Dan Wilson
Presented in Association with WFUV

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Dan Wilson is renowned in music circles for the elegance of his melodies, the intelligence of his lyrics and the purity of his voice. The onetime member of storied cult band Trip Shakespeare and the critically acclaimed Semisonic is now debuting as a solo artist, working with a collective of musicians from the Twin Cities and elsewhere.  Wilson’s recent co- writing work with the Dixie Chicks earned him a “Song of the Year” Grammy® in 2007 for “Not Ready To Make Nice” from the album Taking the Long Way. He co-wrote six songs on the album, which won the Dixie Chicks a total of 5 Grammy® Awards, including “Album Of The Year” and “Country Album Of The Year.”

Wilson is now ready to unveil his first solo work, Free Life on American Recordings. The collection of songs began as a self-produced project in Minneapolis, and was finished in Los Angeles by Wilson and executive producer and label chief Rick Rubin.

While Free Life is in some ways a departure from Wilson’s previous work, it also perpetuates certain of his tendencies—the elevated, chill-inducing melodies, the thoughtful yet straightforward lyrics, the striving for honesty of expression. More than ever before, Wilson has achieved this goal on Free Life, which serves to culminate one stage of his career and initiate the next, as if he were living out the memorable payoff of his song “Closing Time” - “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” There’s no doubting the truth of that.