After playing in various rock bands, such as Trip Shakespeare and The Twilight Hours, Matt Wilson has now built a sunshiny 'orchestra' that's "not an orchestra. More like a banjo-harp-gentle-rockin-happy machine" and found his voice. Matt Wilson & His Orchestra stopped in The Current's studio to play a few songs and chat with The Local Show host, Andrea Swensson.

Wilson notes how he enjoyed playing in Trip Shakespeare and The Twilight Hours, but was longing for a group that would be a change of pace, with plucky things going on, and a bass down below. It wasn't until he attended the Camp Du Nord festival in the North Woods and saw his now-bandmates Phala Tracy and Quillan Roe, playing harp and banjo, respectively. Wilson was particularly drawn to the percussive nature of Roe's banjo playing, and was inspired to collaborate with him in some way. With the addition of Ray, and bassist Jacques Wait, his group was established and filled out a beautiful soundscape. The harps fill out the higher ends, while the bass fills out the lower ends, and the banjo holds down the beat, which leaves a bit of a whole for Wilson's soft and fuzzy voice to poke through and round out the mid-tones, which was his initial goal.

Before writing songs for this specific project, Wilson took a years long hiatus from writing songs, and started again after writing a song that was based, not on his own story, but a stranger's. It was a song about loss and mourning that inspired him to write over an album's worth of songs. Wilson notes how important journaling was for him. "Sometimes it would turn into music, but it kind of keeps the sediments of ideas and thoughts and experiences and memories swirling around in your brain. They're easier to grab onto and make into something."

All songs are from Matt Wilson & His Orchestra's album When I Was a Writer, which is out now on Pravda Records.

Personnel

Matt Wilson - Guitar, piano, vocals
Jacques Wait - Bass
Phala Tracy - Harp
Quillan Roe - Banjo

Credits

Audio: Michael DeMark
Video: Josh Voelker
Production: Jesse Wiza

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