SPEAKER_01]: The entire cast of carry including Showrunner Mike Flanagan and Star Matthew Lillard, the whole gang. [SPEAKER_01]: Wolf Paray, Black Angels, Theo Rossi, Peaches, David Dust, Malchian, Jeff Arcuri. [SPEAKER_01]: Just an example of what you get when you subscribe. [SPEAKER_01]: to the Kyle Meredith with podcast that's me Kyle Meredith today catching up with Steven Wilson junior Indiana born singer songwriter behind son of dad Gary his version of stand by me don't call him a country star since he does so much 90s alternative music as well.

2:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Before going solo he was a scientist he was a golden gloves boxing finalist guitarist in auto van. [SPEAKER_01]: He since written songs for Tim McGraw and old dominion he is [SPEAKER_01]: Well, just about everyone, including Miranda Lambert's on the new hardwired single. [SPEAKER_01]: We got to talk about a lot of that, and him performing with Eddie Vetter, they did hunger strike together at Ed's O'Hanifest, and we'll just hear recently, and he called seeing Chris Cornell's parts one of the greatest moments of his life as it would be.

2:42 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a cover that he had originally recorded just for himself, and that led to sharing the stage with one of his heroes. [SPEAKER_01]: We also got into his recent run of singles, including how a last minute writing session with Miranda Lambert turned into the song Hard Wired, why interpolating the Pixies.

2:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Where is my mind? [SPEAKER_01]: In that song, gives both of the songs an entirely different meaning. [SPEAKER_01]: and how is music he's finding connections he never even planned he's gonna open up about the song corner man which he does see it's a sequel to to father's son and the realization that moving forward after son of dad might mean finally letting go of his father isn't even as he continues to show up in other songs [SPEAKER_01]: All that's and a whole lot more, we're throwing rocks from one side of the river to the other on this one.

3:28 [SPEAKER_01]: As we talk about, a lot of his recent singles, it's Kyle and Meredith with Steven Wilson Jr. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a pleasure to finally get to meet you. [SPEAKER_02]: You too, Kyle. [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for your time and patience with us. [SPEAKER_01]: It's my pleasure, anyway, rocks across the river be damned.

3:49 [SPEAKER_02]: You can throw them at us, we don't, we don't really care. [SPEAKER_01]: Throw them right back, it's fine. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's a friendly game of rock toss. [SPEAKER_01]: Again, we're just skipping rocks across the river. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, little, little people know that it's actually a war.

4:03 [SPEAKER_02]: But I'm just kidding. [SPEAKER_01]: No, man, I was just telling you to see before this, too. [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you know, we'd like your music so much and have for a while. [SPEAKER_01]: Stacey only works with us. [SPEAKER_01]: Was talking about seeing you at Zanzabar a few years ago and just the...

4:20 [SPEAKER_01]: that you've taken from there. [SPEAKER_01]: And Gary is absolutely one of my favorite songs of the entire decade. [SPEAKER_02]: So, oh wow, I praise my gosh, thank you so much. [SPEAKER_02]: That means a lot. [SPEAKER_02]: That is, yeah, I'm very, very proud of that song. [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, what little I had to do with it, it's very much just kind of showed up.

4:44 [SPEAKER_02]: from a source much bigger than me, uh, some of the best ones do, but it's, it has, it's been great to see the journey. [SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, you know, before we even get into your songs, that was just what rewatching the video at you at the Ohio festival with Ed doing hundreds of right.

5:02 [SPEAKER_01]: And I hope you don't mind me ask about like what a cool moment that was obviously you covered hunger strike on the blanket CEP is that the route to that stage, does that how it happened or was there more to that story? [SPEAKER_02]: I think so it was perhaps at least you know like a little trail that led you know began the path.

5:24 [SPEAKER_02]: You know I just put that song out because I love that song and you know really didn't even [SPEAKER_02]: mean to do what happened with it. [SPEAKER_02]: I just wanted to record it because it's like a hymn for me. [SPEAKER_02]: And it was really that very just, you know, like very rarely do I get a sing something for myself.

