Hear Songwriter Dan Wilson’s Urgent Version of Dierks Bentley’s ‘Home’
Songwriter Dan Wilson – and leader of Nineties band Semisonic – has had a hand in composing some of the last 15 years’ biggest hits, from Adele’s “Someone Like You” to the Dixie Chicks’ defiant “Not Ready to Make Nice.” On his new solo album Re-Covered, Wilson reinterprets some of his most well-known songs, including the 2011 Dierks Bentley hit “Home.”
Released as the title track from Bentley’s sixth album, “Home” defied the expectations and limitations frequently placed on patriotic country songs by virtue of its being inclusive. The country was stronger not because everyone always had to agree, it suggested, but because we had the freedom to disagree and celebrate our differences. Bentley wrote the song with Wilson and Brett Beavers as a response to the 2011 shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and five others in Tucson, Arizona.
With his interpretation, Wilson gives the tune a rock makeover complete with throbbing bass, pounding toms and white-hot eruptions of electric guitar that lend it a sense of urgency and anxiety familiar to Donald Trump’s America. (Wilson’s version of “Home” is accompanied by a lyric video above that shows off some impressive calligraphy skills.) On Re-Covered, Wilson also revisits “Someone Like You” and “Not Ready to Make Nice,” along with Taylor Swift’s “Treacherous” and his band Semisonic’s classic “Closing Time.”
Wilson’s “Home” is available June 2nd, and Re-Covered – Wilson’s third solo LP – will be released August 4th.