I hate country music. A late-blooming Indiana star changed my mind.

I took a bit of a chance Nov. 15 in Louisville: I went to my first country music concert. Ever.

Stephen Wilson Jr., a native of Seymour, Indiana, was headlining a show at the Louisville Palace, a gorgeous downtown theater that I had somehow never visited. I got hooked by his music after happening upon a recording of him playing the classic Ben E. King song, “Stand By Me,” a few months ago. That performance hit me like a punch to the face, and I have been listening to Wilson’s 2023 album, “Son of Dad,” on repeat ever since.

He’s not just some random new country star, though.

“Wilson Jr. has been known to define his sound as ‘Death Cab for Country,’ since he draws inspiration from indie rock, grunge and obviously country music,” as Casey Young reports in Whisky Riff.

His love of the Seattle scene from the 1990s is clear in many ways, but most importantly, it’s baked into his sound. He released an EP earlier this year with four great covers of grunge songs. And those influences rang loud in his new song, “Gary,” as it annihilated every one of us at the Palace last weekend.

A private moment in a packed house

Wilson took his guitar off the stage in the middle of the song, continually jamming that hypnotic riff, and headed to the back near the sound board. Only a few of us with seats underneath the balcony could see that Wilson’s 90-year-old grandma was sitting back there.

He played right in front of her for about a minute, while she stood there beaming and swaying at him before he kissed her and ran back to the stage. My wife and I were just lucky enough to be sitting nearby and got to see the private performance. Unbelievable. I couldn’t stop wondering what that moment must have felt like for both of them.

For us, it felt like we had crashed a family affair on a Saturday night as 2,600 people filled the place, and a good number of them were from Seymour or Jackson County or just somewhere in Indiana to see one of their own. There was Indiana University gear everywhere. When the pre-concert tunes belted out John Mellencamp’s “Scarecrow,” the crowd sang along. And that was the only pregame sing along.

It was like an early Indiana Thanksgiving.

An inspiration for late bloomers

Wilson and I are both Hoosiers. We are both late-bloomers, too. He has been nominated for new artist of the year by the CMA, and at 46 years old, he would be the oldest winner in the award’s history. No, I can’t match that kind of achievement, but I did change careers late in life and feel like I am now doing what I was always meant to do.

He left his job as a scientist just before turning 40 and went all in on a music career. It’s a late start, and even after the late start, his success was certainly not “overnight.”

Late in the show, Wilson made the comment in between songs, “Music is magic. I believe it connects us all.” I agree entirely. That crowd, at that moment, was magically connected.

During “Father’s Son,” a truly powerful song about his relationship with his late father, and the inspiration of the entire album, my wife leaned over to me and said, “I can feel the people crying around me.”

I’ve never been to a concert that did that.

Never stop growing

Which brings me back to that risky “chance” I took by simply going to this show. I don’t listen to country music. There are times when I don’t even approve of it. Wilson told a little story about his days as a scientist and about the people he worked with then. “They used to call me ‘hillbilly.’ That was not a compliment.”

I spent my early childhood in hillbilly country. I still have family there, and I consider myself Appalachian. When I heard country music as a child, and certainly after I relocated to the Midwest, it almost felt like those southern drawls people sang in were practically mocking us. As dumb as that is, it’s why I will never broadly be a country music fan.

On the other hand, I will always be a Stephen Wilson Jr. fan. We connected. I already know I will love his next album just from the two songs I’ve already heard during that private performance we crashed last weekend. Note: “Preacher’s Kid” is fantastic, too.

No, I’m not going to start wearing flannel shirts to concerts, like a good number of men did Nov. 15, even though it was 75 degrees outside. And, no, I won’t wear a baseball cap to a theater, even when the star of the show does.

But I will keep trying new things, learning new tricks and growing as a person as much as I can. I’m glad I now have a role model for exactly those things.

Michael Leppert is an author, professor and consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about culture, leadership, communication and connection at MichaelLeppert.com and on his YouTube channel.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Stephen Wilson Jr. proves late bloomers can still make it | Opinion