5:49 [SPEAKER_02]: Want to prove that if I could even do it, I'd never like sing a song like that. [SPEAKER_02]: So, but I knew I had [SPEAKER_02]: to perhaps try it and I, you know, my co-producer bin had a lot of belief in me too as a singer, but I still quite new to singing. [SPEAKER_02]: I've always just been a guitar player, but so, and if influence as a guitar player, songwriter singer by Chris Cornell and Eddie Vetter, and so that song was like a collaboration between those two minds and creators, but also [SPEAKER_02]: you know, I gave me selfishly a chance to just kind of get lost into a song and remember, you know, why I got into music in the first place.

6:34 [SPEAKER_02]: Just for that, that pure feeling again. [SPEAKER_02]: That's what why I made that blanket. [SPEAKER_02]: It's E.P. [SPEAKER_02]: I just, I've been touring this album, Son of Dad, which is a very autobiographical personal album about me. [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I really needed something that's kind of, [SPEAKER_02]: reset everything and that song was a huge character in that blanket CP that did that as far as, you know, just kind of resetting my palette as a creator and what I was going to create and why I was going to create it because I feel like that song.

7:12 [SPEAKER_02]: came from such a pure place when Chris wrote it. [SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know, short story long to find myself on a stage with Eddie Vetter, no week or so ago, in a Dana Point, California, [SPEAKER_02]: forever and one of the greatest moments of my life and certainly my career it was to me the top of the mountain and you know I got to you know it felt like to me the sky opened up for a few minutes and everything just kind of went still and quiet yeah it was a really really special moment [SPEAKER_02]: And I think a lot of the participants there, it was, yeah, we just kind of tried to stay out of the way and let it happen.

8:12 [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, it was, it was, it was very much something for me. [SPEAKER_02]: It was, it was hard to even really process. [SPEAKER_02]: It's hard to process now, let alone in the moment. [SPEAKER_02]: I really wasn't. [SPEAKER_02]: I can't amowing my feet. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I tried to just stay focused, you know.

8:35 [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and that was, that that song is, is very demanding to, especially to play guitar to play the guitar part and to sing it and to, you know, it, it required some serious focus on a, probably one of the biggest stages I'll ever step on to as far as like a, a singular moment, you know, requiring that focus, um, [SPEAKER_01]: interesting the way he said that to because you coming at singing from being a guitar player and Chris came to singing from being a drummer and so much of his guitar parts are influenced by the drummer part and [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, it's like a spiral that you two have found yourself in, suddenly, with that.

9:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I know. [SPEAKER_02]: I love drums too. [SPEAKER_02]: I kind of, I think I always secretly wanted to be a drummer, but found myself a guitar player, and, you know, the drums are a huge part of the way I think, and, you know, yeah, I always love that. [SPEAKER_02]: you know, part of Chris's story is that he was, you know, I didn't start singing.

9:40 [SPEAKER_02]: I never thought of myself as a singer. [SPEAKER_02]: And like you said, he didn't, I'm not sure if he thought of himself as one either, which is the beginning. [SPEAKER_02]: It's the same. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, not at the beginning, which is. [SPEAKER_02]: is insane to anybody who's heard his voice.

9:54 [SPEAKER_02]: And, but yeah, it's wild where, you know, how things lead us and how the, you know, new doors open up for instruments that you never, you never knew we're there. [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, that song is this proof of, you know, the whole thing for me, like the, [SPEAKER_02]: But the alchemy that kind of led me here, there's a few little windows where, like I said, the sky opens up and just remind you that you're absolutely where you're supposed to be, at least for four minutes.

10:33 [SPEAKER_02]: And where you choose to be after is entirely what up to you but it's wild to be in a moment like that. [SPEAKER_02]: Or you know, like, there is no way I got myself here. [SPEAKER_02]: This is, this is a culmination of so many things. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, you start breaking down the statistics.

