LA based guitarist and singer/songwriter Jonathan Wilson has released three excellent albums over the past decade, with Dixie Blur being the most recent. 2020’s Dixie Blur explores the sounds of Laurel Canyon music circa the late ‘60s. Co-produced by Wilco’s Pat Sansone, the album was recorded in Nashville at Cowboy Jack Clement’s Sound Emporium Studio over six days and cut live from the studio floor. Recording started by first enlisting blues legend John “Johnny” Sansone, and together they assembled an all-star cast of session musicians including: guitarist Kenny Vaughn (Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Elizabeth Cook), bassist Dennis Crouch (T-Bone Burnett, Tim O’Brien), pedal steel player Russ Pahl (Don Williams, Dan Auerbach), Jim Hoke (Dolly Parton, Yola, The Wood Brothers) on woodwinds and harmonica, drummer Jon Radford (Justin Townes Earle, Hayes Carll), and keyboardist Drew Erickson (Bedouine, Nick Waterhouse). Dixie Blur sounds exactly like the title and cover art suggests – a cosmic country album that draws upon Americana, country, bluegrass, and West Texas dancehall music. Album standouts include: the melancholy ballad ”’69 Corvette”; an early Eddie Rabbitt-esque track “Heaven Makin’ Love”; the rootsy Americana number “So Alive”; a countryfied Phil Spector sounding early rock’n’roll song “Enemies”; the toe-tapping country-bluegrass jam “El Camino Real”; and the closing track – a re-recording of “Korean Tea” – a song Wilson originally cut with his former band Muscadine in the ’90s. Dixie Blur provides another excellent addition to Wilson’s remarkable resume and discography. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Steve Gunn, Cass McCombs, William Tyler, Vetiver, Ryley Walker