Dan Wilson Announces New Album, Re-Covered: Lyric Videos for “Someone Like You” (Adele) ft. Kronos Quartet + “Home” (Dierks Bentley)

On August 4, Dan Wilson will return with Re-Covered, a unique album that finds the Grammy-winning songwriter reinterpreting songs from his storied career that he wrote for and with other artists. The album, which marks his third solo studio release, is now available for pre-order on iTunes and Pledge Music and includes instant downloads of the first two singles: “Someone Like You” ft. Kronos Quartet, originally written with Adele, and “Home,” which was written with Dierks Bentley.

Since his days in seminal ‘90s rock band Semisonic, Wilson has been an in-demand songwriter, producer and arranger for some of the biggest acts in pop and rock music like Phantogram, Weezer, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Halsey and My Morning Jacket. For his latest 13-track album, Wilson has taken songs he’s co-written with other artists and made them his own – his own arrangements, his voice, his guitar. The result is an eclectic spin on some of the biggest songs in pop music over the last 15 years as well as some gems that never quite made it big.

“I’m hoping there are some songs on the record that everyone will recognize and think of as part of the landscape,” he says. “But then there are other songs that maybe people haven’t heard at all or they’ve only heard in passing.”

Most of the songs on the album were recorded live and mixed in an intensive week-long session at United Studios in Los Angeles, with longtime collaborators Mike Viola producing and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Pete Thomas on drums. Wilson credits Thomas, best known for his decades of work with Elvis Costello, with being central to the crafting of the arrangements.

Front and center on Re-Covered are two of Wilson’s most important and best known collaborations. Adele’s “Someone Like You” and the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice” became massive global hits – both commercial and critical success stories that ended up becoming career-defining numbers for those artists. The album also features “When The Stars Come Out” (Chris Stapleton), “Treacherous” (Taylor Swift), and “You and I” (John Legend).

One last song, written solo, completes the tale. “‘Closing Time’ isn’t a co-write,” Wilson points out. “I wrote it for my band Semisonic, so it breaks the rule of the album a bit. But it’s such an important part of the story I felt like I couldn’t leave it off the record.” The Grammy-nominated song reached #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, and is frequently cited as a defining track of the late 90s.

“In Semisonic, I was a songwriter who happened to have a rock band,” he says. “And it was something very conscious in my mind. I thought of myself as a writer first, and then a performer or a guitarist.”

“I had this exalted vision of what a songwriter was – someone who went into battle with only a bow and arrow, because they were just working on words and melody,” he adds. “I thought that was heroic.”

Wilson will tour in support of Re-Covered this fall, with additional tour dates to be announced in the coming months.

Track list:

1) All Will Be Well (Gabe Dixon)
2) Home (Dierks Bentley)
3) You an I (John Legend)
4) Someone Like You ft. Kronos Quartet (Adele)
5) Never Meant To Love You (Cory Chisel)
6) Not Ready To Make Nice (Dixie Chicks)
7) Landing (Matt Wilson)
8) Treacherous (Taylor Swift)
9) Borrowed (LeAnn Rimes)
10) Your Misfourtune (Mike Doughty)
11) When The Stars Come Out (Chris Stapleton)
12) If I Walk Away (Josh Groban)
13) Closing Time (Semisonic)

Tour Dates:

9/23: Chicago, IL – City Winery
9/27: Boston, MA – City Winery
9/28: New York, NY – City Winery
9/30: Nashville, TN – City Winery
10/20: Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
10/21: San Francisco, CA – Swedish American Music Hall