Jim Wilson is an American recording artist and piano technician.

Early life

Wilson was born in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

. When he was six, he and his family moved to

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

, where he grew up. Wilson attended

Tascosa High School Tascosa High School is a public high school located in Amarillo, Texas (USA) and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is one of four high schools in the Amarillo Independent School District located in southern Potter County. The school wa ...

in Amarillo where he was later inducted into its Hall of Fame on March 26, 2007.

Career

Recording career

Wilson is a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

-endorsed recording artist of piano-featured instrumentals with 10 recordings released to date. Three of Wilson's albums have appeared on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Top-20 charts.

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

produced and aired the music special ''Jim Wilson: A Place in my Heart'' filmed live in

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and th ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

at the Globe-News Center. Wilson was accompanied by artists

Eric Rigler Eric Rigler is an American player of the Uilleann pipes, Great Highland Bagpipes, and tin whistle. He performs as a solo artist and with the band Bad Haggis, and has been featured on a number of movie soundtracks. He has been described as "the m ...

and

Romina Arena Romina Arena is an Italian-American popera, operatic pop, pop classical crossover, rock opera and new-age singer-songwriter. Early life Romina Arena was born and raised in Palermo, Sicily, to a Sicilian mother, Rita and a Roman father, Renato. ...

In addition to his work as a solo artist, Wilson has also been the keyboard player and musical director for recording artist Stephen Bishop since October, 2004. In July, 2020, Wilson teamed up with

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gut ...

to release a well received recording of

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Minstrel show, minstrel music during the Romantic music, Romantic ...

's moving song "Hard Times Come Again No More". The song debuted on

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

's website as an editorial article and music video. The record was produced and performed by Wilson on Piano and sung by Guthrie featuring vocalist Vanessa Bryan. The separate pieces of the song and music video were mixed together from remote recordings made by each of the artists.

Piano technician career

Wilson has been a Registered Piano Technician with the

Piano Technicians Guild The Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) is an International organization for Registered Piano Technicians, headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. The PTG was formed in 1957 from the merger of the American Society of Piano Technicians and the National As ...

since 1981. Wilson collaborated with the Burbank,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

company,

Spectrasonics Eric Persing is an american sound designer, professional synthesist and producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instrument company Spectrasonics. He has ...

on the release of "Keyscape", a new “virtual instrument that features the largest selection of unique, collector keyboards in the world” - including Wilson's personal, customized

C7. Ten years in the making, the library was released on September 1, 2016.

References

External links

*
LA Piano Services

Jim Wilson Billboard Chart

Jim Wilson Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Jim Living people Musicians from Texas Year of birth missing (living people)