Dan Wilson Receives First Academy Award Nomination; Nominated For 2 GRAMMYs

The GRAMMY-winning musician, songwriter, and producer Dan Wilson is having a monumental start to the year as he received his first-ever Academy Award nomination last week. Wilson was nominated for best Original Song for co-writing and co-producing Jon Batiste's “It Never Went Away” from his documentary American Symphony.  

Today, Chris Stapleton's single “White Horse,” which was co-written by Wilson, hit #1 at Country Radio and marks his second #1 at the format (“Home,” Dierks Bentley). The song is nominated for “Best Country Song” at the 66th GRAMMY Awards this weekend. Wilson is also nominated for “Song of the Year” for co-writing Jon Batiste's “Butterfly” from his album World Music Radio.  

Over the last several years, Wilson has remained as prolific as ever, teaming up with Mitski for her first released co-write, “The Only Heartbreaker,” working with Taylor Swift on re-producing his co-writes on Red (Taylor's Version), and collaborating with with Leon Bridges, Benson Boone, Celine Dion, Tom Morello, Joy Oladokun, Claud, Cuco and many more.   

Last year, Wilson reunited his band Semisonic to release Little Bit of Sun, their first full length album in more than 20 years that included appearances from Jason Isbell and My Morning Jacket's Jim James and co-writes with Grammy-winning songwriters Lori McKenna and Amy Allen.

The album was praised by BrooklynVegan, The Guardian, NME, NPR Music, Paste Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Stereogum, New York Magazine and many more.   Glide Magazine proclaimed, “Little Bit of Sun is everything longtime followers have loved about the band, smart, relatable lyrics with big choruses, sharp hooks, and sunny melodies, blending together influences like Big Star, The Beatles,” while Under The Radar called it “a testament to the strength of songwriting and honesty of performance, those factors Wilson and Semisonic always had in spades. Little Bit of Sun is the next enticing chapter.”  

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez