Stephen Wilson Jr. is doing Nirvana proud. The singer delighted fans when he released his cover of “Something in the Way,” which Nirvana put out in 1991.
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Fans had been hoping for a studio version of Wilson Jr.’s country take on the classic song for a year. It was then that Wilson put out a YouTube video of himself performing an acoustic version the song.
Along with exciting announcement of the song’s release, Wilson Jr. shared a video of himself playing the track live at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
In the studio version, as well as Wilson Jr.’s past performances of the song, he managed to make it his own while paying homage to the original. He did so by changing the tempo and dialing up his vocal power.
The release came as Wilson Jr. gears up for the release of his forthcoming EP, Blankets, which is due out Sept. 29. At the same time, Wilson Jr. has been busy on the road, as he’s been opening for HARDY on the star’s Jim Bob World Tour.
What to Know About “Something in the Way”
Wilson Jr. clearly has love for Nirvana. In a separate post announcing the song’s release, Wilson Jr. tipped his hat to the late Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain.
“There’s Something in the Way this song still haunts me,” he wrote. “Thank you, Kurt for all you gave.”
Cobain certainly deserves praise for the track, since it was an intensely personal one for the singer. “Something in the Way” details a period when the late singer was homeless and struggling mentally.
Ultimate Classic Rock reported that Cobain once said the track was him imagining horrible scenarios, like, “if I was living under the bridge and I was dying of AIDS, if I was sick and I couldn’t move and I was a total street person. That was kind of the fantasy of it.”
In a 2021 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, provided more insight into the song.
“He is clawing his way out on ‘Something In The Way’,” she said. “He’s telling himself anything just to get through.”
Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images for FanDuel
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