Photos: Keez Fromm
Story: Slade Rand
Time to meet Stephen Wilson, Jr.
The Nashville-based rocker puts on a rowdy show framed by poignant stories and deeply honest songwriting.
He shared his full debut ‘son of dad’ in September 2023, chock full of 22 songs about loss, family and claiming your own identity. Stephen’s been called a hillbilly and likely much worse over the years, but his free-flowing music tells you he won’t be labeled easily.
Scroll for a full show gallery shot by Keez Fromm.
Camo shirts with ‘Death Cab for Country’ printed across the front hung at the merch booth by the door at Summit Denver during Stephen’s two-hour set. The southern Indiana native returned out West this month, greeted by a slew of return fans.
Some folks had also caught Stephen and his band this summer inside a much smaller room, The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs.
The band is Scotty Murray on pedal steel and vocals, Julian Dorio on drums and Johnny Yuma on bass. They built raucous energy that felt just barely bridled at times, with Stephen strutting at the helm. His live effects on the guitar call back to the electric sound on Dire Straits records.
The four-piece lineup is mighty. They spun out loud, creative jams and found ways to quietly compliment the emotion of Stephen’s softer songs.
They opened with ‘Calico Creek,’ giving Stephen’s powerful voice room to linger over the crowd during the intro.
“Denver, Colorado, how the hell we doin’?” he mumbled into the mic before belting out the opening lyrics.
If you’re uninitiated, the first time Stephen unleashes his vocals over that twangy guitar can overwhelm. His booming and raw delivery pulls you in fast. The spacey intro of ‘Calico Creek’ gave way to a roaring full-band peak over Stephen’s deft guitar picking.
Every couple of songs at Summit, Johnny swapped between an electric stand-up and bass guitar.
“This is for all my hard workin’ humans out there,” Stephen said as he strummed an intro to ‘son of dad’ smoker ‘Cuckoo.’
During this third song of the evening, Stephen and the band let the audience in on just how rowdy the night might get. Stephen strut and riled his bandmates into a tense build, which came to a head as he blew the mic out like a flame. He piled on the effects on his guitar rig while his band locked into a groove behind him.
The band and crowd went airborne during ‘Cuckoo.’
Weathered patches on the face of his guitar show where Stephen’s spent years draped over the instrument writing and playing. Onstage he layers effects and strums a fuzzy sound from the wooden six-string, matching the vintage of his soulful voice. Scotty harmonizes with him from below the brim of a white hat stage left.
Midway through the show, Scotty and Stephen gave a stripped-down mini set of a few tunes. The duo perform full shows that way sometimes, and it gives the audience a closer look at the crafty songwriting.
The duo took on ‘All the Wars from Now On,’ a song Stephen wrote about his dad’s dad who fought in Vietnam.
Cut up with all music to party to during Stephen’s set are nuggets of sorrow and remorse — the performance takes natural turns toward life’s darker sides. Fans in the crowd alternate between thrusting their beers up to the sky and solemnly holding up their palms to the band.
“I remember growing up, sometimes the church service on Sunday was crazier than the keggers on Saturday night,” Stephen said. “I’ve seen people get demons cast out of them before lunch.”
Stephen talked onstage about his upbringing as a country boy and his early career as a microbiologist, and also about the night he wrote ‘The Devil.’ Red lights crept up behind him as he recalled waking one night with a song stuck in his head.
“It was the song that started all this,” he gestured around.
View a full gallery of Stephen Wilson, Jr. at Summit Denver below, shot by Keez Fromm.
After Midnight 
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