Dan Wilson is keenly aware that a lot of pop music fans won't connect his name with the song he's best known for: 1998's catchy "Closing Time," recorded with his on/off again band, Semisonic.
But the Minneapolis native wants his first solo album, Free Life, released this week, to find an audience on its own terms.
"I've never been motivated by the concept of celebrity or name recognition," the Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter said by phone recently. "The song itself is what goes out into people's lives. So that's what I care about; that, and singing for people."
In conversation, the affable Harvard grad - Wilson earned an art degree in '83 - sounds like the easygoing family man he is offstage. But that's not to say his ultra-melodic songs don't have some edge. One he cowrote with the Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice," became the outspoken country trio's response to critics who blasted them for their well-publicized anti-Bush statements. The song also earned Wilson, 46, a Grammy Award in February.
"I know I can put my heart and soul on the line in a song, but I can't control how the song is received," he said. "So that was an amazing experience, start to finish."
Brought together through their mutual producer, American Recordings' Rick Rubin, Wilson wrote six songs with the Dixie Chicks for their Grammy-winning album, Taking the Long Way. He has also recently collaborated with Jason Mraz, Mike Doughty, Sheryl Crow, and Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins; the latter two appear on Free Life, a crisp, uncluttered album highlighted by Wilson's sweet-as-sugar vocals.
A good six years of work and waiting, mostly because of changes with the record label, went into the disc; as much time, Wilson jokes, "as the Beatles' entire recording career."
"It took a while, but it's definitely the record I wanted to make," he said. "I'm excited to play these songs for people."