10:54 [SPEAKER_02]: It'll, it'll drive you crazy, but I was already crazy to begin with. [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, a quick pause, just to remind you, if you like what you're hearing right now, please do hit that subscribe button, keep up with all the interviews that we put out here, every single week. [SPEAKER_01]: It helps way more than you can even imagine, and we'll be right back right after this.

11:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back. [SPEAKER_01]: It's Kyle Meredith with Steve and Wilson Jr. [SPEAKER_01]: And seeing how, you know, coming out of that EP, as you said, sort of a sonic reset. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, obviously, you know, you get a hard wire and we hear the pixie's interpolation. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's, I think, when it all clicks for us on the listener side, you know, when it all starts to make sense.

11:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, I know the eye roll that comes along with this next statement, but like subverting Americana is what it feels like, whether it's, [SPEAKER_02]: natural or on purpose? [SPEAKER_02]: No, yeah, it's definitely not on purpose. [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's just very natural because I'm only just making the music that I really know how to make, you know, because I don't really know how to make a lot of other music.

12:06 [SPEAKER_02]: I've never been in cover bands. [SPEAKER_02]: Like so, I was never good at copying other people, at early copying them well. [SPEAKER_02]: Like it was, you know, I always kind of just started making my own stuff up based off of what little and ingredients I would kind of gather here and there from other songs.

12:31 [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I think it was just kind of more the product of my personality, not so much me like going out and trying to say subvert Americana or change things for the sake of changing them or to even, [SPEAKER_02]: proclaim that they need changing, um, I just, you know, I'm just really making the music that makes the most sense to me.

12:57 [SPEAKER_02]: That's the most honest and truthful to me, you know, because these stories and these songs and these observations are very much mine, but what I'm learning and have learned over time is that [SPEAKER_02]: you know, we have so much in common, like so you can create from a singular experience and a singular perspective, but through music, because music is magic, it becomes an us thing, and that is what is wild about it, you know.

13:35 [SPEAKER_02]: And that is this evidence and proof that human beings we are living like so many parallel lives and there's so many commonalities because if we can all agree on the singular experience and the singular perspective that is not our own. [SPEAKER_02]: then it just shows that like there's like a, you know, there's so many threads kind of running through us.

14:02 [SPEAKER_02]: And these songs remind us of those threads. [SPEAKER_01]: you know that's you know that that's kind of what keeps me going well even hearing how they talk to each other like for instance that track that we're talking about with hardwired there like it's one thing that could be novelty that you know you found some guitar lines that were you know common and you stuck it in there but but the actual part in the way I hear it when when you're singing whereas my mind like that [SPEAKER_01]: that feels very part of the lyrics that you were talking about of these people that are hardwired and the mental cost of that endurance.

14:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, that interpolation was very much an accident and it was, you know, I was very much a, you know, I was in a room with Miranda Lambert that day and she invited me last minute and, you know, to this right that I wasn't, I was kind of a fourth wheel at that right that day. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that song just kind of showed up.

15:00 [SPEAKER_02]: I got to, you know, it showed up on my drive there. [SPEAKER_02]: The chorus did and we wrote it pretty quick. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I felt like there was something missing, you know, an angle. [SPEAKER_02]: And I just kept hearing, where is my mind the whole time, you know, I was, you know, had that song, you know, kind of processing where that song was going to live, you know, either in this next project or whoever.

15:28 [SPEAKER_02]: To me, when I added that lyric to it, like way out in the water, see it swimming whereas my mind, in addition to all the lyrics that you had just heard in hardwired, it not only gave hardwired another place to go, they're like, it gave it, you know, like somewhere to take that song that we haven't art that we had not already been.

15:49 [SPEAKER_02]: But it also gave it from my perspective and opinion the song, [SPEAKER_02]: a whole new definition on those lyrics because you're now like hearing those lyrics through the lens of these people that are living a very hard life and going through the hardships of life, not so much observing the insanity of the world and whatnot.

16:16 [SPEAKER_02]: They're going crazy just from like working themselves to death. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's a different type of insanity and it gave [SPEAKER_02]: you know, a different angle that I'm not sure it had before that I at least I had never heard before. [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, like I said, it's not my goal to interpolate music certainly for the commerciality of it.

