son of dad deluxe (Big Loud, 2025)

Sometimes a "deluxe" edition of a popular artist's album seems like an afterthought or a money grab, a way to squeeze more profit from a few new hits without putting out another full album. Not so with this deluxe version of Stephen Wilson Jr.'s **Son of Dad** album, which originally came out in 2023. The initial release was ambitious already, with 22 tracks that established Wilson as a bracing new voice in Americana, but the additional tracks here add another 12 cuts.

The new material consists of acoustic versions of many songs from the original album, stripping them down to just Wilson and a guitar in most cases. Those are tagged on to the end, while a pair of non-album live cuts from his tremendous appearance "Live At the Print Shop," which went viral online, now open the album.

Just because they are acoustic and not full band, these new takes are no less powerful, driven by Wilson's voice – a combination of a country singer's drawl and a rock singer's power. "Father's Son," is still one of the most aching, honest examinations of that relationship you'll ever hear, and in the stripped down format the notes cascade as Wilson sings, "Goddamn I am my father's son." His other well known ode to his youth, "Year to be Young (1994) loses none of its power in the acoustic format, either.

The "Live at the Print Shop" cuts show Wilson in all his live, in person immediacy, even without the accompanying videos that have racked up millions of views on YouTube. His version of the classic Ben E. King hit "Stand By Me," packs the punch of a Bruce Springsteen concert into one four minute song, and when he pulls it all back in the final minute for a moment or two, it's even more visceral when he cranks the intensity back up to close it out. "I'm a Song" is a perfect distillation of Wilson's imagery and metaphor-laden songwriting style, as he lines up all the things he is, and they're all music related in some way. "I was there the day you learned to drive, the first time you got high, I even helped you realize she wasn't right for you," he sings, "I'm a part of you that you listen to on the radio all night long, I'm a song."