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David Wilcox's songs travel.
Like a drive across America in an Airstream trailer; they offer
up fascinating new places and ideas, along with time to drink
in their meaning. That's no coincidence, by the way: the highly
regarded singer-songwriter recently returned from two years
of traveling with his wife and son in an Airstream trailer.
"I thought, these songs were conceived and born in the
trailer, why not record them there?" Wilcox said not long
ago from his Asheville, N.C. home. Once we were home, we brought
all the studio gear out into the Airstream and it sounded great.
At his personal half-century mark, Wilcox offers a thoughtful
musical perspective informed by more than two decades of touring.
Even during time spent traveling with wife Nance and son Nate
in their shiny, vintage-appeal trailer, the in-demand performer
broke off for periodic live shows. With this, his 13th album,
he again delivers what his audiences want: music that connects
with their hearts and souls, while opening new doors of experience.
“There are people that expect a lot from music,”
he said. “It's like a conversation with a friend where
you get reminded of you who are; it wakes up what's best in
your heart.”
A native of Ohio, Wilcox has based his career out of the South
since the 1980s, when he emerged as a live performer in North
Carolina and won the music industry's attention in Nashville.
After getting a taste of the major-label ride on A&M for
three releases, he then recorded for other labels like Vanguard,
and now he's releasing Airstream, his fourth CD on the Colorado-based
independent, What Are Records? There's more than ever to sing
about for Wilcox these days.
“I think this music could serve a lot of people”,
he said,
“But over the years I've made my peace that my job is
the depth of experience, not how far it spreads.”
Airstream makes its distinctive musical and lyrical points with
a range of contemporary styles, from folk balladry to acoustic
soul and reggae. All could easily have inspired full-scale arrangements,
but Wilcox chose to make a recording as intimate as his one-man
shows - just his versatile baritone and agile guitar work.
“We decided to make this a voice-and-guitar record;
even beautiful harmonies didn't make it to the mix,” he
said. “The simple arrangements just worked best for this
batch of songs.”
The ability to perform solo makes possible appearances such
as a recent, last-minute trip to Africa, where Wilcox performed
in Sudan at the country's first national day of prayer. Concern
about national and international crises led to songs such as
‘Three Brothers’, a moving, allegory of Middle East
turmoil; ‘Reaper Sweepstakes’, about the universal
marketing of fear; and ‘Falling for It’, a biting
satire of political deception.
“I was playing at the Birchmere and stuck it in the middle
of the set”, Wilcox said of ‘Falling for It’.
“But people stood up and applauded. They stood up and
stayed up and kept applauding. It got to the point that, 'OK,
I get it.”
Other tunes, such as ‘Forever Now’, are unabashedly
romantic reflections of Wilcox's own life, or artistically flexible
rewrites of same.
“Look what I found: the edges are brown/The picture of
us in that old boardwalk town,” he sings in ‘Forever
Now’, a tale of love lost, remembered and found.
Wilcox's gift allows him to make compelling music out of experiences
as common as a parent's mixed joy and alarm about a teenager's
first driver's license. In ‘This Old Car’ that passage
becomes a parable of independence being born.
Overall, listeners with a taste for high musical quality and
songs of nuanced expression will find much to celebrate while
traveling along with Wilcox's Airstream. As Wilcox's career
has evolved, in appearances everywhere from seminaries to theaters,
and biker bars to yoga centers, he's found an audience ready
to receive his particular brand of road wisdom.
“I have always chosen to play in settings where, at the
end of the night, I am more hopeful about what music can do
for the heart than I was at the beginning”, he said.
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