Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Jonathan Wilson’s Gentle Spirit

Of the slew of quotable lines in the 1996 movie Swingers, there is one in the beginning of the casino scene where Vince Vaughn’s character Trent tells a cocktail waitress, “I want you to remember this face, here. Okay? This is the guy behind the guy behind the guy.” That line might be the best way to introduce you to Jonathan Wilson, who over the last few years has been “that guy,” working with an impressive laundry list of musicians as both a side man and a producer, while helping to revitalize the Laurel Canyon music scene.

Wilson, who originally hails from Forest Hills, North Carolina, has logged time in the studio with the likes of Chris Robinson, Vetiver, Erykah Badu,  Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello, as well as producing J. Tillman’s (Fleet Foxes) upcoming record and both of Dawes’ studio albums at his Echo Park recording studio – Five Star Studio.

Wilson’s former home in Laurel Canyon had also been the site of much buzzed about private Wednesday night jam sessions that he began with Robinson back in 2006 and have featured another impressive list that reads like a who’s who of both classic rock and contemporary indie acts. While doing all these extracurricular activities, Wilson was also writing songs of his own and last year quietly released his proper debut album Gentle Spirit, a gentle sprawling 13-track album of sun-baked, psychedelic-tinged folk-rock, which became something of an under the radar critically acclaimed hit.

Let’s check out the music video for Desert Raven…