We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Steve Wilson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Steve thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
The biggest risk I ever took was jumping head first into the music business full time. I gave up any stability I had known, work life, financial, etc and just literally took the leap of faith. It was a decision made together with my wife, who is also in the business, and we just decided that we only get one trip around the sun, why should we spend it “working for the man” when we should be doing what we love and following our dreams. We really had to decide what was important and what we were okay with giving up.
2025 marks the 10th Anniversary of Wilson Banjo Co., both the band and the Custom Banjo building side, and if you asked me before that if I ever thought I would be professionally recording and producing music, I would have laughed. Add to it making #1 records for a highly respected label like Pinecastle Records, touring the country and playing for people that love the music we make and enjoying the friendship of folks that have been my hero’s in this genre my whole life.
I’d say that the risk has been well worth taking. I wouldn’t change a thing. Except maybe a chance to play the Opry, haha!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
In the beginning, the “Company,” was formed to promote my custom banjos. Now with a banjo in hand and a group of first-class musicians and singers by my side, Wilson Banjo Co., the band, continues to push the boundaries of bluegrass music, redefining the sounds and structure that ultimately shape our internationally recognized brand. The band we have currently is committed to the unique sound we create and have become known for and I am so proud to record and perform with them.
I grew up playing music with my family. I fell in love with the sound, look and feel of the instruments themselves. Later on in life, I found myself working in Nashville, TN, for the Gibson Custom Art Shop, designing and building custom art pieces. Many of these were special orders for a long, distinguished list of players. I learned from the best, and the experience was one of the greatest of my career.
While I was in Nashville, I really started diving in to Bluegrass music, specifically, playing the Banjo again, which became my favorite and master instrument. I studied with many of the well-respected banjo masters in the area, played countless hours with local bands, and even spent time in the recording studio from time to time. I knew the that Bluegrass was definitely where I planned to hang my hat for the long haul, musically.
After moving back to Upstate NY, to raise my kids closer to our family, I joined a couple of bands, enjoyed the short Northern festival seasons, gave lessons, did instrument repairs for local musicians, and casually built a guitar or banjo along the way. In 2012, with the kids grown, my wife, Melanie and I moved to South Carolina, and I got back to pickin’ the banjo and building instruments on a bit more than casual level.
In 2014, I recorded an EP in my home studio, to promote the sound of the latest Wilson Custom Banjo, with several musician friends from our Upstate SC region. The Guardian EP, named for the banjo model, began to garner some attention on radio, with airplay and interviews and that’s when I decided to put a band together for a second album. Wilson Banjo Co. was born in 2015 and performed shows for a couple of years with a few different members before finding the right group to settle in to record. The Spirits In The Hills album was picked up to release in 2017 by Bonfire Records, the sister label for Pinecastle Records, based in Greenville, SC. The first single, a cover of “Ain’t No Grave” cemented the sound of the band and shot to #1 on the Bluegrass Gospel chart.
During that time, I was also hired as the Lead Recording Engineer and Producer for the Bonfire Recording Studio. I’ve since recorded hit records for incredible artists like Dale Ann Bradley, Jim Hurst, Red Camel Collective, Gena Britt, The King James Boys, Shawn Lane & Richard Bennett, the Tidalwave Road, and many more. Through that part of my career I have been able to work in the studio with so many of the musicians I look up to and admire. It’s my dream job to make music with such talented people and I love it.
My banjos, with custom designed inlay, that I hand-cut with a jeweler saw, began to get some notice too, and before long, Wilson Custom Banjos were endorsed by super star pickers like Dale Perry (Fast Track), Gena Britt (Sister Sadie) and Tony Wray (Tyminski). The two models I focus on building and offering are “The Warrior,” and “The Guardian,” no tone ring banjo.
Over the years since the initial band album release and promotional tour, I’ve also played tours with Dale Ann Bradley, Deeper Shade of Blue, Jesse Brock, Kristi Stanley and many more. I also began writing lyrical songs, where I had only written several instrumentals in the past. With my love for recording and also wanting to continue putting out music to support the custom banjos, I went on to record a sophomore project, under the Pinecastle Records umbrella, called Six Degrees of Separation.
The project name Six Degrees of Separation, came about when I began to recall all of the musical friends and heroes that I had been privileged to work with since relocating to South Carolina just eight years before. I started connecting the dots to all of these people, whether I had recorded a project with them, toured with them, or built them a banjo. And with these folks all in mind, I was able to come up with the list of notable musicians and vocalists that participated in the recording. The collaboration ended up being a real “who’s-who” of acoustic music and features 32 world-class musicians and vocalists. Some of the players included Richard Bennett, Michael Cleveland, Dale Ann Bradley, Shawn Lane, Deanie Richardson, Clay Hess. To this day I think it’s my favorite collection of music I’ve released.
One thing I knew for sure when choosing the material, was that I wanted it to be diverse, showcase some of my writing, and also lift up and highlight the gifts of all of the players. There is something for everyone on the record, with Traditional, Contemporary and Gospel sounds. The album also has several original tracks written or co-written by me and my wife, Melanie.
