Named Dixie Blur after the speed of its recording process, (reported at six days), Jonathan Wilson’s fourth solo album is anything but the unpolished, lo-fi affair that that statistic may imply. In fact, it’s another pristine serving of the lush, expansive recordings that many have come to associate with him.
Wilson has a pedigree that stretches way beyond those four records though: a multi-instrumentalist, he also has production credits for artists such as Father John Misty, Roy Harper and Conor Oberst, while his music has earned him the respect and friendship of Elvis Costello, Graham Nash and David Crosby (the latter two especially have certainly influenced Wilson’s sound). Wilson was even asked to join Roger Waters as guitarist and musical director on his 2017/8 tour, which also led to him delivering David Gilmour’s vocal parts!
Vocally, possibly the most obvious reference point is Pacific Ocean Blue era Dennis Wilson, a heartfelt yet lived-in style which is so fitting for Jonathan Wilson’s songs. Certainly, opener ‘Just For Love’ demonstrates this, but this time around there is more of a country / bluegrass element that shows in some of the songs; subtly appearing as laid back pedal steel on that first song, but much more upfront on ‘So Alive’ which is very Nashville, and most strongly on ‘In Heaven Making Love’, which is a full-on bluegrass stomp which, ahem, won’t be for everyone (in truth, myself included).
And indeed, the album was recorded in Nashville, on the recommendation of Steve Earle, who Wilson met and talked tactics with when both appeared on the TV show eTown (Earle suggesting that Nashville was full of top notch studios and session players, and, well, why not go there and record the album blind?)
Elsewhere, though, there are a lot of highlights; ‘’69 Corvette’ has the pedal steel and Nashville violin too (courtesy of ace session player Mark O’Connor, who Wilson gradually tempted back into the studio despite a near 30 year absence!) It’s a gorgeous paean to times gone by, Wilson opining “I still think of Carolina sometimes. I miss the family. I miss that feeling. I miss home.”
‘New Home’ is similarly lovely, building from a slight thing to a Simon and Garfunkel crescendo by its closing stages, while ‘Oh Girl’ is a beautiful piano-led, very Pacific Ocean Blue sounding track that could have equally fitted nicely onto the luxurious last album, Rare Birds.
Production for the record comes from Wilco’s Pat Sansone, who does a staggeringly good job at making the record sound like it took a year to make rather than a week – ‘Enemies’ with its amazing layered backing vocals, ‘Fun For The Masses’ with its sweet piano and (yes again) pedal steel and the epic ‘Riding The Blinds’, which starts out as a thing of stripped back heartbreak before taking a complete about-turn to become a country hoe-down half way through. ‘El Camino Real’ is another bluegrass tune, your last chance to dance before ‘Golden Apples’ and ‘Korean Tea’ bring the fourteen tracks to an end on a far more laid back note. “Would you like to come to my house and play records / And drink the rest of this Korean tea?” enquires Wilson on a heartfelt and touching ballad, “There’s been hardly anyone there lately” he sighs, before noting that his “Five minutes of fame is arriving a little too late”.
If you are already a fan of Jonathan Wilson, your enjoyment of this album may well hinge on your feelings on the whole country and bluegrass elements – but even if those things aren’t for you, there is plenty on Dixie Blur to enjoy. All in all, another worthy addition to what is becoming a pretty formidable back catalogue.
Dixie Blur is released by Bella Union on 6th March 2020.
