In his 30-year career, Wilson has performed in bands such as Florida Razors, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings and Junkhouse (as a singer and guitarist) and has also written songs for the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus and Mavis Staples. In a few days’ time, the fifty-something will release his third solo album, Beautiful Scars, produced by Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies fame.
“I’m touring Beautiful Scars throughout the US until the end of May,” says the outlandish figure, who a few years ago learned some pretty startling revelations about his past. “I keep writing into every rising sun and through every thick blue night; mile over mile from my bunk on the tour bus.
“I feel driven these days. I have a book to complete (a memoir) for Penguin/Random House and Beautiful Scars is being lovingly accepted at every stop so far on this tour. Life is pretty great…”
Going into more detail about the new album that took just six weeks to write back in 2014, the artist states, “As a young man I tried to steer my journey and tried to do the opposite of what people expected of me.
“I chewed on tinfoil and drove through every ditch at the side of every road I could find. I cut my arms with broken bottles trying to create scars I could call my own…
“Life manages to bring adventure naturally without self-induced drama and pain. It’s true that you gotta sin to get saved but it all happens naturally. Time brings truth and my truth luckily came three years ago when I was ready for it.
“I found out that I was not only adopted, but also that I was a Mohawk; an Indian, a keeper of the land – a warrior… So all those scars I inflicted on myself faded and a new set of scars showed themselves. Those are my Beautiful Scars.”
“Jeth Weinrich and I produced some commercial music videos for my band Junkhouse in the ’90s and we were pretty successful, I suppose. We got lots of MTV and MuchMusic exposure and won Junos for a video we made for a song called ‘Burned Out Car.’
“Sarah McLachlan joined us for this song, which was created to not only sell CDs but also to raise awareness about the growing homeless epidemic in Canada at the time. I handed my music over to Jeth and let the spirit move him.”
“I’ve wanted to work with Michael Timmins since I first heard The Trinity Session, says Osmond of their fruitful collaboration. “There was a thoughtfulness and dedication to the songs that I could only find on old Muddy Waters and Townes Van Zandt records – and that’s where I wanted to be, man.
“We were bound to find one another and it’s a creative relationship that is easy to understand when you consider our deep love and need for communication.”
Beautiful Scars will be out on March 25 courtesy of Latent Recordings.
For more information on LeE HARVey OsMOND/Tom Wilson, visit his official website.
