I guess it doesn’t hurt to go to school to be a scientist before you become a songwriter? In case you didn’t know, Stephen Wilson Jr. has lived many lives in his 46 years on this Earth. At first, he was a boxer – as his father had trained him to be. Then, he went to Middle Tennessee State University and studied microbiology. After he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he went to work for the MARS company. Unaffiliated with space… rather, the MARS company that makes candy and pet food. Wilson Jr. got into more detail about that portion of his life during a recent interview on This Past Weekend with Theo Von. The late-blooming country star told the comedian and podcaster that his educational background actually set up him to be a scientist rather than an artist: “I have a lot of training in science. I went to Middle Tennessee State University, and I worked at MARS, the food company, in research and development for them as a food scientist. I worked in pet food for them, which is based out of Nashville.” But being well versed in science has actually helped Stephen Wilson Jr. in the long run. While a guest on Audacy’s Katie & Company, the “Father’s Son” singer shared that he still uses the scientific method in his post-scientist life. It was a rather interesting explanation from the country star, but it’s perfectly on brand for Stephen Wilson Jr. and what we’ve come to know from him: “Science is a big part of my process. Having a hypothesis or an idea and then testing it against the world. It is pretty much what science is, but doing it in a controlled setting and doing that experiment over and over again and trying to keep your emotions out of the results. That’s, I think, what songwriters try to do at the end. You wanna have an emotion to start with because I’m more in the emotion business than I am in the music business, at least that’s what I think of it as. So it’s got to start with an emotion, but then you kind of got to separate your emotion from it to get to the truth, because then you’ll have, they call user bias, and then that’ll affect your results.” So does that mean that every song that Stephen Wilson Jr. rolls out is technically a science experiment? I’m going to choose to believe so. And it’s funny to read that and then digest what Wilson Jr. also said in that very interview. He basically called himself “uninteresting,” but said that his life up until this point helped prepare him for all of the songwriting that his current career calls for: “I don’t think I’m interesting, but it has provided, I guess, a wealth of dialogue and narrative to to pull from. I’ve been habitually quiet most of my life, so I got to work a lot of jobs and kind of keep my mouth shut and listen and take notes, and from those learnings that’s where the songs kind of came from.” Stephen Wilson Jr. doesn’t think he’s interesting? I beg to differ. How man boxers-turned-scientists-turned-country-stars do you know of? I only know of one, and it’s the guy who sings “Grief Is Only Love.” And the talented artist just so happens to also be the person who invented the dog dental treat known as Dentastix.  If that’s not interesting, I don’t know what is… The post “Start With An Emotion”: Stephen Wilson Jr. Explains How He Uses Science In His Songwriting Process first appeared on Whiskey Riff.