Free Life by Dan Wilson

Free Life is Dan Wilson's first album under his own name, released by American Recordings on October 16, 2007: a solo turn from the man who fronted Semisonic and wrote "Closing Time". He made it with Rick Rubin, splitting the sessions between Minneapolis and Los Angeles, and the guest list reads like a well-thumbed Rolodex: Sheryl Crow, Natalie Maines, Tracy Bonham, Gary Louris and Benmont Tench, plus a crew of Minneapolis players including longtime Semisonic sideman Ken Chastain, Mason Jennings and his old bandmates John Munson and Jacob Slichter.

For all that company, the songs are the headliners. This is warm, unhurried alternative rock built on melody rather than muscle, from a writer who had won a Song of the Year Grammy that same year for co-writing "Not Ready to Make Nice". The A.V. Club heard a craftsman openly delighted by his own tunes, and the record did plenty to build Wilson's name as a songwriter's songwriter.

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