It was a master class in Words + Music (…and hand calligraphy too)—
Singer-songwriter Dan Wilson has been a Los Angeles transplant for several years now, but Minneapolis/St. Paul still claims him as one of our own, and friends, family, and fans all came out, to fill his recent concert at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul.
Wilson first made his name as a member of local bands Trip Shakespeare and Pleasure (soon to be re-named Semisonic) and also found success on the side by co-writing songs with others, from country to pop to alternative rock, that gained him even more recognition as a songwriter than performer (which helped precipitate his move out west).
His latest collection is Re-Covered (PledgeMusic-funded on Ballroom Music/Big Deal Media),a selection of re-interpreted versions of many of the songs he wrote for/with other artists.
A recent local transplant, Her Crooked Heart (aka Rachel Ries) opened the evening with a charming solo set of her own music and often funny, quirky stories behind the songs. The last EP under her own name, Cardinal, was written while on residence in Rouen, France and recorded by local musician Jeremy Messersmith while this year’s debut EP under her new name, To Gentlemen(SoDak recordings) was recorded in nearby Eau Claire, WI.
Songs were often stories about life and love on the prairie, with Ries sheepishly also getting in a plug for her home canning business- “if you like my tunes, you’re going to love my jams …I make preserves” and Ries has already entrenched herself in the local music scene by helping form The Kith+Kin Chorus, an area community choir singing Mondays in South Minneapolis.
As the stage changed in the 1,000 seat theater, a game board-like hand-drawn image (called an illuminated setlist) gave the audience the musical road map that Dan Wilson would follow during his almost two-hour headlining set. On this tour, he’s managed to tie together three of his biggest passions into a cohesive show- the composing of words and music, and his visual doodles and hand-rendered calligraphy.
Wilson initially emerged solo to begin his almost two-hour set, on piano for a rendition of Gabe Dixon’s ‘All Will Be Well’ (“you can keep wooh-ing” he said, still tuning up) but was soon joined by bandmates Brad Gordon (piano) and Andy Thompson (drums) and eventually the Laurel String Quartet, subbing in for the Kronos Quartet that is on the new record.
Many of the songs were accompanied by sped-up screen footage of Wilson handwriting the song’s lyrics in classic fonts with backgrounds, with sometimes a cartoon drawing alongside, though it would sometimes be difficult to stay in sync on the screen, with what was being played.
For ‘When the Stars Come Out’ written in LA with country singer Chris Stapleton, Wilson questioned the song title’s phrase, telling Stapleton how difficult it is to see actual stars past the city’s smog, but Stapleton’s reply was a deadpan, “…it’s a metaphor”.
Wilson explained the genesis of the song ‘Home’, traveling to Nashville to co-write a kind of patriotic song that didn’t include the word “America” in the title, also explaining how a sterile publisher’s office was not at all conducive to the creative process. And when Wilson finds himself in a creative writer’s block, he simply asks himself “WWTPD?- What Would Tom Petty do?” to help find a way out.
In an elongated explanation, Wilson spoke about the Dixie Chicks and the response the trio got after insulting the then-President at a concert in London. While his first idea was a unifying song named ‘Undivided’, Chicks singer Natalie Maines was determined to stand her ground and a song that was more defiant called ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ (a MN term Wilson remembered growing up) was instead born and redemption made.
With brother Matt in the audience, Wilson couldn’t resist the chance to bring him onstage to reminisce about their formative years and also duet on ‘Landing’, from Matt’s 1998 solo album Burnt, White, and Blue.
For perhaps his greatest single-song success, Wilson explained the initial reaction to the rough demo of ‘Someone Like You’ he and Adele had been working on- “my manager loved it… and me mum cried”, Adele said, with Wilson realizing they really had something with it.
For the encore, Wilson explained the work going into the 56-page book he crafted, to accompany the deluxe version, both the essays and visuals, before going into his original ‘Honey Please’ on piano.
And the night would end like it began, sending the crowd off with the hopeful ‘All Will Be Well’- a ray of optimism in an increasingly darker world. “If it’s good enough for Bob Dylan”, he said referring to re-playing a song for the encore, “it’s good enough for us”.
More than “good enough for us”, Dan Wilson came back to entertain and give us a peek inside his creative processes; both in songwriting and calligraphy, that showed what a unique talent he is, still calling the area home and the metro happy to still claim him as one of our own.
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