The New Artist of the Year nominee covered Ben E. King’s 1961 song on just his acoustic guitar
Stephen Wilson Jr. made his CMA Awards performance debut on Wednesday night, mesmerizing the crowd with his inventive rendering of “Stand by Me,” Ben E. King’s 1961 hymn that was later recorded by John Lennon in 1975.
Wilson’s performance of “Stand by Me” comes a year after his version of the song went viral following an appearance on the online series Live at the Print Shop. Wilson released that recording soon after.
Onstage at the CMAs, the Indiana native, boxer, and onetime microbiologist sang the song solo, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. It was a revelatory performance, hushing the crowd at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and bringing peers like Brothers Osborne to their feet.
Wilson does double duty at this year’s CMA Awards. Along with “Stand by Me,” he reteams with Shaboozey to perform their collaboration “Took a Walk.” The evocative song was written and recorded for The Long Walk, a feature film adaptation of Stephen King novel that premiered in theaters last September. Both Wilson and Shaboozey are nominated for the CMA for New Artist of the Year.
Last night, Wilson dropped his new song “Gary,” a celebration of tradespeople and the working class. “I grew up in a body shop. My family, every one of them can fix anything, not because they’re just like these mechanical geniuses, but because they just had to fix everything,” Wilson told RS. “There’s no money to hire somebody to fix something, so you just got to learn how to fix it. And where I come from, the Garys, they get it done. It’s like, ‘Man, you’re gonna need to call Gary.’”
Wilson gave the live debut of the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night. He’ll headline a pair of sold-out concerts at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Sunday and Monday.
