“Stand By Me” is a song that has been covered hundreds of times, but this version is one of the most gripping you’re ever going to hear. Stephen Wilson, Jr. performed a chilling version of the classic during an appearance on Live at the Print Shop.
His solo take features a raw vocal delivery in a stripped-back setting that puts a new spin on the song. The original is a love ballad with gospel roots. For Wilson Jr., it has a more personal meaning.
“’Stand By Me’ was the song that brought my dad back, if only for a few,” he said. “It’s the song that started this journey, and it was that song that made it all clear what I was supposed to be doing with my time from that moment on.”
Wilson Jr.’s father died in 2018.
“I grew up boxing. A boxing ring was my first stage, and that’s where I learned how to be in front of people. And he’s been training me in that way for a long time. But when the music stuff came along, when all this started, he passed away,” the singer told Country Now. “So he never got to see any of this stuff. So I’ve been trying to get it to him. I feel like music crosses the membrane and crosses the veil, and so really, I’ve just been trying to keep him alive this whole time.”
Aside from his powerful vocal delivery, Wilson Jr.’s accompaniment reinvents the song. Ben E. King‘s original 1961 recording is instantly recognizable from its simple, solid bass line. Wilson Jr. eschews the bass pattern, though he does coax extra low end from the guitar with a special tuning.
His nylon-string guitar is tuned down from standard E-A-D-G-B-E to C-G-C-E-G-C. The dropped tuning provides a deeper, darker sound while also allowing him to play different shapes to create fresh sounds.
Wilson Jr.’s arrangement adds urgency to the song with a rhythmic pattern that floats over the chord changes. He also adds poignancy with some chord substitutions.
The chord progression to “Stand By Me” is a simple four-bar pattern that repeats on both the verse and the chorus: I-vi-IV-V-I. After a melodic intro, Wilson Jr. begins the song’s groove with a vamp between C and A minor, being the I and vi chords. Once he gets to the verse, he adds an emotional twist.
Instead of resolving back to I at the end of the phrase, he ends the pattern on the minor vi chord. This device, called a deceptive cadence, has been used by everyone from Beethoven to Cyndi Lauper. By subverting the natural resolution of the dominant chord (V) to the tonic (I), the listener’s ear is tricked. Landing on a minor chord adds suspense or wonderment.
No matter the devices, Stephen Wilson Jr.’s version of “Stand By Me” touches on a universal feeling that connects us all.
Check out the sheet music for “Stand By Me” to create your own version:
