Stephen Wilson Jr. let country music know he is a force to be reckoned with after releasing his debut album, Søn Of Dad.
The album is filled with songs that highlight the feelings of love and loss of his father. A former boxer, Wilson’s father and his legacy is sewn through each track as Wilson uses the songwriting process to help him heal.
“Writing and making this album has been very therapeutic for me to learn who I am and what my existence looks like after my father.
Because life has to go on.”
It’s one of the most compelling projects released so far this year, guaranteed to land on the Albums of the Year list for 2023.
A standout single from the album is the tune “Patches,” which addresses the scars and wounds that we carry throughout our lives. While they may not be pretty, they are evidence of where we’ve been and how we got there. Wilson Jr. recognizes his own, and doesn’t hide from them.
The upbeat and catchy song carries a heavy message:
“My scars got scars. Graffiti on graffiti on graffiti. ‘Patches’ is a playful song with a serious message. A life lived, not avoided. One packaged with consequences and fibrosis.
A built-in collagen-based repair system showing the world the road map to where we’ve been. Wearing scars we’ve earned like we’ve earned ’em.”
With the song’s success, Wilson released a music video with a non-traditional twist on the serious message. While the video is a little more “alternative” than most country music videos, it follows the same intentionality you can find throughout Wilson Jr.’s songs.
With the setting in Bon Aqua, a nod to his EP released earlier this year, the video highlights some “outsiders” trying to make their way in the town.
“Just some bon aqua dog-kids scaring away the greys.”
He captioned a video teasing the newly released music video.
Wilson stars as an astronaut in the video, highlighting that you might feel like living on a different planet when healing while not letting the “gray” feeling take over.
The video was directed by Stephen Wilson Jr. and Tim Cofield; the duo created a visual that compliments the tempo of the song.
Wilson Jr. shows through the curation of this video that his creativity extends beyond the songbook, making him a genuinely well-rounded artist.
Check it out.
