Since he disappeared 4 years ago, many thought Wheeler was finished. But a strange thing happened after he left – he only got bigger! His mystique grew, his popularity surged and his music was consumed to such an extreme that he was the 3rd most streamed country artist in the world in 2021. (A fact Music Row is trying to keep quiet… artists that speak their minds have a tendency to be ignored by Nashville’s top brass). His fanbase grew exponentially as well. Count among his new fans Killer Mike, Snoop Dogg… and even another “poet of his generation” …
Wheeler blushes and laughs at the mention of Bob Dylan. “How’d you find that out! I didn’t tell anybody! Must’ve been someone on his side who leaked it.” When pressed for more details, Wheeler continues… “When Bob Dylan calls you it’s not like when a normal person calls… it’s an event. It’s planned. You have to wait by the phone, a bunch of his people get you ready… and then Dylan gets on and just laughs and he told me he ‘got it’ and he’s a huge fan and listens to my albums on repeat. I love Dylan, and it was cool, but he’s just a human. No different to me than when Billy Joe Shaver called me up a few years back. I stole more licks from Billy Joe, so that one might’ve been even cooler, all things considered.”
Then Wheeler cuts to the chase: “I haven’t become the hottest thing in Nashville because everybody else here sucks. They do, and that certainly helps. But I’ve become the biggest name in country music because I’m the best one doing it. I used to be the best, and now I’m even better. Which even I didn’t think was possible.”
