Eat the Worm

Description

Acclaimed singer, songwriter, and producer Jonathan Wilson today announces details of his 2023 album, 'Eat the Worm,' set for release on September 8th, 2023 via BMG. Following the arrival of the lead single "Marzipan" in March, the latest track from the forthcoming project is the six-minute "Charlie Parker." The song is accompanied by a dazzling video created by Wilson's wife, artist Andrea Nakhla, using stable diffusion AI technology. "'Charlie Parker' is one of my favorite songs on 'Eat the Worm.' It's a fantastic, fictional flight of fancy and fantasy," Wilson says of the song, which draws on experiences in Boston in the 1980s, North Carolina in the early 1990s, and a European jazz festival from the early 2000s. "It also touches on the highs and lows of my life over the last decade as a touring musician, and more. It's filled with strings, brass, fuzzy guitars, tubular bells, and some bebop elements, hence the name. In some ways, 'Charlie Parker' encompasses what the new record is about: adventure, fidelity, and fun. We made another incredibly trippy AI video to go along with it, and I think it captures the mood of the song perfectly." As he did throughout 'Eat the Worm,' Wilson produced and played most of the instruments on "Charlie Parker," including guitar, piano, drums, and keyboards. Jake Blanton (The Killers) handled bass, while the string and brass sections featured venerable musicians such as C.J. Camerieri (Bon Iver), Rita Andrade (Kanye West), Wynton Grant (Miley Cyrus, Hans Zimmer), and Paul Cartwright (Lana Del Rey, Mary J. Blige). "Much of this batch of songs is a reaction to the production stuff I do," Wilson says of the new album. "I'd be in the studio, doing long days with people, and I'd have some crazy, wild ideas and they'd tell me, 'no, no, no, that sounds crazy, JW.' So I'd save those for my album. I'm finally able to feel totally free to take chances and resist the urge to dumb things down. It has to be a little strange." To that end, Wilson gave himself a lot of time to let the songs unfold over the past two years. Having his own Fivestar Studios in Topanga Canyon, California, also enabled him to spend as much time as he wanted refining the tracks. "There's a lot of detail in the songs. I felt like this album was also time for me to broaden my sound, so there are a lot more strings and brass than I've ever done before," he says. "I wanted to apply some of the sonic palette from some of the productions I've worked on to my own shit. There's a lot of experimentation, and almost none of the songs started with me just having a guitar. I really wanted something that sounded fresh and new." Wilson, a North Carolina native, moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago and became an integral part of the music community as a respected artist and producer. It was there he recorded and played most of the instruments on his acclaimed albums 'Gentle Spirit' (2011), 'Fanfare' (2013), and 'Rare Birds' (2018). Just before the pandemic, the multi-talented artist journeyed to Nashville to record at Cowboy Jack Clement's legendary Sound Emporium Studio for what would become 'Dixie Blur' (2020), a collection of songs that recalled his Southern roots, both musically and personally. 'Dixie Blur' found Wilson returning to the musical foundations of his upbringing while simultaneously moving forward by infusing the music with modern textures and aesthetic soundscapes.