Sometimes blessings are in disguise, and we don’t quite realize them in the moment. Such is the case with the creation of Jon Tyler Wiley & His Virginia Choir’s new debut full-length album, Pictures in the Dark.
The day was March 7th and the year was 2020. This was the first official show of Jon Tyler Wiley & His Virginia Choir, a band of friends who after years of playing cover songs together in local taverns (when frontman Jon Tyler Wiley was off the road with his then-band Melodime) decided to utilize their impeccable chemistry to perform original songs under this moniker. Around the time they experienced the magic of playing together as a new project, the band booked a tour to take their electric show on the road.
However, the universe had other plans, as their tour – like everybody else’s – was canceled due to the pandemic. All of the momentum and excitement the band had built vanquished before it had a chance to flourish.
But there was a silver lining.
Since everyone was living in lockdown, Wiley was determined to take this time to pen new songs for the band to learn, play, and eventually record. This would result in a string of singles, debuting with their barn burnin’ juke joint track, “Laura Lee.”
And on March 28th of this year, after four arduous years, that album – Pictures in the Dark – has finally seen the light of day.
Mixed by Doug Ross and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Hans DeKline, the album serves as a masterclass in modern Americana music, offering an amalgam of country, folk, rock n’ roll, and more. With anthemic bookends in “The Ending of the End” to “Song of Moving On,” Pictures in the Dark delivers highs, lows, and in-betweens.
In their brief tenure, Jon Tyler Wiley & His Virginia Choir have carved out their own unique sound, and Pictures in the Dark aims to prove a pivotal moment in the band’s trajectory into the burgeoning Americana scene. They are in the thick of a tour in support of the album, performing in Ludington, Michigan tonight, with a few romps across the Midwest before returning back to Virginia for more shows.
We got to hop on a call with Wiley to discuss the band’s origins, the new album, and much more.
You’ve had various musical projects over the years, including a solo career. Can you talk about the origins of how your latest project Jon Tyler Wiley & His Virginia Choir came together?
My previous band, Melodime, had just broken up, and I was searching for a new creative outlet. So, I started recording songs that I had written years ago, which led to writing more songs. It was never really intended to be a record, it was just something creative to do, and I was playing all the instruments myself. But in the midst of those sessions I came to the realization that I actually really liked the material I was recording, and that I should probably play it live.
While my previous band was on the road, most of my friends outside that band were also musicians. Whenever Melodime was off the road, I’d call the same friends to hangout, but instead of going to a bar, we’d book a gig at a local tavern, playing classic rock and old country tunes. We did this for a decade.
So fast forward, I’m working on what appears to be a solo album; I called those same friends, as we already knew how to play with one another. That’s how the initial lineup of the Virginia Choir came to be. Our first show was March 7th of 2020, and we had a whole tour booked, only for it to be canceled due to the pandemic. So instead of that touring, we worked on new material, recording in our homes, sending GarageBand sessions back and forth to one another.
With the moniker “The Virginia Choir” chosen, my goal was always to take different musical elements from the state of Virginia and combine them into one sound: rock from the cities melding with bluegrass and country from the rural parts of the state, as well as with the Americana/singer-songwriter music coming from some of the college towns.
Your last single before the album dropped was the poignant country roots-rock song, “Mission.” What can you tell us about the influence and inspiration behind this track?
My wife and I have always lamented our individual addictions to our phones and other devices. That’s how this song had its lyrical genesis. Musically-speaking, when Eddie [Dickerson] was in the band, I had always thought of us as ‘the country band that didn’t play country music,’ and I wanted to lean heavily into that on this song: a traditional country song structure, but with some curveballs thrown in.
I wanted to present a lot of the things that they talked about, but in a more modern setting. I definitely drew from reality, as my grandfather really did work on submarines in World War II. I do know an unhoused person at the local supermarket. That was a springboard for the rest of the song. I’m telling fictionalized versions of those things, but I wanted to provide commentary on where we are now in screen culture. We’re in this information age, and we have all this data at our fingertips all the time. I wanted to present the counter argument that maybe that’s not necessarily a good thing, maybe there’s repercussions.
What can you tell us about the creation of Pictures in the Dark as a whole and perhaps any kind of overarching themes or messages?
This album is the most mature thing we’ve done. I feel like everyone became more aware of their “lane,” or their sonic responsibility on this record. The writing sounds more deliberate, more orchestral. Lyrically, this music was written between 2020 and early 2023, so it’s very much our “pandemic record.” There’s a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of grappling with mortality. There’s also a lot of hope.
Is there a song on the album that was the most difficult to write/record for one reason or another?
The instrumental of “Song of Moving On” had been around for years and years. I’d always tried to write to that melody, and it took me until now to realize that the instrumental melody needed to stand alone. So, I started writing lyrics as a call-and-response to the music that I already had. Once I did that, the lyrics came super quickly with almost no revision.
Can you talk about the importance of the order of the songs on the album and how you envision it to be listened to from start to finish?
The bookends of the album were very important to me. The first track is “The Ending of the End,” which sets the scene. The last is “Song of Moving On,” which accepts the uncertainty that the protagonist is in, while still keeping its head down and barreling forward.
What has been your favorite/the most rewarding part of making this album?
When I made The Longing, it was very much about proving to myself that I could make a record by myself. When the band started recording the singles we released in 2021, it almost felt like driving a car for the first time: ‘Alright, lets see what this baby can do.’ With this record, however, there was more comfort with one another, so I feel like we were able to push each other a little harder, and hopefully a little farther. We had a few years under our belt as a live band, so we also had the experience of our live show to draw from, which was very important. We wanted there to be moments in this record that people heard and immediately thought, ‘Wow, I want to see this live!’
What messages or feelings do you hope to convey in this album?
Hopeful surrender! That seems to be a lyrical theme that fits with many of the songs.
What are one or two pinnacle moments for you as an artist?
In 2021, we had the opportunity to be on the Rock Boat, this incredible music festival on a cruise ship. I had done it with my old band and as a member of Stephen Kellog’s band, but never as my own artist. We took part in a show on the main stage in front of thousands of people, all out in the middle of the ocean, and when I motioned for everyone to clap, they immediately did. Thousands of people, moving at once. It was one of my first times as a frontman where I thought, ‘Hey, I can DO this!’
This year, we got to play The 9:30 Club in Washington DC for the first time. Years ago, I made a list of venues and festivals that I wouldn’t go to again as a fan until I got to perform there. It was my way of pushing myself as an artist. The 9:30 Club, one of my favorite venues in the world, was on that list, so I didn’t go there for probably seven years. This was the first venue I got to cross off that list, just three years into this band’s existence.
What are your hopes and goals with the release of this album?
People have always liked our shows, but this is the first time that I think we have a cohesive piece of art that feels like its own complete entity. This is something that demands listening like old records did: in a quiet room, maybe with a cocktail, on good speakers or some headphones. I’m very proud of that.