16:45 [SPEAKER_02]: I only did it because it lyrically added so much value to the song and I'd like to think maybe gave that song, you know, just perhaps some new legs that it didn't [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, quick pause, just to remind you, if you like what you're hearing right now, please do hit that subscribe button, keep up with all the interviews that we put out here, every single week, it helps way more than you can even imagine.

17:09 [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll be right back right after this. [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Meredith with Steve and Wilson Jr. And he's threads, you know, you brought up the threads a minute ago too, because like another one [SPEAKER_01]: Like, do you hear this as a conversation within the songs of like Corner Man?

17:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Father Son, I'm a song, grief is only love. [SPEAKER_01]: Like to me, this feels like an ongoing conversation that you get to have stretching over multiple songs. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it is. [SPEAKER_02]: It's very much a, you know, a sequel to Father Son and in those other songs and kind of me, [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the son of dad is very much written in this four-year turmoil, like you can kind of see the sequence and the chronology of the record through it, you know, it's almost like chronological and this, you know, this, this new record and corner man.

18:16 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'm just trying to be a good record keeper at the end of the day that's what a scientist really is as someone who's, you know, makes observations and then keeps records of the tests that they, you know, that when they test those observations against the world. [SPEAKER_02]: for the CMA Fest and I played this song Stand By Me which was very much a plea that I started singing when my dad died and it became like back to a hunger strike.

18:56 [SPEAKER_02]: It became like a him for me to kind of just, you know, it was very much a selfish thing I was doing to just kind of bring my dad back and he showed up in a big way that day and my life ain't been the same since that day and [SPEAKER_02]: You know, like a week after I played that show, I knew I was going to be playing at two nights at the Rime and Auditorium.

19:23 [SPEAKER_02]: And I'd set up this boxing ring, our whole team did. [SPEAKER_02]: And it was this huge thing. [SPEAKER_02]: And I literally turned the stage into a box ring. [SPEAKER_02]: It's what our stage is now. [SPEAKER_02]: And pulled the mat off the boxing ring at my gym as blood sweat and tears on it.

19:38 [SPEAKER_02]: My first stage was a boxing ring. [SPEAKER_02]: I guess where I kind of learned to be in front of people. [SPEAKER_02]: as a shy kid, and it was, you know, the most home I had never had ever felt, but, you know, after I did that CMA performance, like there was something and something telling me, because like he just showed up so big, it was almost like he showed up to say goodbye, and then the [SPEAKER_02]: You know, if I was going to continue on doing this, um, which, you know, when I made son of dad, I didn't really, I wasn't thinking, oh, this is going to create this, and I'm going to have this touring career, like, I just was literally making it as a sonic monument.

20:32 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I didn't know if anybody would ever listen to that. [SPEAKER_02]: And, [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I didn't so thinking about projects afterwards and a life after that was not part of the conversation, so, you know, in that moment, there was a revelation that if I was going to move forward, because there was, you know, a lot of rounds in this fight, I could get out now and be very proud of what I had done, but if this was to continue, [SPEAKER_02]: I just played the rhyme and the first night and that song showed up and I wrote a lot of it there at the rhyme and it was coming to terms with that revelation and also kind of like a last minute plea, like maybe you're actually gone now, but just to let you know

21:38 [SPEAKER_02]: Actually, yeah, I do still need you around in case in case you thought I didn't, you know. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's, you know, I think what I was saying at the beginning about, you know, how much we've fallen for your songs. [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a big part of it is the depth that it goes just beyond the one song.

21:56 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, a lot of my favorite artists, you know, counting Crow's David Bowie's stuff behind me and everything here. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it sprainsed in, you know, using the same characters over and over, but it just becomes something so much different when it's even though it's your personal story.

22:11 [SPEAKER_01]: you know, we can all find ourselves in it. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, even the other, you know, we've got to wrap up too, but like, preachers kid and exorcisms on the weekend, you know, and like, I hear a lot of my story and that stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: I think we grew up in a lot of this thing, you know?

