Premiere: Bill Wilson – “You Can Count On Me”

Last month, you met Bill Wilson, the 76-year-old Charleston native who is finally getting around to releasing his debut album. Bill’s debut album, Stand Up!, is packed with the soul music of the 1970s, except Bill’s making them in 2018, with all young players.

This morning the Bill Wilson story continues with an exclusive Extra Chill premiere of the second single off the album, “You Can Count On Me”. Like the rest of the album, this one was tracked with Wolfgang Zimmerman at Rialto Row, and then mixed by Matt Zutell at Coast Records.

“You Can Count On Me” dates back to the early 90s, during a time when Bill Wilson was living in New Orleans. Bill recorded the original version of the track in New Orleans studio, with a band that included the famed jazz drummer Johnny Vidacovich. That original master was lost during Hurricane Katrina, and all that remains is an old hissy cassette.

When Bill Wilson and executive producer Brian Compton were gathering material for Stand Up!, Bill played the cassette of “You Can Count On Me” for Brian, who immediately pulled up Voice Memos on his iPhone and recorded a copy of the demo. Then they transcribed the song into a sheet that could be taken into the studio with the new band.

Listen to the early 90s demo of “You Can Count On Me” below.

According to Compton, when Bill and the band were at Rialto Row tracking Bill’s album, they decided to run through “You Can Count On Me” first. After three back-to-back takes, the band took a break to relax a bit before heading into the next song. Back in the studio after the break, they were feeling pretty good and decided to run through “You Can Count On Me” one more time. That final take is the one that made its way onto the album.

Stand Up! by Bill Wilson will be released in December. On Thursday, December 13th, Bill and the band will play at The Commodore to celebrate the album release. Tickets here.

Listen to the premiere of Bill’s latest single, the 2018 studio version of “You Can Count On Me” below.

See the demo transcription below, written out by Bill Wilson, Blake Ingram and Brian Compton.