Fresh off the Blackie & the Rodeo Kings tour for their latest album, Kings and Queens, Canrock mainstay Tom Wilson shows no signs of slowing down.

But this time he’s heading out on tour - solo.

“I’ve been considering myself a solo guy for 35 years but I’ve been in bands for about 30 of those years,” Wilson says over the phone from his home in Hamilton. “So these solo shows are a welcomed addition to my work schedule.”

Having released a trio of solo records in the 2000s, Wilson has kept his name off the album titles recently. This tour sees Wilson stop in Winnipeg, a stop he says he’s looking forward to.

“I kind of think of Hamilton as a Winnipeg south. There are a lot of the same sensibilities, the artistic community, there’s an awareness of ourselves that’s not the same as big cities,” he says. “I dig Winnipeg a lot.”

And those who are fans of Wilson’s solo efforts as well as his entire musical catalogue won’t be disappointed.

“There’s complete freedom in a solo show,” he says. “I’m fortunate enough to work in bands that, as the old saying goes, can turn on a dime - you know, as far as changing arrangements ... to make it solo and spin it a little bit faster.”

“ I’m just a busy fucker. My time is divided quite thinly, but I’ve accomplished a lot.

Tom Wilson

Even though Wilson is heading out solo, he confirms he will never release a solo album under his own name. The Lee Harvey Osmond project is essentially solo, though.

“My solo work was kind of similar to the work I do with Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, so the reason for Lee Harvey Osmond was to separate the creative worlds of music for me,” he explains.

“It’s a concentrated effort to strictly write for Lee Harvey Osmond,” he adds. “Blackie & the Rodeo Kings writing falls in what I do naturally. I’d rather be extending myself with other players.”

Wilson hasn’t just been keeping busy with his music - he’s no stranger to the world of art, either. He currently has an exhibit in New York City running until the New Year.

“I did an (art show) with Michael Stipe, Daniel Lanois and the late ‘Long John’ Baldry and that was the first art show I ever did and it was a huge success. I sold everything,” Wilson says. “So I kept on painting.

“The art is more like therapy to me and I think that people recognize that in the art and recognize the personal struggle and the personal endeavours that go into creating it. It’s become a bigger part of my life than I expected it to be.”

If that wasn’t enough, Wilson has two records in the can waiting to come out with Lee Harvey Osmond. He’s recently released a children’s book titled The Mighty Moon King, sung the theme song for the new cartoon Crash Canyon and acted in the film Please Kill Mr. Know It All alongside Canadian comic Colin Mochrie.

“I’m just a busy fucker,” he laughs. “My time is divided quite thinly, but I’ve accomplished a lot.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 2, 2011)