22:27 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, especially if you're grew up new and anywhere in your level, yeah, that's like you're not far from my hometown. [SPEAKER_02]: It probably resonates with a lot of folks from that area. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm really just kind of reporting my findings. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not really making any particular proclamations with these songs.

22:49 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm just showing everybody what I've seen and where I've been and trying to prepare myself where I'm going. [SPEAKER_02]: There's a line in the corner, man. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, try to catch your breath while you can. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's, you know, that is kind of like the, you know, where, you know, where I have had to like what I've had to concede to in all of this if I'm going to keep going and just try to breathe and be in it, like sit on your stool and take a, take a breather where you can, but, you know, and art has been such a, [SPEAKER_02]: It's such a friend and also such an opponent at the same time, and yeah, it's quite a while little fight, but I'm really proud to be in it.

23:49 [SPEAKER_01]: well you keep you know crank it out these incredible songs one by one and I will say you know only on the trivial side getting a song like that in the in the land and resting place at Bahamun Ali you know that's um that's a nice little nudge on it too so we got that dude yeah you do yeah and my dad uh he worshiped Ma'am Ali he was obsessed with him and uh [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that guy was such an inspiration from my hillbilly father that, you know, as a boxer and as a fighter and as a human in and out of the ring.

24:29 [SPEAKER_02]: What an inspiration he was. [SPEAKER_02]: He probably never had. [SPEAKER_02]: He had no clue how much he inspired my dad, my little country dad. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, man. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, Stephen seriously, thanks for throwing the songs our way like it happened. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so looking forward to where all of these end up at some points in whatever collection.

24:55 [SPEAKER_01]: And seeing you live again in the meantime, man, thank you so much for taking the time today. [SPEAKER_01]: I really mean it's been a pleasure to be here. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_02]: Same to you, Kyle. [SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate your time. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, all of that will be announced and what you mentioned about where all this is going and how.

25:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, God bless you, Kyle, and my thanks to Stephen Wilson, Jr. [SPEAKER_01]: Looking forward to what sounds like an album coming out soon, thanks to you for checking out the episode. [SPEAKER_01]: But for you out of here, please do hit that subscribe button. [SPEAKER_01]: You get new interviews just like this one.

25:29 [SPEAKER_01]: Sit you away every single week, Spotify, Apple Podcast, NPR, WFPK.org. [SPEAKER_01]: Consequence, YouTube for the video versions anywhere. [SPEAKER_01]: You get your podcast from. [SPEAKER_01]: you can subscribe to Kyle Meredith with and please do give the series a rating, leave a review, if you feel so inspired.

25:44 [SPEAKER_01]: After that, you can head over to wfpk.org, and it's where I do a show Monday through Friday. [SPEAKER_01]: It starts 6 PM Eastern, it's 4 hours of classic alternative indie rock Americana. [SPEAKER_01]: It's the best in new music, bonus interviews, lots of music and film news as well. [SPEAKER_01]: One of my recent shows, in fact featured some classics and favorites from Pete Yorn, YouTube, Ryan Bingham, Buddy Guy, Led Zeppelin, Diana King, Iggy Pop, Sound Garden, John Gallagher, Junior, Jensen McRae, Wolf Alice, Nirvana, [SPEAKER_01]: back Mountain Goats, Goose, and my interviews with everyone from Sammy Hagar, David Doss Malci and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Charles Dance, Darrell Hall of Hall of Notes, Kevin Crone and Arya of Speedwagon, Midsky, Slow Dive, Churches, Morgan Neville, Kelsey Asbel, Finn Whitrock, that's what you can hear when you tune in weeknights, starting 6pm Eastern at WFPK.ORG.

26:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Cut Sequence has your music and film news. [SPEAKER_01]: You can also find me on any of the social media sites The address is always at Kyle Meredith. [SPEAKER_01]: Please do like follow along. [SPEAKER_01]: That does it for another edition. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Kyle Meredith. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you next time [SPEAKER_00]: Consequence podcast network, it's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are.

27:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media.