The Six Degrees of Separation album remained in the Top 15 on the Roots Music Contemporary Album chart for almost two years, and continued to debut new songs in the Top 10 throughout, where standout hits “Issaqueena,” written by myself and Glen Crain, and “When The Crow Comes Down,” co-written by Nashville’s Jordan Rainer of newfound ‘The Voice’ fame, continued to make their appearance into 2024. “Issaqueena” was a mainstay at #1 for many consecutive months on the Roots Music Chart. Wilson Banjo Co. received five nominations from the UMA (Upstate Music Awards), including Best Album, Song, and Video. Six Degrees also earned its way onto an incredible 14 Top album and song lists of 2021, typically released by music publications, critics and radio stations. As of the writing of this article Six Degrees of Separation sits at #2 on the Traditional Bluegrass Album Chart, after all this time, 4 years after music began releasing from the project.
In 2023 Wilson Banjo Co. dropped a lead single from their next album, Memory Lane. I didn’t know at the time but this would be our most critically acclaimed effort to date. 2024 began, and Pinecastle Records continued rolling out the singles for Memory Lane, as the full album launched in March, and was on fire at radio and on the charts.
My vision for the band and our sound is clear in that I am not comfortable being labeled by a specific theme for the band or our projects. I wouldn’t want to pigeonhole our creativity in that way. We are all about the song. When we hear something we like and think we would be good at making it special, we go for it and hope others will like it too!
Memory Lane provides insight into the endless creative skill and talent at work with our band. It was something new, unexpected and fresh. Hit singles “The Gavel,” and “Holler” were co-written by Nashville singer-songwriter, Jordan Rainer, former The Voice finalist. Jordan is one of our favorite writers! She writes with an edge of darkness and grit that fits into the sound that defines this band. She is such a talent and a real sweetheart too that we are glad to know. We also used a lot of Rick Lang material on this record, he seems to have really dialed in to the band as well which is exciting. There are so many great writers out there with songs that need to be heard! I expect we will keep recording as many as we can as often as we can while also writing original material.
Memory Lane, spent six weeks in the number one spot on the Roots Music Report Bluegrass Album and Contemporary Album Charts, holding down multiple singles in the Top 5 and 10. The record proved to be their biggest hit yet with radio. It also wrapped the year as the #3 Top Contemporary Album of 2024 and #4 as the Top Bluegrass Overall Album. The band released new videos for three of the singles in 2024, “Holler,” “The Gavel,” and “Memphis Anymore,” again supporting local venues in our home region of Upstate South Carolina. Something we always make an effort to do to help promote our local business neighbors.
Fast forward to today. The band has had quite a facelift with some new members and a brand new EP set to drop on January 22nd. Representing the company on tour and in the studio for the new music, along with myself on banjo are Jaime Carter on bass, Andrew Crawford on lead vocals and guitar, Brandi Colt on lead vocals, and Adam Bachman on Resophonic Guitar. We dropped a brand new single “Black Wedding Dress”, written by Avrim Topel, in October 2024, followed by an incredible cover of the classic Holiday party tune “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in November. Pinecastle is dropping our new EP Lonely As It Gets on January 22 with a new single “If You Don’t Climb the Mountain,” co-written by award winning songwriter Rick Lang. We’ve been busy putting out videos and promotion for upcoming shows and are aggressively booking now through 2026 while already in pre-production for our next full length project. It’s an exciting time!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think the lesson I unlearned is more than likely controversial among the traditional “American Dream” mentality. Growing up we’re taught to work for the man, have that guaranteed weekly paycheck, insurance benefits, retirement, 401k job, etc. But in all reality, if that job, that life, isn’t you actually LIVING, because it’s killing or holding back your creativity and musical ability, then I ask, is it worth it? Because it wasn’t for me.
The work I have done in the last ten years, the music I’ve made, the people I’ve met and created with have fulfilled me more than any other job or weekly paycheck ever did my whole life.
Recording, performing and producing music for me is kind of like another limb on my body. If you cut it off I can survive, but there would always be something missing. And who wants to just survive when you have the ability to live and thrive??
We tell our own kids we want them to follow their dreams, we taught them well enough how to take care of business, but don’t let their dreams suffer or lay dormant for decades like we did. Chase the sun all day long and get as much from this life as you can while you’re here!l and able!
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
My partner in everything is my wife, Melanie. We began this wild journey together, one day just deciding to take the leap of Faith. Each one of us believed the other could do our part, so I guess we figured that would get us through. We met in High School and took a shining to each other way back in 1988. We had just started to have a good thing going and then her family had to move and that was the end of that. What a bummer! We wrote some letters and such but long distance in high school romance is not a reality.
Twenty-three years later I made a comment on one of her posts on social media. Turned out we were at a point where we were both single and it just went on from there. I think our first lunch date lasted like 9 hours. Neither one of us could shut up. I guess there was just so much to catch up on and new things to learn.
Three years later we were married, and 2 years after that we were in business – the music business – full time! Never looked back and now 2025 we celebrate 10 years doing what we love.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wilsonbanjo.com/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilsonbanjoco
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/WilsonBanjoCo
- Twitter: https://x.com/wilsonbanjoco
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@wilsonbanjoco?si=H9fpw6BhgIUyxM63
Image Credits
Melanie Wilson (white, short sleeve) Laci Mack (red, long sleeve) Ethan Burkhardt (band photo)