By any standards, Stephen Wilson Jr’s (no relation) back story is remarkable. “Ten years ago I was a scientist in a lab coat and had never sung in front of anybody in my life,” the singer-songwriter reflects. “So where I am now is all very surreal. In the weirdest way, it’s an answer to a prayer that I wasn’t capable of praying for.”
Wilson is currently touring Søn Of Dad, his formidable 22-song debut that pays tribute to his late father while also mapping a unique journey from rural Indiana to Nashville. Along the way Wilson has been a Golden Gloves boxer, microbiologist, indie guitarist and Music City songwriter-for-hire. He had no intention of being a solo artist at all, but his father’s death, in 2018, unlocked something new. “Right afterwards, for whatever reason, this voice just kind of showed up,” he says. “And I ain’t going to pretend to understand it.”
