The Way I Tell the Story, by David Wilcox

The Way I Tell the Story by David Wilcox, released 15 August 2025 1. My Own Mind 2. The Way I Tell the Story 3. The Beautiful 4. The Next Right Thing 5. Endless Summer Blue 6. I Can't Argue 7. The Reason Why I Ride 8. I Made It Rain 9. Shimmer 10. Disappearing Man 11. Roses 12. I Wish You Enough David Wilcox has always been the kind of songwriter who quietly devastates you—never flashy, never loud, just one cleanly delivered line that lands exactly where you live. Now, with The Way I Tell the Story (out August 15), the veteran folk artist leans into warmth and wisdom that has been won hard, pulling emotional threads in new and surprisingly luminous ways. The album is produced by Michael Selverne (Steep Canyon Rangers, Boyz II Men, Asheville Symphony, Rising Appalachia) and features performances by world renowned musicians, including Jeff Pevar (30 years with David Crosby; Ray Charles, Phil Collins, Donald Fagan); Philippe Saisse (recipient of France’s Medal of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, Saisse has worked extensively as a session and touring musician with Al Di Meola, Nile Rodgers, Chic, Chaka Khan and many others)); Bashiri Johnson (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Sting, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin); Bill Berg (drummer on Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Cat Stevens, The Moody Blues); Michael Bearden (Madonna, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson), Daryl Jones (Miles Davis, Sting, The Rolling Stones); Al Carty (Christina Aguilera, Ed Sheeran, Rob Thomas). Selverne said: “David is a truly great writer and musician, a self-described ‘folkie’ who often works and records alone. I encouraged David to step away from his comfort zone for this record and work with performers who are his musical peers and classmates. The results are these sonically rich and diverse dialogues between the musicians that present David’s compositions in a different way” The collection walks the line between hope and heartbreak, and it does so with the kind of precision that only happens when someone’s actually been through it. And Wilcox has been through it. In recent years, his wife’s Parkinson’s diagnosis has reframed everything—his perspective, his process, his writing. “Times get tough, and music gets good,” he says, which might as well be the thesis of The Way I Tell the Story. This is music about surviving with your heart intact, told with the ease of someone who’s spent his life learning how. “I’m all in for using music as a way to gain clarity and emotional maturity,” Wilcox says. “I believe that doing the work of exploring your heart—really going into the dark parts where the light hasn’t reached—creates emotional fitness that gives us access to strength of character.” It’s music, he says, that gives us the subtle discernment we need for navigating toward a better life. Standouts include “The Beautiful,” a passionate song about returning to what centers you; “I Wish You Enough,” a blessing disguised as a goodbye; and the wryly self-aware title track, “The Way I Tell the Story,” which unpacks the half-truths we cling to just to make sense of who we are. There’s even a custom song tucked in here—one of many Wilcox has written on commission for people navigating life’s big, messy moments. The record isn’t trying to be zeitgeisty. It’s not chasing virality. Instead, it trusts that what’s personal is also what’s lasting. That honesty matters. That craft still counts. And that if you tell a story the right way, it can change the way people hear their own.