Musical Elective of the Week

The Musical Elective of the Week is: Dan Wilson.

Dan Wilson is best known as the lead singer of the Minneapolis-based band Semisonic. Semisonic hit the big time ten years ago with the Grammy-nominated single "Closing Time" off its 1998 album Feeling Strangely Fine. (Semisonic has been on hiatus since 2001.)

Wilson's first solo album, Free Life, was released in October 2007. It's a dandy of an album replete with melodic hooks and smartly-penned lyrics that one has come to expect of Wilson's from his work with Semisonic. It features contributions from Sheryl Crow, who provides the harmony vocal on “Sugar”; Sean Watkins (of Nickel Creek), who plays acoustic guitar on “Free Life” and “Baby Doll;” and Gary Louris (of the Jayhawks), who contributes a guitar solos on “Cry” and “Come Home Angel.”

Variety says that Free Life "delivers some thrilling rock hooks," the Boston Globe wrote that this album "will worm deeply into the hearts of those who hear and embrace it," and the New York Daily News called Wilson "one of the most skilled and spirited pop writers of the last decade." Wilson won a Grammy last year for Song of the Year for co-penning "Not Ready To Make Nice," from the Dixie Chicks' 2006 album, Taking The Long Way.

I saw Wilson perform back in March as part of the Hotel Cafe Tour (along with Cary Brothers, Ingrid Michaelson, and Joshua Radin). He was even nice enough to autograph the CD that Sara purchased for me. He's certainly one of the most talented and overlooked American singer-songwriters around.